Mixer, Mastering, Producer

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

A: I mastered Australian Trap artist Alison Wonderland's album and was influential in the mixing process. This debut album did exceedingly well getting a few gold records (that I have proudly hanging in my studio) and she went on to headlining the Sahara tent at Coachella the following year. She's a great artist and I was proud to have been a part of that record.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: - writing music for some TV shows. - writing music for my next EP - producing and EP for a client - on-going mixing and mastering for a myriad of clients - creating a TV show from the ground up (writing the plot, characters etc) - teaching at Point Blank - DJ'ing at club nights in LA

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

A: Probably, but I haven't had a chance to explore them as yet.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. And, really?

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

A: That I put my best ideas into your work, I don't just keep them for myself.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love working with people and I get to work with alot of new and old clients all the time and get inspired by what they're working on.

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

A: Q- What's your rate? A- What do you need done?

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

A: That what I say is final. This is a two way conversation, a collaboration. I am here to enable YOUR vision. But I am also here to help you get past any fog you might have about the song right now.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What are you needing to be done? Where do you think are the song's strengths & weaknesses? What's your vision for the song? Who's the market? When do you need it done by? What's the budget?

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

A: Come to me when you are ready to take your music to the next/final stage.

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

A: My laptop, a microphone, an acoustic guitar, a piano, my speakers.

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

A: While at university studying computer science in 1988, I was also writing rave dave music and was offered a record deal with my favourite record label at the time (I was in Sydney Australia). In 1991, I left to pursue being an artist, releasing records, touring, and making more records. I soon started getting asked to help friends finish their tracks with production and mixing. I was signed to Ministry of Sound as an artist and was also their inhouse mixing and mastering guy, helping out the myriad of other artists on the label. I was then poached to work in-house at Australia's largest recording studio complex, Studios 301. I then moved to LA to continue my work as a producer, mixer and mastering engineer working with everyone from emerging and established artists. I have been doing this for 30 years.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Clean, dirty, messy, grainy, methodical, pristine, brutal, warm, cold and calculated.

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

A: Kanye West - he seems a little lost right now and I'd love to help him get past this.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Mix with your ears, not your eyes. Turn off the monitor once in a while, or simply walk away from the computer, pick up a magazine and scan through an article; you'll be surprised what you pick up when you're listening to your song in the background!

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

A: I specialise in electronic music. While I love many other types of music (rock, ambient, jazz, classical) my strengths are in the frequencies and production styles of electronic genres like: house, electro, techno, EDM, dubstep, trap, which encompasses most of today's Pop Music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I make things sound polished.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring an impartial perspective to the song. I focus on nothing but the success of the song, which sometimes can be challenging for the client who is married to the track as a whole, and who may have lost perspective. I bring that outsider perspective back into focus and can extract and enhance the best ideas and make the tough decisions sometime required to set aside weaker ideas. And I do it quickly. I also bring years of production expertise across a huge section of electronic genres and an ability to make things shine.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Clients send me their work; I assess it and discuss with them what they want to achieve. Taking this on, I go away and work on the material to get to a "1st version". We discuss how this sits , making notes on how close or far from the artist's vision this sits. If I have an alternate idea, I will present what they have asked for as well as my variation. We go back and forth till we hit the 'sweet spot' and I deliver the final. I can work very much on my own AND also in collaboration with the client, whatever the clients prefers.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I come from a hardware background using large format mixing desks, outboard processing (compression, reverbs, modulation effects), and a room full of analog synths. These days, I run a more compact and flexible digital/analog hybrid studio, centred around a powerful Mac running ProTools, Logic and Ableton. I mix mostly in the box, but use UAD tube pre-amps for all tracking using mastering grade Prism convertors. I go into the analog world on the input and the output (very last stage) to retain as much warmth as possible yet taking on all the convenience and speed of digital.

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

A: Trent Reznor, Howie Weinberg, Tony Maserati, Eric J Dub. (Flume mixer), Nigel Godrich, Brian Eno, Modeselektor, Flying Lotus, Chemical Brothers, Disclosure, Burial, Alan Wilder

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

A: I do whatever it requires to finish their songs. Sometimes this means re-programming drums, bass, keys, rearranging the song's flow, re-recording vocals, then mixing down and if needed, mastering it. The single most common thing I do is mixing and mastering.