Production, Mixing, Mastering

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

A: Mostly electronica, ambient, experimental, dance, techno, house, drum and bass and dubstep. However I have recorded acoustic acts and mixed down a few bands in the past as well as made hip hop beats for rappers and arrangements for folk/world artists.

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

A: Remixing Peter Gabriel was quite a hype!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm mixing a client's EP and have a few mastering jobs lined up for a couple of labels

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: When I start dancing on my chair after A/B'ing the client demo against my final mix :-)

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

A: I've had a passion for music from early age and started DJing with a friend when I was 12. The passion expanded to production when I was about 19-20 when another friend introduced me to the world of music software. I've always kept all this as a hobby while pursuing different studies (Economics) and career paths until a few years later when I decided to give my full self to music production. It's been almost 15 years now and since then I have learn my craft, I've developed my technique and used it to create and publish my own sound, then I've set up a music technology tuition business which I've run (and still do) for over 10 years and which eventually led me to start working with more people in the music production world.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Be aware of the levels you work at. On top of the obvious hearing damage issues which come with excessively loud volumes there's also an issue of ear fatigue and loss of perspective on what you're hearing. I suggest you work at moderate levels most of the times and turn up you volume only when you really need it. Taking breaks and let your ears rest for a bit is also very important and something I need to get better at myself!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: The process very much depends on the type of job that I'm doing. One common thread is tidying up the material I'm given. I always spend a little bit of time at the beginning of each new session to label and colour all the elements as I listen to them for the first time. This helps me familiarise with the song and be more efficient in my workflow. I've also found that it helps communication with clients, especially in case of revisions, by creating a sort of glossary of the project that we both then use when discussing its details.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: It's centred around a Midas Venice F24 analogue desk where all my instruments go. Its multitrack features allow me to do analogue summing of digital tracks which means making use of its beautiful sounding EQ section. I also have a small selection of analogue, virtual-analogue and digital outboard instruments as well as some industry-standard software tools (check gear list for more details). Recording is done on a Mac Pro using Logic Pro X where I also do most of my other work.

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

A: Brian Eno, Richard Devine, The Orb, dBridge, The Prodigy, Portished, Lee Scratch Perry, Moby, Air, Leftfield, Fink, Aphex Twin and many more

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

A: Most recently I have done quite a lot of ghost production work where my client would provide examples of style and some artist references and I'd go in and produce the whole track from scratch. Mixdowns are also very common. The client would usually send me separate stems of his/her song alongside a demo mix and at least one reference track. I've also done some pre-mix work in the past couple of years where the client would send me his/her studio project (Logic) and I would consolidate all its components, remove unused tracks and instruments, re-route the signal flow more efficiently, fix audio clippings and generally cleanup in preparation for the mixdown session.