Expert Mixing & Mastering

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

A: While working at Uranus Recording of Tempe, as part of a ‘Live and Rare’ series, I was able to record, mix, and master several national and international acts. Some of my favorites were Phoenix, Gin Blossoms, American Authors, Ed Sheeran, CHVRCHES and Social Distortion.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Although we’re located in Seattle and working with an increasing number of local artists, we are also still working with a lot of Arizona based clients.

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

A: The answer is YES. Me!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I refuse to choose! I work in both worlds and wouldn't have it any other way.

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

A: That they will get my best work. But also that I listen to their music... from a true listener’s perspective. Several of my favorite bands are bands I've worked with.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I get to do something that surrounds me with music and lets me be creative… what else can you ask for? I’m actually getting paid to do something I love!

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

A: For a long time it was 'can you make it THIS loud?', but things are changing a bit. Now, more clients want to make sure their music is going to sound incredible on all different formats (streaming, vinyl, etc). We can do loud better than anyone else, but always opt for ‘super-good’ over ‘super-loud’.

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

A: That mastering is just plug and play. I think a lot of people feel that a mastering engineer just does the same thing to everything and it's just about the equipment, which is far from the truth. We approach every single project individually, and although our gear is some of the best available, our ears and experience are what make the biggest difference.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Once again communication is everything. For example, what are they are hoping to accomplish sonically? What is the timeline, budget, sonic preferences, and overall goals. In short, we like to understand what the artist envisions as the absolute end product.

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

A: Be as honest and upfront as possible. Make sure you’re clear on where you are in the process, your budget, and timeline. Communication is key!

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

A: If I was stranded on a desert island the last thing I would want is gear ha ha! But to answer your real question, I don’t think I would want to go without my Focal speakers, Crane Song converters, Elysia analog processors, Mac Mini or Oppo PM-3 headphones.

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

A: I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years. After recording my own band as kid for several years, I decided to pursue a career in the recording industry. I simply wanted to be the pro behind the boards during my band's sessions. By the time I was working with Gin Blossoms I had gone from recording focused to favoring the mixing and mastering part of the process.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I’m a bit of a chameleon! My style is almost entirely dictated by the artist and genre I’m working with. Generally speaking, I am not stuck in any one camp, for example “all analog”, “all digital”, or all anything.

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

A: It would be very hard to boil this down to one artist, but Deftones would be one of the obvious ones for us - we have both always loved their songs and musical approach.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Easy- Don’t over complicate or over think things too much! My best work usually happens quickly and instinctually. I try to take breaks often and switch to another task the second I lose inspiration or judgement. The longer we work on something, the more we lose sight of the forest through the trees. The second we have too much time to think about it all, the tougher everything becomes.

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

A: We work with almost every style of music, but lately it has been predominantly in the heavier rock, pop, R&B and hip-hop genres. That being said, we are open to new styles and have experience in most types of music and spoken word productions.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I think my strongest skill is being able to quickly and honestly identify strengths and weaknesses in the overall production and then improve it efficiently. In broader terms, I think my ears and experience have evolved to a point where it is easy for me to get things right the first time. I hope that doesn't sound too pompous!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring everything I have! Depending on the needs of a project, I can do anything from just reviewing and mastering the final mix, all the way to mixing the song myself, and in some cases I have even contributed songwriting ideas and musical performances.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I've got a unique process in that my brother Brandon is also my assistant engineer, bandmate and business partner. He speaks with the clients first, in order to get a good understanding of where they are in the process, and find out what exactly they're looking for. If everything is a good match for everyone involved, he then reviews all of their materials and provides me with his notes and basic stats for the project. That way I can get to work with all the info I need, but with fresh, unbiased ears. Once I have a complete mix or master for the client to review, I send it off to Brandon to double-check my work and then get it to the client.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: In the most basic of terms, our studio is a “hybrid” setup. This means that it is a combination of digital and analog technologies, configured to bring out the best of both worlds. We have a few really nice analog compressors and equalizers, connected to extremely high-end converters, with multiple DAWs, hundreds of plugins and some additional tricks up our sleeves. For most mixing and mastering situations, basic processing and summing happens “out of the box”, in the analog domain, which we feel makes a very noticeable difference.

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

A: Wow, that is a tough question! I am not sure where to start here, especially because it depends on whether you’re talking about recording, mixing and/or mastering. For mastering I would have to mention Ted Jensen, Bob Ludwig, Bob Katz, Brian Lucey and more than anyone - my friend Warren Sokol. For mixing and/or recording some great examples would be (in no particular order) - Terry Date, Steve Albini, Andy Wallace, Sylvia Massy, Joe Barresi and Brendan O’Brien.

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

A: Lately, I would say about 75% of our work is mastering and the rest is mixing, with a dash of recording thrown in. The mastering of singles and full-length albums is our “bread and butter” here at Fuzzywallz, but I really love mixing and even tracking (recording), if the situation is right.