Remote Mixing

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I recieve a studio (or maybe concert-live) recorded sources audio-files from client, after that - it's an individual process of mixing music for that client. After mixing the 1-st song, it becomes clear whether it is worth continuing to work further. If the client is not happy with the result, communication can be stopped for future mixes, client may pay for one song mixing, since working-time wasted. If the client is happy with the result for 1-st song mixed, client pay for this work, and It's good to continue to work with client for future requests.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Is that an old school rock / heavy rock / punk / thrash / heavy metal audio-material they need for my style of mixing, if I don't know anything about their previous releases (demos, singles, EPs, or albums) before I hear any audio-demos with that they want to deal with me to make a mix, and if they did not describe music-style in writing? How many songs and maximum instrument tracks per song in their project in that rock songs exists, if they not tell about that in a request? And finally before work beginning I ask to send me all audio-sources tracks (correctly prepared after recording, of course). An example of correctly prepaired sources-pack per each song in project (Album, EP, Several songs, Single song): [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_01 Kick Out.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_02 Kick In.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_03 Snare Top.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_04 Snare Bottom.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_05 Overhead L.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_06 Overhead R.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_07 Tom L.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_08 Tom R.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_09 HiHat.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_10 Room.wav (24 or 16 bit stereo (or mono-room) track); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_11 Bass.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track) (DI, or your own Amped (optional)); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_12 Guitar Main L.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track) (DI, or your own Amped (optional)); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_13 Guitar Main R.wav (24 or 16 bit mono track) (DI, or your own Amped (optional)); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_14 Guitar Solo 1.wav (24 or 16 bit mono/stereo track) (DI, or your own Amped (optional)); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_15 Guitar Solo 2.wav (24 or 16 bit mono/stereo track) (DI, or your own Amped (optional)); [Song Title]_or/and_["Song No.**"]_16 Vocal.wav (24 or 16 bit mono/stereo track) (DI, or your own Processed (optional)). All tracks preffered in 44.1 kHz sampling frequency (It's an Audio-CD standard), prepared (recorded & exported/rendered) from the same beginning time-point!

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

A: I make mixes of underground heavy music styles from 2010. At first I started with collab-covers. Then I played in a bands with mixing experience. In DAW mixing I want to help those bands who cannot mix anything by themselves, for an adequate prices, if any bands needs that style of mixing I do, cause I have an experience to work with live garage-metal-band, live instrument recorded punk-rock, and other projects.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: A style of making audio-mixing I use in my mixing works (individual results for client's specific sound tastes are trying to be achieved if any personal wishes for sound character & mixing balance exists). Before and during playing in my 1-st Metal band I never mixed a live drums recorded on good professional mics, like Shure, Marshall, Sennheiser, etc. After mixing a Zlaya Ryba bonus tracks through SoundBetter I have mixed a drums recorded on professional mics, so good recorded drums is a perspective to my progress in mixing quality. Also, after re-mixing some ARHAT-Band demos in the end of 2019, I tried to get a more modern-mixing style with sampled drums, than was before on demos. My new works with Rock/Punk mixing are added in my mixing-portfolio time to time, so they can show evolution of my mixing style. And, as for any creative work, sometimes some haters of sound I reach in my mixes exists, and some likers of sound I reach in my mixes exists, that's a normal thing.

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

A: For every song, at first I check a phase on every live-drum track to make drums waves coherent. Then I clear a drum tracks from not needed intrusion to each other mics. Then I check a bass-line to be played & recorded groovy over drums. Than I check rhythm-guitars to be played & recorded groovy over drums and bass. Then I clear a guitar solos tracks from not needed beginning and end noises. Then I do the same with vocal tracks. After all project tracks prepearing - I begin to process a tracks in a mix-project with plugins and automations. And I don't make a manual corrections of vocal-pitch or any instrument-pitch of your sources, cause I prefer to mix a true rock music "as is" in it's pitch, so if any pitch-tuning needed - it can be done with sources on client's-side by any tuning-engineer before I get a sources audio-files.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I'm a bass player, so I love to make bass audible in Rock/Metal mix not like a bass frequency only, but like a heavy instrument, so almost always I use multi-band-processed bass-tracks (for instance: low-clean-bass + hi-crunch-bass), mixed in single bass-track in audio-projects. Even if a clients recorded a Punk-Rock with MIDI-sampled Bass-guitar, I use this technique for bass-processing to make more crunchy bass sound.

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

A: No one off-site people can hear what you are mixing before your own full release. I don't spread (send through internet) a mixed music to anybody from side peoples, who are not from that client (that rock band representative who need my mix). I can use your mixed cuts examples in my SoundBetter portfolio (or mixes in my Private-links music portfolio-streams like SoundCloud) only after that recordings released by that band, or only with agreement with client to place here on SoundBetter an examples-cut before client released that full songs in any album (or to place some mixes in my Private-links music portfolio-streams like SoundCloud).

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: DAW. Why? Cause I'm a mixing engineer, who use VST (or JS) Plugins for audio-processing (analog modeling included in some of them, when using compressors, amp-sims, etc.). My REAPER DAW is personally licensed to me. All VST and VSTi plugins I use now is personally licensed to me or freeware and don't need to purchase licenses. So non-pirated OS & Software now used for work with client's audio-content.

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

A: Iron Maiden ("Iron Maiden" and "Killers" albums), Sepultura ("Schizophrenia" and "Arise" albums), Motorhead ("Ace Of Spades" album), Black Sabbath ("Paranoid" and "Heaven and Hell" albums), Deep Purple ("In Rock" and "Fireball" albums), Slayer ("Show No Mercy" and "Undisputed Attitude" albums), The Offspring ("Smash" album), The Exploited ("Beat The Bastards" album), Entombed ("Wolverine Blues" album), Nirvana ("Bleach" album), Kyuss ("Welcome to Sky Valley" album).

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

A: Any projects where I'm a bass player or mixing engineer.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: It's any mixes-cut you hear in my audio-track example, all first 4 albums of factotum-band, and mixes in "More Samples" from my SoundCloud insertion on this site.

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

A: Heavy Rock, Heavy Metal, Punk Rock, Old School Thrash Metal & Death 'n' roll, Groove Metal, Heavy Instrumental, Heavy ProgRock Instrumental, Heavy Stoner, Heavy Grunge.

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

A: 0) Nothing that work from electricity or batteries; 1) Acoustic bass-guitar; 2) Case for bass; 3) Clipper for cut strings to change; 4) Set of acoustic bass-guitar strings; 5) Nail scissors (I'm fingerstyle player and need to cut nails periodically).

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Like mixing engineer and bass player - Making mixes for a band I leave in 2018 "FACTOTUM", bonus-mixes for "Zlaya Ryba" Siberian Punk-Rock Band, some Remixed and Remastered songs from ARHAT Metal-Band Demos in 2019, new mix (Version 2019) of song "Long Live Rock ’n’ Roll" (Rainbow Cover) for TWILIGHT OF HUMANITY Tribute-Band. Like bass player only - Making covers on my YouTube Channel (Search for "PaVliiQ" there).

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: REAPER DAW, MAGIX Music Studio, M-Audio Fast Track, SENNHEISER HD 280 pro 64Ohm, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 2nd Gen, nEar 08 by ESI, TAKSTAR HD 5500

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

A: Every initiate non-commercial bands, that don't know how to mix independent by yourself and even don't know how to mix a groovy sounded demos. And with every artist, who needs my style of sound-mixing.

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

A: Need a mixing in my style of mixing? Write me.