Mikael Landen on SoundBetter

Being a perfectionist with a special love for imperfections, you can be confident in receiving a well balanced, but alive and breathing production/mix. Mixed since 2007. I always aim for my mixes to serve the song rather than surgical sound improvements. I have mostly worked with lo-fi pop, pop, folk, indie and hip-hop

I'm a music fanatic with an addiction to learning. Those learnings have served my biggest passion since 2007 - Mixing and producing. Studied three years of Music Production + one year on SAE Institute Stockholm. Fan of many genres, but for some reason, I discover The Beatles two times a year.

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Credits

4 Reviews

Endorse Mikael Landen

by Christian Börjesson /John Död
Mikael är ljudskruvandets stora mästare som vrider och vänder på allt tills perfektion är uppnådd. Vi har jobbat med honom sedan Livs & Sånt-plattan och det känns så tryggt att ha honom vid vår sida. Att skicka råmaterial till Mikael är att låta musiken gå igenom ett filter där alla tänkbara frågor ställs till låten. Kanske är det därför han alltid hittar låtens kärna och uttryck. Tack Micke!
by Niklas Lock
Landén is such a calm person and I feel very relaxed in his presence.
When you work so close and open up your emotions in such a way that is the essence of making music that feels for real, I think you have to feel relaxed with the people you work with, especially the guide to make your vision come alive. That person is Landén.
One other thing that defines Landén is that he is such a creative bomb.
He is curious of trying out new things and finding new colors to explores the world outside the box. In that way you will most likely create something unique together. His curiosity inspires me.
by Ess Bogale
As a songwriter I've worked with sooo many producers thru the years but when I wanted to start working on my solo-project, the choice of producer was crystal clear. I wanted Mikael Landén to be my main producer! He produced and mixed my first album and we are now working on my second album. Landén is not only an incredible producer, instrumentalist and mixing-engineer, he is also remarkably perceptive and dedicated. He is never afraid of trying new ideas in order to find distinctive and fresh sounds and he has the ability to see the bigger picture while diving into the smallest of details.
by Max Wassen
I had a beat, and Mikael made it into a real track. I feel that kind of leap is something that
isn't appreciated enough today. I was also stuck in what has been called "demo sickness" so letting Mikael take the reigns was both amazing and difficult. But the song became so much better than it would have been otherwise, and I'm glad I listened to him when I did. One hell of a producer and I still open all my sets with the song he built, Swishes.

Interview with Mikael Landen

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I'm proud of the work on Ess Bogales debut album. I was hired as a producer on the project and we had some rehearsing sessions just the two of ous where I played the piano. I understood that the intimacy of her songs couldn't be captured in a better way than just putting mics in front of us so that's what we did. It made me remember that music has to do with energies and emotions and not gear and advanced production technics. The album was finished over a night, we released it ourselves and it streamed 100k+ first 3 months.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Album number two of Ess Bogale plus a solo project.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both! if it sounds good, it's good. To me, the analog workflow has also taught me tons of lessons within the digital space.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: That clients are always right
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I love the fact that music has power. It makes people dance, cry, sing and sleep. The fact that I can be part of that makes me feel like I always have a purpose in life.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Is your pricing fixed? Answer - It varies a lot. Some projects I work for a percentage of ownership in the master recording rights, those jobs are fun because it creates a common purpose and these days when lots of people release stuff themselves, they have more control over their master recording rights and it opens up a ton of interesting ways to work.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That I'm an analog elitist.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What's your expectations. Is this a strictly balancing mix or more of a creative one.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: My advice is to go through the production one last time and ask yourself if 15 guitar tracks really are needed.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Well, does desert islands have electricity? I guess not so I will first buy and then bring worlds most powerful solar panel in order to make my laptop, soundcard, 1073 and u47 work.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I have been mixing since 2007 but professionally since 2014. Been combining it with playing in bands, being an artist and songwriter and more.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I'm a perfectionist with a special love for imperfections. In other words, I love analog gear, color, saturation, and punchy drums.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: First aid kit because they make timeless organic music that still succeeds with sounding modern. It would be a lovely challenge.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: To create interesting reverb effects with an upright piano. Put something heavy on the sustain pedal, Put a speaker on the back side of the piano and play the source you want the effect on, use a stereo microphone inside the piano to pick up the sound of the strings that are resonating with the source.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Mostly Pop, Folk, Indiepop and Hip-hop. Sometimes Rock.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Analog musical saturation ( plugins or the real deal )
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: The radio-ready sound.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: First - organize! then I mix volumes in mono while constantly A/Bing with the ruff mix. Then I identify problematic frequencies and colliding instruments. From there it's basically just loads of decisionmaking. I keep the words Energy, Depth, 3D, Color, Width, and Clarity in mind while mixing and the tools I use for getting that have a hierarchy. For example, to create depth, I don't reach for my beloved Bricasti M7 emulation straight away. The depth might be reached with only volume or very simple EQ. This makes it possible for me to make the things that are supposed to sound huge stand out more
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I work in a fairly light setup with mostly vintage sounding gear. Started out in the box but since I developed an interest for tape machines and cassette portastudios I learned my biggest lesson so far - how to not look at music, but LISTEN. From that learning, I started to appreciate outboard gear a lot more and use it in almost all mixes now.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Dave Pensado, Mac Demarco, Sylvia Massay, Rick Rubin
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I mostly get hired in the last part of projects with mixing or last details of production. I clean up things and making sure that every detail has a thoughtful purpose and placement.

Mixing EngineerAverage price - $250 per song
ProducerAverage price - $300 per song
Electric GuitarAverage price - $150 per song

I do three feedback rounds before adding any additional costs. Sometimes when clients don't have the budget, I mix for a percentage on the master recording rights.