Mixing and Mastering Engineer

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

A: I've recently worked with a band named Affaire for their third record for Perris Records, a US Label specialized in 80s sounding Hard Rock. I helped in the songwriting, produced and mixed, and it was mastered by Phil Brewster

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm currently finishing the album of my band The Bateleurs, that I co-write, played bass, produced and mixed, and we'll be sending it to Infrasonic Studios in Nashville for mastering.

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

A: I work closely with Marcello, one of the top singers of Soundbetter. He is one of the best musicians I ever had the privilege to work with, and his professionalism is beyond anything I've ever seen. I definitely recommend everyone to work with him. I also work a Lot with Alex VanTrue, another amazing singer and I also recommend him strongly

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I work mainly in digital when I'm mixing and mastering, but tracking wise, it's always better to rely in the analog approach. I do what the project requires, without any kind of prejudice

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

A: I love to provide a service to the customer that makes him/her feel that their vision for the project is totally fulfilled, and I always make sure that they will want to work with me again

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love when someone approaches me with a rough idea and we work together to really bring it to the best form possible. I work much better with other people around me, and the bouncing of ideas back and forth is really the secret to make every song great

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

A: I’d love to have a chance to work with Jay Buchanan of Rival Sons. I think is one of the most talented singers around, and I love his old school vibe

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

A: A bass, a guitar, a soundcard, a laptop and a microphone, and I will be happy writing music the whole time

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

A: The first time I was hired to produce a project was in the late 90’s, and I worked a lot with local independent labels, mainly in the Metal/Punk genre. Later I started working as a session bass player, and I had the privilege to work with some of the biggest names in the industry of my country. More recently I started to work producing in a more international level, working with labels from the USA and UK

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I love Rock’n’Roll, Blues and the old school approach. I prefer to bet everything on the performance of the musicians instead of studio magic and tricks; I avoid overuse of pitch correction and quantize tools because I believe they tend to suck the life out of the music

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: One of the first things I learned is, most of the times, the pre-production is the key. You can experiment and figure out almost everything in a project and make sure that when you go to the studio to get the final tracks layed down, you can be totally focused on the objectives and not waste time going around in circles

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

A: I mainly work in Rock, Hard Rock, Blues/Rock, but I’m also very comfortable in many genres of Metal and Punk/Hardcore. I’ve done also a lot of Pop-Rock and acoustic pop, and pretty much everything with real instruments played by real people, the new stuff like EDM and hip hop are really not my style

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I work as producer and engineer for more than 20 years, but I’ve been a session musician far longer, and if it’s needed, I can recall all that expertise to really add value to the project, being just helping the musicians involved, or recording parts myself

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Because I’m also a musician, I have skills that can really solve a lot of problems in a project, be them in the arrangement or even in the songwriting process. I try that the client is satisfied 100% of the times

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: It depends on my involvement in the project; if I’m producing, I like to do a very throughly pre-production, it really simplifies everything else. If I’m mixing, I try to have the most info possible from the client, his expectations, reference tracks, to be sure we are on the right direction from the start

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work mainly in my home studio, where I use Steinberg Cubase, Focusrite Hardware and Waves plugins; when needed, I have a network of local studios that I hire, for tracking purposes mainly

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

A: I’m a huge fan of David Cobb, his work with Rival Sons and Chris Stapleton is my biggest inspiration nowadays

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

A: I’m a producer and sound engineer, and also session bass and guitar player

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

A: The most common one is about the delivery times. Everybody always want to see fast results, and I always try to keep up with their expectations, but never compromising the quality of the final result

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

A: The classic phrase “will fix it in the mix” is the biggest lie in music industry

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: The most important is to find out what is the goal of the project, both artistically and commercially

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

A: Be sure to have a clear picture of what you’re trying to do with your project. Collect references and try to picture where you’re heading. It’s important to keep focused and avoid wasting precious time chasing for something you don’t know what it is