Russell Cottier on SoundBetter

Record Producer Russell Cottier is based in England near Liverpool but is available for projects internationally. He has worked for Chart Topping artists and Labels.

Record Producer Russell Cottier is based in England near Liverpool and has worked with Chart Topping artists and Clients such as The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sony, Sky TV, Nuclear Blast Records, Cavern Records, Playboy Channel

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Credits

12 Reviews

Endorse Russell Cottier

by Path Unknown
We are working with Russell on our forthcoming album. So far we have recorded 3 tracks with him, he is the first Producer to really get our sound and has managed to tap into our influences and bring the best out of us. Russell clearly knows his stuff, has a natural need to get things sounding the best he can. Friendly, professional and no bull!
by Craig Mac
I have recorded a number of times with Russ and it's always been fun and produced really good results. In addition to knowing what he is doing technically he listens to what I am looking for and is very good at getting the sounds I want whilst adding the professional edges to them. A very easy going guy, great to work with. Highly recommended.
by David Ainsley
Russ is a great recording engineer and also a talented musician, as well as being a lovely guy to work with. When he recorded Orange Zebra, we were delighted.
by Jon Jefford
I worked with Russ on my band DeepSeaGreen's third album, he was very knowledgable about music in general as well as being very open to ideas with regards to our recording. He worked long hours to make sure we got the record we wanted by the deadline.
by Tom W.
A great guy who is very professional and very thorough. Easy and fun to work with, I'd recommend Russ to anyone looking to record!
by Peter O'connor
I have had the pleasure of working with Russ for a few years now, not only on projects involving bands I play for but also sessioning. Russ is a very accomplished engineer/ producer and is regarded very highly by myself and other artists I know. One of the points that makes Russ a step above other engineers is he's also a very talented musician.
by Sparrowhawks
A great bloke and great professional. Russ mixed and mastered 3 tracks for us, which brought the best out of our EP - we've since has major UK radio play and extensive media interest. Definitely recommended.
by Kev Lockhart
Worked with Russell for a very enjoyable weekend in Dec 2012 recording my band's first serious EP. We ended up with a highly professional sounding record which was mixed to perfection for our genre. Russell was very friendly, had a great sense of humour and clearly has great musical knowledge as well as technical recording expertise.
by Steven Casey
Worked with Russ a few years ago recording an EP with an old band I was in, and I couldn't recommend him highly enough! Great quality of work, great mixing and overall sound quality. On a personal level he was fun to work with and you can have a laugh with him and in that way it doesn't really feel like work. Very professional!
by Aaron Sherlock
Russ was recommended to me by a friend to produce our first demo, we were pleased with the end result , and he was also open for ideas and came up with some great professional ideas of his own. Will definitely be working with russ again.
by Andy Cowan
I'd worked with Russ previously when I recorded an EP with my band, So when i decided to record my Solo album Russ was the man for the job. Very professional and a pleasure to work with. I would recommend him to all artists whether just starting out, experienced, bands or solo acts.
by Stephen Farquhar
It was a very relaxed and enjoyable experiance, Russ was very professonal and he knows his job well , we were all put at ease from the getgo over all would recomend Russ .

Interview with Russell Cottier

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I produced and mixed a record at Abbey Road (yes the Beatles room) of a top flight orchestra (RPO) playing instruments that I made ( along with some amazing instrument makers) out of gas and electricity meters. Wild! It's called A Requiem For Meters....check it out on youtube.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: A synthwave record for a major broadcaster.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Not sure yet
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Boring question. Listeners don't care. I'll use whatever is appropriate for the poject. Next question please.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I will consider your record as "our" record, meaning I will give it everything I possibly can to make it great.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Making records that sound great.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Who have you worked with? I am incredibly fortunate to have worked with all sorts of chart topping artists ranging from The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to Black metal legends Dimmu Borgir and musicians instrumental in the creation of genres like Glam Rockers of Slade, Merseybeat heros (The Big Thee) and many, many project s from classic labels like Tamoki and Trojan records. I've had the pleasue of working with amaing artist, from Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Imposters) to folk stars like Bellowhead and Blazin' Fiddles. Reggae superstars Sly and Robbie, I've done tracks for Sky sports, pop tracks for TV, video games and film, Disney, Sony and even the Playboy Channel.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: People talk about turd polishing.....or rolling it in glitter. I don't go in for that. If something is wrong I work with clients to fix it at source. I'd rather get a musician to rething their part than try to EQ it and squeeze it into a mix. Then the mix is easy and powerful.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What do you want to achieve? Who is the audience? Release date? Budget? What appoach are you most comfortable with?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Talk to the producer/mixer. Check out their style and if you like what they do then listen to their advice and expertise.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Some kind of radio/satcom phone. Solar generator. Large cruise ship Water purifier One of those little zoom recorders to get some cool sounds before I radio for help. I love recording but i'm not stupid.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I started recording as a child, went on to play in bands. I did a degree in sound recording, graduated with a first class honours, worked in severl studios was signed to a few indie labels toured etc. Eventually after a stint as chief engineer in one studio I branched out to produce and work for myself. That was 2006.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Elvis, Why? Well I know it can never happen now but to have been around back then, ground breaking stuff.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Yes, always back up your work....seriously I've seen a lot of musicians loose drives/computers over the years. Fortunately I keep an archive of everything that I can so I've helped out more than a few clients/labels over the years.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: All sorts really, Pop, metal orchestral. I've worked with chart topping pop musicians, folk award winners, platinum selling metal bands, world class orchestras and many more.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Modesty. ;)
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: 20 years of industry experience working with chart topping, grammy award winning and world class artists gives you a good sense of what works and what doesn't. If the client needs help right from the ground up I will offer that. Getting a good foundation before moving on to the structural work of the song. Noboddy ever hummed the sound of an EQ...that stuff is for me to worry about and when done right the artist will be completely freed from all that stress.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: My workflow is simple: Make record Can this record be any better? If yes then make it better Release record But seriously, I work extensively with production and mix clients to understand their needs and guide them to a commercially viable or artistically groudbreaking vision of the target result. Then we just make that record. Easy!
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Those that only produce the best possible work. Joe Barresi, Sylvia Massy, Ken Scott so many behind thes scenes folks who most would not recognise.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Predominately I am a record producer, recording and mixing both in the studio with artists but also across the world remotely.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I work in a number of high end studios across the UK and Europe but I aldo have a private studio where I do much of my remote work, you can see this on my youtube channel. So much gear ranging form my Amek large format console, high end audio converters (Antelope, Steinberg) and my trusty monitors through to my vintage 80s gear penchant. Classic 1987 digital reverbs, all sorts of vintage reel to reel tape machines, classic and modern synths and a big box of soundmaking toys.