Zed Smon on SoundBetter

Hi, music has been my passion from my youth days. I see music as storytelling. My job as a mixer is to make your story shine. I ve started in 1993 in Jacobs studios UK. After working there as trainee assistant with many big name sessions and producers, I gradually shifted my work to freelancing in UK and latter throughout Europe and Scandinavia.

I mix music and its there where I can bring most value to the table. In my approach I expose the emotional story of the music and make it engaging to the listener. For me its the analogy of telling a story. It has to be told wholeheartedly to engage a listener. So its like that with music for me. I take about 2/3 days on a track and revisions are included in price. I am not among fastest mixers but for me its not about quantity but rather quality. Normally after initial discussion, I get to a stage where it start to sound good to my ears and its then we have some bouncing back and forth with discussion, then I get onto final tweaks. You end up with any desired format of final mix file.

Click the 'Contact' above to get in touch. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Credits

8 Reviews

Endorse Zed Smon

by Ivan Seuckens
Uncle Meat, underneath. Great job!
by Chris Gordon
I have known Zed for over twenty years and we have worked on many projects together. As a Producer/Engineer/Mixer I rate him as highly as anyone I have worked with (Rich Costey, Mark "Spike" Stent, Atticus Ross, Steve Fitmaurice). He is a fabulous human being with a cracking sense of humour and it's always a pleasure to be in a studio with him.
by Alex R. (Jardier)
Zed is an extremely intuitive guy when it comes to producing as well as mixing. When working with him, you can tell he's a musician by heart and moreover he's got years worth of knowledge and experience. He's a creative guy who knows how to push boundaries and how to get the best out of an artist and his work.
by Per Lindholm
I worked with Zed Smon on four albums with Kent. It was a true pleasure both on a creative and personal level. Zed is a great producer and mixing engineer who brings out the best from the artist and also a wonderful person who apart from his talent brings a positive vibe and energy to the studio.
by Marcus Pehrsson
Zed is a great guy with a lot of experience and skills! Just the fact that he produced 3 of the biggest albums in Sweden ever (with band Kent, "Isola" "Hagnesta Hill" and "Vapen & Ammunition") says it all! Been working with Zed this spring with my band www.wcbae.com and Zed's knowledge along with the "easy going" communication is nothing but great!
by Uroš Buh
Nowadays, when most of the music production is based behind a computer, producers are rarely worth the name and are more of a computer software experts... For me, Zed is a producer with a Big P: first a musician, a great human being, a psychiatrist, a friend and an amazing magician between the analog source and the digital sound.
by Miha Guštin
My expiriance working with Zed is, that he is never satisfated only with OK , he wants from music to be better, the best and great ... as an artist in the recording studio I always felt comfortable and save ... He knows absolutly how to make music shine...that's whay I like working with Zed

Gušti
by Luc Van Acker
"Zed Smon" is simply the nicest person on the planet to work with, who will bring out the best in you and help you reach your goals as a recording artist. He has worked on an international level in the biggest studios and has now his own place. As a studio- manager I have hired his services for many Top high profile recordings.

Interview with Zed Smon

Q: What's your typical work process?
A: After initial discussion of idea with client, I go through a phase of trying many approaches to the mix of particular song, until i find one that "clicks", from there onwards its focused work to pull that vision through..
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I guess it would be all Kent albums that I was producer/engineer/mixer. They came out special after a lot of hard work and went successful..but quite proud of Jardier album that I produced and mixed recently..it has great storytelling moment shining through music...but thinking about it all of them have some great moments and also some hard moments in making..
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: It helps my job enormously if the vision of the song sound wise and performance wise is captured in recording stage with right production in place..
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I ve started in 1993 in Jacobs studio in Uk as a trainee assistant, since then it has been a great adventure that took me to many big studios of Uk, Eu and Scandinavia and working with many talented artists/musicians across europe..
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Chaotic at beginning when I search for best form for a mix, then very focused till finnish
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: It differs, but redline is always strong expressive elements that pulls me in..
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I guess ability to expose its strongest potential
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: Have a great room coupled with superb Me Geithain speakers, that allow me to hear in great detail..I use D command with Protools for the rest
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Mixing for a young and upcoming local band, explosive energy meet 60s sort of style:)
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Digital those days. Pros outweight the cons for me in todays workflow...
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Freedom to be creative
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Usually is some insecurities regarding some parts of the song/performances. I give honest answer from listener perspective
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: My ears, my Me Geithain speakers, laptop, gtr and coles ribbon mic
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Try not to solo while working on a mix, try to work within a picture as much as possible. Keep you monitoring level constant..
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Its mainly mixing those days, i still take on full productions occasionally...
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, Bowie, Tom Elmhirst
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Yes..Stefan Bauman
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I ll work hard to achive their vision and take it to a next level
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That its only fun:)
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What is their vision of a song/album
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: :) it changes a lot but I like a lot of 4AD label rooster
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Finding unique elements of artist/music and letting those shine through..