Mix, Produce, Engineer

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Hybrid. ITB is easy and nice for recalls and allowing clients to up/down any track they wish. However, when listening to a track or album many times over the years I have come to realize the albums that I will listen to start to finish and come back to again and again through the years are those with the quirks and organic textures that come from working in analog. I believe putting the sound into electrons allows the 'magic' to happen. In a hybird scenario, I will do editing and some basic mix/sound sculpting in the box. These tracks will be stemmed accordingly and mixed Analog.

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

A: Satisfaction Guarantee. I am bored with paint by the numbers technical mixing. If you want the craft you hear in 'old school' albums, this is my passion. If what I bring to the table does not match what you are looking for as an artist, I will not charge and may even reference you to a more appropriate engineer for your needs. I have a teaching salary, I do not want or need to take money from unhappy clients.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love sculpting sounds. Dub mixing is my favorite because the mix is literally coming to life in real time. It is like riding the edge of reality as our time unfolds.

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

A: That it is all magic. It is actually hard work, a lot of gear, and magic.

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

A: Know what you want to achieve as an artist.

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

A: I'd just bang on coconuts and listen to the frogs.

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

A: I started while living in a band house in college. I then went on to work for SFX>Live Nation. I went to Grad School at Southern Illinois where I managed the Pro Tools labs. I toured nationally as a DJ/Producer for years. I got off the road and for the past half decade, I have taught music production, recording arts, and audio production at the University level.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Holographic.

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

A: F.K.A. Twiggs, Die Antwoord, Gorillaz. Because they are not afraid to push the limits.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Less is more

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

A: Electronic. I am interested in working with Electric Blues, Outlaw Country, and of course Funk is fun.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: 10,000 plus hours of knob and fader turning allow me to quickly dial in a sound. Years of critical listening and teaching Audio Engineering have allowed my sense of hearing to develop far beyond your average human.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Vibe

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I am really into building complex sonic spaces uses chains of reverbs and delays. I like phat punchy drums and achieve this out of the box with compression, eq and parallel processing. I find many itb productions lack sonic cohesiveness and often are lifeless I use saturation and time based effects out of the box to create a multidimensional sound stage where everything can be larger than life.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: A lot of patch cables and boxes and knobs and faders and stuff.

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

A: Simon Posford, Alan Parsons, Andy Wallace, Rick Rubin, King Tubby, Lee "Scratch" Perry,

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

A: Mixing. I take cold in the box productions and turn them into a stream of electrons and using traditional studio tools (and sometimes untraditional techniques). I work to blend these sounds into a sonic sculpture that will translate into any listening environment.