Mixing | Production

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: Many people I talk to say "all music is programmed and auto tuned these days, they stopped making real music in the 80's." The skill set required today is just as demanding as it was in the past; the workflow may be a lot quicker, however if anything it is more involved as budgets are smaller and I have to wear many hats most of the time, producer, mixer, session guitarist, writer.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: I hope there is a powerpoint on the island but here goes! 1 SM7B 1 Chandler MKii Preamp 1 Maton Acoustic Guitar 1 Apogee Duet 1 Macbook Pro (with my current installed plugins and software instruments)

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I have been a musician for 27 years; I began playing guitar at age 10 and after graduating from high school I attended the Queensland Conservatorium where I received a Bachelor of Music completed in 2009. Since graduation, I have worked full time as a professional performer, writer, producer and mix engineer in Brisbane Australia. Within audio production I have worked in some of Australia's finest studios such as Lush, Studio 301, Matthew Gray Mastering, Serotonin with extensive experience in engineering, producing, mixing, writing and session guitar playing. I have been fortunate to work along side Aria and Grammy award winning producers/engineers Stuart Stuart and Guy Cooper. I currently work out of Matthew Gray Mastering (mix suites) as a mixer and producer; recording locally also.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Every song I work on is different, whether be in rock, pop or EDM; therefore there is no one size fits all approach to writing, producing and mixing a song. I bring my wealth of experience and skills in writing, engineering, producing and mixing to deliver the best possible product for my client. I am also a very personable human and always endeavour to create lasting rapport with my clients.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: As a service provider working in audio, I am fully engaged in making sure the client is happy with the end product; it is their music (not mine) therefore I do my utmost to deliver their musical vision in the final product.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I enjoy the variety the styles of music I work on. I enjoy producing/mixing hard rock and also pop and edm. I am not a proponent of one style is better or a purist. I thoroughly enjoy all music and it is such a wonderful job to be able to work on a wide variety of fantastic music. In addition, my clients are great people and I have made a lot of good friends over the years through my customers.

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: I highly recommend that customers speak either face to face or over the phone to gauge who you are working with. In addition check their website, soundbetter mp3's and ask as many questions as you can to make sure you are working with a professional who has experience.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: This can vary, but for a mix job usually 1) how much will it cost? 2) how long will it take? 3) can I attend the mixing sessions? I provide the quote based on the information provided, most songs usually take between 5 - 8 hours to mix and if they are local here in Brisbane I try to arrange a time for them to attend the mix session if possible or if not local, set up a meeting via online streaming.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Each job is different. I like to get to know my clients first by having a general conversation about their goals and vision with their project. I like to ask as many questions as possible so I can deliver the best possible product, example; if it is a mixing job, I will want to hear the rough mix, any demos and some reference tracks. At the end of the day it is their song, I will do my utmost to deliver their vision in the final product.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: The last week has been synth programming and mixing for a new EDM song for a client; epic throwback to 2010's synth sounds. David Guetta/Hardwell inspired song.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Depending on the job I will use different approaches. For mixing I have a selection of DAW templates from Rock, Pop and EDM; this allows me to work very quickly (or thereabouts) when setting up a mix. This is a good starting point as all my necessary routing, auxiliary FX, subgroups and buss processing is already set up. For production it depends on how much I am involved and/if there are other producers. If I am the sole producer then I will work with the band/artist all the way through (if necessary) from the songwriting, pre production and final production stages. Starting with the song itself, making sure there is a clear structure and coherent lyrics; if needed I will collaborate as a co writer. From there moving to pre production to ensure the right sonic direction of the song and then on to the final recording/mixing. Each song can vary in length of time to completion.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: As a musician, I love all styles of music. As a producer/mix engineer I am very hands on and believe communication is key to ensure I bring the clients vision to life and the best out in their music.

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: I recently produced and mixed a cover of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here for an artist Axel Lux. This was quite involved as it's a hybrid of organic instruments and electronica; a very dense production with bass heavy drums and high end synthesisers.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Tim Reihm - Session Vocalist. I have worked with Tim now on quite a few projects as a male top liner vocalist. His professionalism, turn around time and attention to detail is top shelf. I highly recommend Tim for any future project where you need a male vocalist for commercial release, demo or songwriting collaboration.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I am not a proponent of "analogue is better," or vice versa. I believe in using what ever tools you have available to make a great record/song. Digital processing has come leaps and bounds in the past decade and for workability, analogue modelling for mixing and production is fantastic. I do however believe in having good front end equipment for capturing raw recorded audio.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Mixing, full production, drum/synth programming, session guitar playing and songwriting. I work in a variety of styles from Rock, Pop and EDM.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: Zedd. I am huge fan of his production and songwriting; from his use of unique lead sounds, hybrid drums/bass production, polyphonic melodies and in general amazing songwriting.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: What ever environment you are working in, make sure you know your low end.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: I have worked on a wide variety of music but most of my work currently is in Rock and Pop/EDM.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I believe my strongest skill sets are engineering, songwriting/arranging and structure and mixing.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I currently work out of Matthew Gray Mastering (Mix Suites) and also my home studio here in Brisbane, Australia. After mixing analogue on an SSL4000 for quite some time I am mostly now in the box however still use selected outboard gear such as Neve 1084's preamps, Manley Massive Passive EQ (standard version), Thermionic Culture Vulture, Empirical Labs FATSO and Chandler Germanium compressors. I find most of the analogue hardware emulation now is fantastic; I have the complete bundles form UAD, Waves and other select brands; some hardware however still cannot be replaced in my opinion. I currently use Apogee Symphony and Lynx Aurora converters in conjunction with Dynaudio BMKii5 and Dante Monitoring.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: I am huge fan of Mark Ronson, Bob Rock, Zedd, Neal Avron and Mark Needham.