Wether you need a producer to help find your sound, or an engineer to help you hone in the one you've already discovered, I would love to work with you to create the record you always dreamed of.
I take on all the technical aspects of production and mixing so that you can focus on creating your best work. That includes everything from beat-making, editing, audio repair, all the way down to the last inch of processing during the mix-down.
I listen to everything from 2000's pop girlies to gritty post-punk bands and American folk songs. So, as a producer, I can adapt to whatever sonic palette you're aiming for and combine different styles and influences to find something that is uniquely yours.
As a mix engineer I aim for dynamics, warmth and life as much as I do for technical precision. And I am willing to send a few versions back and forth to keep revising the project until you are satisfied with the final result.
My services:
-stem editing and arrangement (drums, vocal, guitar, etc.)
-pitch correction
-audio repair (RX10)
-guitar and bass overdubbing
-production/beat-making
-mixing
Prices:
$100/per song for editing+mixing
$100/per song for producing.
for both production and mixing its $150/per song
I'm more than happy to negotiate pricing for larger projects.
Would love to hear from you. Click the contact button above to get in touch.
Interview with Andrew Podolio
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: There's quite a few. I like the early house pioneers of Chicago; Larry Levan, Marshall Jefferson, Frankie Knuckles in particular, and how they went about editing disco records, sampling drums, creating their own records then and cutting it all to vinyl - it reminds me that you don't need a lot to create good music. I love Brian Wilson - I have an unhealthy obsession with Pet Sounds, as I'm sure a lot of people do. I love listening to Wire (Pink Flag is my favourite) and Joy Division and so many other bands from the post-punk/new wave era. I love Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot (the singer-songwriters of singer-songwriters). For more modern acts I enjoy Frank Ocean, Beach House, Sufjan Stevens Travis Scott; I enjoy good productions that on their own tell the story of the song wether sparse and dry or lush and otherworldly.
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I remixed (not officially) 'needy' by Ariana Grande, and i think its the most beautiful thing i've ever made and I will never share it with anybody because its really sad.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I'm re-making the entire "Pure Heroine' album from Lorde and doing all the production and mixing. I'm also re-making a few rap songs (Travis Scott, Metro Boomin', Drake; that kind of deal), some pop songs (the 1975, Ariana Grande, SZA,.) and remixing a few rap and pop songs (new instrumentals).
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: I don't have money for analog, so digital.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: That I get to create music.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That there is no emotion in mixing. Mixing is nothing but emotion to me.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: I only have five pieces of gear, so not much would change. I just need a computer, a sample library, a keyboard, my headphones and a DAW with some synths.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I started making music when i was 14 and then eventually i got a job at a bank at 21 and then realized at 25 thats not what my life has to be. So, I took up a few in-depth courses on production, read some books on mixing, been practicing from free stems I've found online, and now I think I'm ready to actually get out there and start working with real artists.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Warm, minimal, futuristic, and a million other things depending on what a project needs.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Beach House. I would love to try and push them to a slightly more experimental sound, fusing their dream pop / glam rock sound with some IDM and dance influences like Aphex Twin, Four Tet, or The Chemical Brothers.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Well first I'd say that sound selection and gain-staging is 80% of the battle but after that I would offer some advice on how to create space/depth. You don't actually need to drench everything in reverb to give a sense of space. If you do it sparsely but put it in the right places, then the record will sound a lot bigger than it actually is without sacrificing clarity and it will hold up in mono. And in some cases it's better use to use short delays to give that sense of space rather than reverbs, especially on vocals and lead elements, but reverbs are good for blending elements (like in a drum group) to make them feel more "glued" together.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Alternative pop/rock fusions, or just pop.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Selecting the right kick drum.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I grew up listening to the most well engineered music that has ever been created; Britney Spears' "In the Zone', 'Blackout' and 'Circus'; Nelly Furtado's "Loose"; Gwen Stefani's "L.A.M.B"; and then later EDM records that were essentially just show-cases in sound design and rhythm (like "Sweet Nothing' by Calvin Harris). But then I also ventured out to other genres and learned how to appreciate music in a completely different way ('Suzanne' by Leonard Cohen was my spiritual awakening) so I have a very well-rounded view of music; I can create a song that has the punch, the transient clarity and the exacting rhythm of an dance record with the texture, depth and dynamics of a rock record from the 70's. I try to find the real emotional centre of what the artist is trying to convey and translate that into sound with as much precision, care and nuance as I can.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: I get sent a demo and they tell me what they're aiming for and then I go about re-constructing everything from the ground up (guitars, drums, vocal effects chain, etc.) It's starts with editing everything in Ableton and maybe adding in a few sounds (or all the sounds if I'm producing something from scratch); that means focusing on the groove, the sound selection and even some spacing effects like reverb if it crucial to the sound (but will get swapped out later if necessary during the mixdown). Then for the mixdown, I bounce all the stems and import them to Pro Tools; gain-staging, compression, EQ'ing, space and stereo effects are all added here. Then I send the mix to the client and then we talk about if theres anything they would like to change, maybe I give some suggestions for the arrangement, etc. And then once that's all settled I send them the -6dBFS mix in full ready to be mastered.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: It's just my Mac, my Komplete Audio 6 (that i've had for a million years), my HD600 headphones, some KRK's (i honestly almost never use), a Lewitt LCT 441 Flex Mic, a Fender Stratocaster Guitar, and Acoustic Guitar, and a Fender P-J Bass. For my software; I use Ableton to edit and produce and then Pro Tools to mix, I also have iZotope RX10.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: production and/or mixing.
