MASTERING, MIXING

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

A: I'm equally proud of everything i've done that has made the artist 100% happy. It'd be impossible to single out just one.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working on a film version of my debut solo release; a triple-LP...THE GUILT TRIP. you can see the last chapter on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/136735299

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

A: The original Universal Audio "610" tube mixing console designed by Bill Putnam (think BEACH BOYS "PET SOUNDS"), and 4 Universal Audio LA2's. 1 + 4 = 5.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: If you want to make great recordings, you need great mics. for that, you go to Michael Joly. JOLY ENGINEERING has been the single most significant factor in increasing the quality of my recordings as a producer. For hundreds of dollars, he give you mics worth thousands. No one else comes close, and the cost is shockingly affordable.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: This can be a real bait-and-switch issue. Obviously, mastering is finalized in the digital realm. But just as obviously, analog recordings SOUND best, so, in my opinion (and keep in mind that ALL of this is nothing more than "OPINIONS"), analog recordings make the best sounding masters. And any mastering engineer who tells you that one is better than the other is like a fortune teller saying what they think you want to hear. The only PURE ANALOG mastering is when you bring a TAPE to a vinyl cutting lab and your music goes straight from tape to lacquer. Otherwise your music is mastered in & out of the digital realm, and don't believe for a second that the results are dictated by the quality (or COST) of the gear employed in the process. trust me when i tell you that the results you get are just as dependent on the EARS behind the process, and usually more so.

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

A: You'll get what you want. And if you don't really know for certain what that is, I'll help you to find it.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The collaborative similarities between producing, and mastering. When I get on a plane and fly to Corsica to produce an LP at a music museum on top of a mountain (as i did in 2012 with a band called HIFIKLUB), i work side by side with the musicians for days on end, from noon til midnight. Despite the language barrier, I get to know each musician's desires intimately. In mastering, sometimes, even though i never get to meet the artist whose music i'm working on, I can get the same feeling. COLLABORATION, in its numerous forms, is what i like most about my job. in fact, i LOVE it. It's the only reason i'm still doing this.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: I'm most commonly asked about the difference between CD mastering and VINYL mastering. The answer is simple, but the results can be complex. My feeling is that if your CD sounds completely different from your vinyl, somebody fucked up.

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

A: Astonishingly, some people actually think that mastering is mixing. I've actually been asked to remove things from the mix, or raise the snare drum +8db, or "kill all the backing vocals". Strange, but true.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: "Do you think it's OK to kiss on the first date, providing that both persons are reasonably mature and..." -Woody Allen

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

A: TALK to the people you're considering hiring before you hire them. get them on the phone. if they don't have the time or interest in talking to you about your music and what you're hoping to get out of mastering, they obviously also don't have the time or interest in your music. a mastering engineer should be ANXIOUS to talk to you. If they can't talk to you BEFORE you hire them, how can you expect them to talk to you once you've received your masters and you're not happy? It's YOUR money. The way i see it, you should be comfortable about what you're spending it on BEFORE you spend it.

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

A: I started out playing in bands in the 1980's (The Fugs, Shockabilly, Half Japanese, The Butthole Surfers) and 1990's (Ween, Bongwater, etc). I bought my first recording studio NOISE NEW YORK in 1985 and then founded my record label SHIMMY-DISC in 1987. In 1992 I bought a 24track state-of0the-art recording facility, NOISE NEW JERSEY. I've been a producer for 30 years and a mastering engineer since 2003.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Impressionistic.

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

A: Brian Wilson. You know why.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Don't THINK too much. Don't LABOUR over your ideas. They will come all by themselves, if you stop trying to force it. Work in the studio the same way you work when writing a song. It should be easy, and it should also be fun. If it feels too much like WORK, you need to stake a break, and come back some other time. And HONOR YOUR MISTAKES as potentially hidden intentions. The brain works on many levels. The CREATIVE brain works in hidden ways. Don't instantly kill something you think is a "mistake". Listen to it again, and then again. It may not be exactly what you'd intended to play, but it may also be far better than your original intention. Give it a chance. In Art, MISTAKES are where the real treasures are buried.

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

A: I work with a lot of alt-rock artists but I have also enjoyed mastering urban music, hip-hop, rap, heavy metal, death-rock. Some of my favorite mastering is for solo artists and singer-songwriters whose mixes require the most subtle attention. When almost nothing needs to be done, it must be done with confidence, and a firm hand. There are few things i love more than bringing buried subtleties closer to the front of a mix... things that the artist themselves couldn't even hear. This happens often with "quiet" music. Those little silences are FULL of color. Making those colors more visible (when required) is a big part of what i love to do.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is is BALANCING ALL OF MY SKILLS and not allowing any one skill to get too powerful and negatively affect a master. PRODUCING, if it had to be described in a single word, is "GIVING". MASTERING, if it had to be described in a single word, is "BALANCE".

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring exactly what the artist brought, but with a little more HEAT under its ass.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I listen. then i listen again. then i listen again. then i LISTEN. LISTENING is where it all begins and ends. The technology is secondary, if not tertiary.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio set-up ALL-TUBE analog gear and Universal Audio Plugins, but without a good pair of ears, a mastering engineer can own a dozen Fairchilds and a hundred Manley boxes and still make shit masters.

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

A: Eno, Joe Meek, Brian Wilson, Bob Johnston, Phil Spector, George Martin, Tom Dowd, Dr. Dre, Kendrick...

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

A: Most of what's brought to me needs serious work. A lot of the artists i work with are "self-produced", and sometimes even "self-mixed" over months or years by the artists themselves, with limited experience in the mixing process. They come to me because they know MY music, and they feel an affinity for what i've done as an artist, and a sneaking suspicion that when i hear THEIR music, i'll know what to do. And they're RIGHT.