Mix Engineer

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Constantly listening to new music every day. Mixing is the perfect blend of art meeting science of course.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What are your influences? What's your favourite album at the moment? When do you need it by? Is there anything in particular you'd want me to look at?

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

A: Q : "Can you fix this bad [something]?" A: "Leave it with me, I do like a challenge....!" Q : "When can you start?" A: "To be honest, it'll probably be about a 4 week wait...."

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A DVD mix for FM, a new album for Mike Marlin, a few bits and bobs with my old mate Barry Blue, a production music library for Warners. Not much time for sleeping at the mo!

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

A: Probably! I'm still checking the site out.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Recording, analogue. Mixing, digital. I started working when 2" tape was very much the norm so it's something I'm very comfortable with. But I do love the unabashed power of ProTools.

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

A: That anyone can do it with the right plug-ins.

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

A: I'd probably be dead within days! But If I could only have 5 pieces of equipment in a studio they would be: U67, 1073, 1176, a super powerful MacBook Pro with a half-decent soundcard and ProTools. Am I allowed a coffee machine?

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

A: I prefer working with things that have "real" instruments recorded as they're the most interesting and challenging to mix.

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

A: Depending on the size of the project and the budget, try and get the same song mixed by 3 separate, unrelated engineers. You can never be sure which one will be the best for the whole project until you've heard how different things can sound.

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

A: Trevor Horn was the big one in the '80s of course. When I started working in studios I got to meet/work with a lot of my producer-heroes such as Nigel Godrich, John Leckie, Steve Osborne, etc. Brian Eno is still unsurpassable. I always like checking out new music - Christine and Queens, Wolf Alice, Macca's latest. I can bore people for hours about The Beatles.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Depends on what the client is after, but with a free rein I would go for punch, warmth, clarity, and depth.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Deep and crisp and even.

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

A: David Bowie. Too late now....

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Get the vocals right!

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I have a very good sense of pitch, to the point that it can kind of freak people out sometimes.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I have a pretty robust system that's evolved over the years: secretarial (sorting tracks etc), getting a "fader up" balance, and then working on all tracks from there. Sometimes I'll save things like vocal tuning for later in the day. I'm not really someone who uses the solo button much once the mixing's underway....

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I now work in a treated room with a very powerful computer running thousands of pounds' worth of plug-ins and a few small choice pieces of outboard, monitoring mainly through the PMC AML-1s.

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

A: Mixing mainly. Which also usually involves a fair degree of tuning, comping, timing, etc.