Mixing & Mastering, Production

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I just finished mixing a fantastic album by a French/Mexican artist called Paul Bidault.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: My experience and a different perspective.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My control room as designed by the legendary Fritz Fey with a reflexion free zone at the front and has a calibrated full range Dynaudio Air 2.1 system with two Air 20s and a Airbase 12 sub, meaning that I really hear what is going on in your music when mixing and mastering. That combined with a great selection of hardware and plugins as well as my experience enables me to get the best possible sound for your project.

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

A: I have been doing this for almost 20 years now!

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

A: I am especially proud of the the Whiskey Moon Face album, as my partner Rory and I somehow managed to capture their amazing free spirits and managed to make an album and EP in less than three days, which sound beautiful and are true to their sound. That is more their work than mine really, as they are such amazing players but I am still proud of it and listen to it regularly:-)

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: While analogue sounds great if done right, digital does as well (if done right) and is cheaper and easier to run and more flexible. While I unashamedly work on digital only I make sure I use the best mics, pre's and compressors on the way in and most importantly the best musicians with good instruments in a good sounding room... If you get it right at source, digital will capture it and you have a winner! It is all about the song, musicians, room and instruments!

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Working with a wide range of different and interesting people and helping them make great music!

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

A: It might sound a bit obvious but I would probably take my U47, 1176, Rupert Neve preamps and my lovely old Fender Twin.

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

A: It changed over the years. At the moment I do a lot of alternative rock, folk and cabaret, but I am also quite known to have worked in UK and German underground Hip-Hop and electronic music as well as Jazz and film soundtracks.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Listening to and artist and help them make the strongest record possible by helping them using their strengths and overcome their weaknesses. I have plenty of great musicians to call upon to help artists get the sound they want on their record, ideally using real players.

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

A: There are so many amazing people out there! I am lucky enough to have worked with Tony Platt (AC/DC, Bob Marley, Bad Plus) and Gareth Jones (Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Einstürzende Neubauten, Young Dreams), both of which I consider friends, mentors, gurus and personal heroes! Apart from that I am a big fan of Bob Dylan. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Rudy Van Gelder, Jack White, Beethoven, Bach, Shostakovich, Queens of the Stone Age, Snoop Dog, Dr Dre, the Wu-Tang Clan, Massive Töne, David Bowie, NIN, Nick Cave, Portishead, Tricky, Roni Size, Adam F & Aphex Twin also had a big influences on me in no particular order;-)

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

A: It depends on the job, sometimes it is more recording, sometimes mainly mixing and sometimes full on producing, be it as a traditional music producer or as a co-writer.