Wouter Verhulst - The Soundary - Recording, Mixing and Drumming - Amsterdam

What I do is honest, natural and it has attitude.

I'm involved in the music business for over 20 years. Did those years help me learn my trade? Hell yeah! I worked for some renowned studios over the years and owned a music production company. I have a lot of years of experience in music and audiopost for movies and commercials too. I toured the world and released 10+ albums with different bands. My own studio The Soundary is located in the north of Amsterdam, where I record and mix everything I put out.

I work fast and secure as a (music) editor. As a mix- or recording engineer I specialize in true, organic and characterfull mixes. As a drummer I like to find the essence of what a song needs and play no more. In any case I try to find something special, unique and original to give the production it's own voice.

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Interview with Wouter Verhulst - The Soundary

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: Radio Heimat, it's a great German film (which unfortunately didn't do too well). The company I then co-owned did a very elaborate score, featuring a rock'n'roll band, a big-band and a symphonic orchestra! I did all the recording and mixing and some drumming. Wow!
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I'm producing a debut album for a new band from Amsterdam. They combine electronic synths and beats with an almost bluesy way of songwriting - which makes it very interesting to produce!
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Daniel de Booij! He's a great guy and a technical wonder.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Analog gear is cool. I love the sound of tubes and vintage synths. I use it all the time while recording. But mixing is digital, with me. I stay in the box! It's so much more flexible and total-recall and fast... Nothing can beat that!
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: You're gonna get more then you asked for! There's always some surprise coming up during the process of playing or mixing.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Working with creative people, having something everybody can be proud of at the end of the day. It's such a blessing we can make a living out of this!
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Can you mix this track for me, or can you play drums on this track? I say: HELL YEAH!
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That errors can be fixed in the mix. There's a whole lot of magic we mix-engineers can do, but a bad recording will generally be... a bad recording!
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: I ask for reference music, not to copy, but to give some direction. Off course you might end up somewhere completely else, but it always gives a good starting point.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Try to have a clear idea of what you're looking for. If you don't really know, you might end up with a million possiblities and no clue which way to go.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: SE2200 mic, SPL2383 preamps, Fireface800, MacPro and Slate's Plugins ;)
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: 20 years ago I joined my first professional band as a drummer. We did a lot of albums and tours all over the world. During recording I started to develop a great interest in studio techniques. I graduated from SAE 15 years ago and produce, record and mix music ever since.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Honest.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I'd like to work with anybody who's looking to make beautiful stuff and have a good time doing so!
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Make choices! And have fun.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: It usually tends to be 'analog' music like rock and singer songwriters. But in my film scores I always add electronic instruments! I'm very interested in combining those two worlds.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: I'm not afraid of making choices and throw away stuff that is not essential. My mixes have the charact-o-meter deep in the red, and I work pretty fast.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I make choices. I try to listen to what the essence is and bring that forward. It should be more than clear what the song is about, within a few seconds!
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: You give me your briefing, I do the job plus trying to give something extra I find appropriate, you're happy, I'm happy ;)
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: Since I'm pretty much an in-the-box guy, all I need is a couple of good mics, great pre-amps and converters. Which is what I use. I can record my own drums here and I can make them sound huge! (or very intimate if you like) My favorite sound shapers in the box are from SoundToys, UniversalAudio, StevenSlate and some good old Waves.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: I love guys like Jon Hopkins, Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds. They're really creative and don't hang on to a genre, soundscape, classical, techno, filmmusic... they're all over the place and still have their very unique own recognizable voice.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I produced a lot of film scores, and did a lot of audio post in the past couple years. Besides that I always produce bands, that's where I come from and where my heart lies.