Paul Talbott on SoundBetter

Recording Engineer with 21 years professional experience in a variety of styles. You name it, I’ve probably put a microphone in front of it at this point.

I'm a recording engineer offering Mixing, Mastering, and a variety of editorial services here. I've been professionally employed (actually feeding and housing myself!) for the past 20 years working on music, commercials, film and television audio post production, and video game soundtracks. I do work from home in a fully treated space, using a combination of analogue summing along with the latest and greatest in digital processing when mixing.

I would be happy to speak with you at your convenience about your next project, and what I can bring to the table in order to make it sound the best that it possibly can. I hope to hear from you soon!

Send me a note through the contact button above.

Credits

AllMusic verified credits for Paul Talbott

Trevor Morris
The Jeff Healey Band
The Jeff Healey Band
The Jeff Healey Band
Disney
Alan Jackson

3 Reviews

Endorse Paul Talbott

by Sang L.
Verified
Amazing, very communicative. Takes time to understand your music, and provides results that sounds good and makes sense.
by Florin M.
Verified
Been great working with Paul. Thanks : )
by danbelland
Verified
Paul was easy to work with, prompt in his replies, and very accommodating. Very happy with the mastering he did on my track!

Interview with Paul Talbott

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: Bekah Simms's latest album that I recorded, edited, mixed, and mastered. Awesome client, excellent music, great players, and it got nominated for a Juno.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Every day is time to hone my skills to be better than they were the day before.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Probably? I need to look around a bit more to see.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Can't it be both?
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I promise I won't make you sound bad.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Every day is something new, and it is seldom boring, unless I'm editing drums.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Q: How are you so pretty? A: Just born that way, baby.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: Not every problem can be fixed in the mix. That being said, unfixable problems have sometimes led to some of my most creative work arounds.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: 1. What are you looking to achieve with this project? 2. When do you need it completed by? 3. Are there any challenges that you foresee? 4. Do you have any references that you'd like it to sound like?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Be able to pay? :) Know what you're looking for while still being open to possibilities, be a good communicator, have a good sense of humour.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: 1. Amphion monitors 2. UAD plugins 3. Tubetech Summing 4. Burl A/D converter 5. Dangerous Compressor
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I've been employed at a number of studios here in Toronto my entire professional career, while also maintaining a healthy sideline doing this music thing, for the past 19 years and counting.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I love my mixes to have a great balance of all of the dimensions, height, width, and depth.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Tom Waits, to experience working with a true artist and gifted songwriter.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Filter everything. BONUS: Make decisions.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Mostly acoustic-based stuff, though I can do some mean rock and rap, if the need arises.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: I have a +4 modifier to all Int rolls.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Good ears, good taste, attention to detail, good gear.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: If it's a piece of music that I'm mixing only, I generally will listen to any rough mixes available, as well as any reference material the client is asking for, and then start building the song from the ground up, learning as I'm going what the music wants to be, based on the clients requests.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: At my home studio, I run a hybrid setup for summing, while also using a fair amount of digital processing. Lots of fun bells and whistles. Monitoring through Amphion speakers with the option of using a sub, or not, depending on my mood. I'm very happy with the results.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Really, there's too many to name. I can draw inspiration and information from just about anything, though if forced at gunpoint to name some favourites.. Favourite musician would be Tom Waits, recording engineer would be Al Schmitt, producer would be Rick Rubin.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I do a wide variety of work, depending on the client. For my classical music work, it generally involves recording, editing, mixing, and mastering. For other popular music I generally do the recording, editing, and mixing, though I have been known to handle only the editing and mix duties from time to time. I've been a score wrangler on a number of films where I handled all of the music prelay setup for scoring, running Pro Tools during orchestra records, handle the editing of the score, and be present on the mix stage to help with that. I've done extensive Beat Detective work and tuning work for other clients. Basically, I can do, and have done, a lot of stuff.