Cyrille Totozafy

Remote mixing engineer

Cyrille Totozafy on SoundBetter

French speaking remote mixing engineer. Remote Billboard top 5 and UK musicweek top 11 A&R. Pop, Rock, Folk, Electro and all in between. Not classical. Je mixe vos projets à distance sur Pro Tools, tous styles de musique sauf Hip Hop, Dance music et Classique. Travail soigné et rapide.

More than 25 years of experience, having worked on SSL 4000 E/G, 9000, Neve VR60, Laffont, Trident, 3348 Sony, even 2 inches analog tapes. Now I work all in the box though I can pass some mixes or stems in analog if necessary and if the budget allows it.
I can mix your music from stems, individual tracks or from Pro Tools sessions.
I clean up, re-tune vocals, mix and deliver from 44.1/16 to 192/floating 32

I can also A&R and executive produce your project.

I had these charts as an A&R but not as a mixing engineer, let's be fair ;)
Billboard top 5, 12, 13, 23 with Consuelo Costin
UK top 11 with Consuelo Costin and Greg Barata
German top 40 with Consuelo Costin and Greg Barata
Italy top 10 sales with Anggun
French top 10 in radio with Jennifer Paige/Lââm
Scandinavia top 20 with Johanna Siekkinen
Belgium NRJ top 20 with Basada feat Aspen
and more

Plus de 25 ans d'expérience de DA et en mix. Je peux nettoyer vos pistes, éditer les voix, les ajuster ou m'occuper du mixe complet que je vous envoie au choix de 44.1/16 au 192/32 flottant.

Would love to hear from you. Click the contact button above to get in touch.

Interview with Cyrille Totozafy

  1. Q: What's your strongest skill?

  2. A: My experience and my musicality. I was a musician before being a technician. Having mixed and produced a large variety of styles from Pop to electro to world music to indie rock, I spot and resolve issues pretty much quickly. I am good at giving the right dimension to vocals and to ambiences.

  3. Q: What's your typical work process?

  4. A: I put a click on. If there is a guide mix, I listen to the mix. I listen to the competitors of this genre and of this kind of mix. Then I put together a first pass mix interpreting my understanding of the spirit of the guide mix. And I then work the details, like depth, liveness, emotion etc until I reach the mix I want. I listen for several days in different locations with different set ups. Then I send to the client for review.

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

  6. A: I do mixing generally. Pretty much often I have to edit the vocals to remove noises or to duplicate parts when needed. I also tune correct the vocals with pitch, melodyne or autotune/wavetune, I can tune a whole part or just use autotune in only selected moments to design the sound or to accentuate emotion. I rhythm correct if needed. I can also "heal" mixes. In this case it's a bit more expensive if I have to solve issues like super harshness or compression/EQ issues from stems that are already EQ'd, compressed, reverb'd etc. In these cases I kind of have to reinvent the wheel.

  7. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  8. A: Both. I come from an analog ground. I love the organic feel, the softness and the story it tells with sound. But analog cannot work for everything especially when you have tons of tracks, or a lot of editing/tune correction in a short time frame. Full analog can be too soft and too dark in certain contexts, with a lack of impact sometimes. It's a case by case thing. Digital for its flexibility and space saving capabilities. Digital for precision and instant total recall. The end result is pretty much close in more and more cases. Best is a bit of the two, analog for richness and air, digital for precision and speed.

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

  10. A: To have a mix that speaks and that reveals your universe, your unique talent.

  11. Q: What do you like most about your job?

  12. A: Music ! Stories, making people happy, feel better with music and sound.

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

  14. A: That everything can be easily and quickly resolved with a mix ;)

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

  16. A: I have been doing this for more than 25 years. I started in the analog area, working with 2 inches studers, MCIs, with Triden consoles, Neve VR60 consoles, SSLE consoles, Soundcraft, Soundtracks, Lafont and more. I have been doing session at Artistic Palace studios Paris, Twin Studios Paris etc. I used back in the day 3348 Sony, I preferred X850 Mitsubishi sonically and then DA88 and ADAT or even AKAI DRs, DATs and all the used stuff in these times. Now I am using DAWs (I have been mixing albums on Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools) all in the box or with external gears like Manley Vari-Mu, Fearn, GML, Avalon, Pultecs, Tubetechs, Focusrite ISA and Red, series AD8000 from Apogee etc. So I have a 2021 approach with a rich vintage background as well.

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

  18. A: Alexandra Cherrington "Free as the wind" album, mixes. Not So Pink (not released), production, mixes Yves Carini "The way you are" to be released later this year, with Jorge Calandrelli/Randy Waldman, A&R

  19. Q: What are you working on at the moment?

  20. A: An album for artist Lasha France, EP for an artist in LA and more

  21. Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

  22. A: Which DAW do you use ? Which set up ? Which final use to you consider for the mix ? BPM and key ? Deadline ? How many individual tracks ?

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

  24. A: CLA said "a mix is an opinion", I really agree with that. Be prepared to have another opinion on your music. Also make sure everything is clear, clean and separated unless you know exactly what you are doing. It makes things go quicker and better. Prepare a reference track or a reference mix or a rough mix if you want things to go to a specific direction.

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

  26. A: PT HDX2 (if considered a piece of gear) Tube tech CL1B Fearn preamp Avalon 747 Apogee convertors

  27. Q: What do you bring to a song?

  28. A: I bring to a song emotion first and excitement. This is my first and only goal. People have to listen and listen again discovering details every time. I try to get something happening in the mix emotionally every 5-10 seconds.

  29. Q: Can you share one music production tip?

  30. A: Sure. When you use a valve mic preamp, be attentive on the temperature of the preamp. Too cold the sound is harsh, too hot everything gets saturated. You have a sweet spot of 2/3 hours where the sound is warm, rich and slightly compressed. Also guys don't compress vocals if you don't exactly know what you are doing. It results in lots of editing, with fade in/fade out, expansion, syllable per syllable vocal editing that adds to the initial cost of the mix.

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

  32. A: Bruce Swedien for his out of this world sharpness, Al Schmidt, CLA, Chad Blake, Bob Clearmountain, Humberto Gatica, Tony Maserati, Andy Wallace and others.

  33. Q: How would you describe your style?

  34. A: I try to cultivate my own style but if you like Serban Ghenea, Bruce Swedien and Clearmoutain, you will probably like what I do.

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

  36. A: Folk, pop folk, acoustic rock, electro indie rock, trip hop, acoustic pop, electro pop, traditional, world music.

  37. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  38. A: For now I have a in the box set up based on Pro Tools, SSL soundcard. Lots of Waves plug ins, Kush plug ins, Acustica, Rev-A, things like that. Soon Oxford and Apogee/RME stuff. I work on HS7 and Tannoy Reveal 502 monitors.

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