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Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Several mixing projects, some orchestral arranging, writing and producing songs.

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

A: Mastering engineer Andres Mayo is a frequent collaborator and my go-to for mastering.

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

A: I'm not stopping until your vision has come to life and it has reached its full potential.

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

A: Listen to examples of mix engineers to see if you like the work they do. See if you can strike up a conversation to see if they're nice people and easy to work with. Besides getting quality work, you want to feel comfortable with someone.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital. The workflow is fast, easy and instantly recallable. Plus, it's near impossible to tell the difference these days.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I get to walk around in someone's sound world and ideas and help improve to the extent that it draws in as many other people as possible.

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

A: That everything is fixable - there's only so far you can go to salvage a bad musical performance.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Besides budget and deadlines - what is your music about? What do you want to bring across?

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

A: 1) A fast Mac 2) Cubase Pro 3) Apollo Twin 4) Eve Audio speakers 5) Lewitt LCT240 microphone

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

A: I’ve been in the music business for over 25 years, first playing guitar, bass and keyboards in bands, then gradually moving to recording and producing in my home studio. As a kid I wanted to be both a classical composer and a rock star. My pursuit of classical music led me to a career as an orchestral composer with many high-profile commissions. I’ve composed music for concert halls, commercials, TV, film and theatre. In recent years my focus has shifted back to pop music - it's never too late to be a rock star. I’m a recording artist under the name Gil Fletcher and I will release my self-produced debut album Fletcherama in 2019. Along the way I've learned the ins and outs of music production and recording. I enjoy putting that knowledge to good use to help others achieve success and greatness.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Bold, outspoken, clever and fearless.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Don't be afraid to strip elements from your production if they don't contribute. You can guide the listener's curiosity but playing with the density of the textures they are hearing. Often times, less is more!

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

A: John Mayer, because he's an awesome songwriter and guitarist who might respond really well to being pushed into unfamiliar territory.

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

A: In spite of my classical background I'm a pop guy at heart, so that's the music I seem to be doing the most.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I have to ability to hear what is not there yet - the things that will improve a song or a mix so that it becomes something special.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring the perspective of an award-winning composer who has composed many pieces for large orchestras. I know how to make music do stuff - to trigger emotions, to make you dance, to make you cry, anything to get your point across.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I load up a song in my mix template in Cubase, and then I putter around in it until it reveals where it needs to go. When my head is rocking and my feet are tapping, I know I'm on to something.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I mix 100% in the box using Steinberg’s Cubase Pro 10. Through the years I’ve used everything from Pro Tools to Logic Pro X and Ableton Live, but I’m by far the fastest as a mix engineer and producer at what I do in Cubase. I love it! My monitoring is done in a treated room through Eve Audio monitors, an Avantone MixCube and a range of cheap and more expensive headphones. I use a wide variety of plugins from Waves, Soundtoys, Fabfilter, Slate Digital, etc.

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

A: I'm inspired by industry greats such as Andrew Scheps, Tchad Blake, Michael Brauer and Warren Huart.

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

A: I mix songs until they sound awesome.