Mixing & Mastering

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

A: My latest EP in my Short Stories project, titled "Moments with Maci". It's an EP about the moments I spent with my cousin's 3 y/o daughter. It was my Christmas present to them last year. It's a very personal project and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Working on my own releases! I'm currently writing the 4th entry in my Short Stories project, while also writing the 2nd release for my Smurker project. Finally, I'm working on a set of singles that I can potentially get signed to a label.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I prefer digital because of my workflow since I do everything within Ableton, but as long as the song sounds good, it doesn't really matter what you use.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: If there are any mix references for the track they want mixed. Also, what lufs level they want their master to be at.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Very meticulous and soft. I'm very particular about what frequencies get cut/what gets compressed and at what level, and I mix very quietly. The "soft" sound comes from my processing. My SoundCloud has better examples of this.

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

A: Skrillex. He's the reason why I started producing all these years ago, and he's an excellent producer in my opinion. Since he makes so many different styles of tracks, I'd love to see what we can make together.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Give yourself at least -10db of headroom when mixing. In my opinion, mixing is the most important part of production so giving yourself ample headroom will help give space to the instruments that need it. Also, cut out the low end from any instrument that doesn't need it. Often when critiquing other peoples' mixes, I notice that their low end is full of frequencies from other instruments. This clashes with the kick/sub bass and is usually a big reason why people's mixes are muddy/the bass doesn't hit right. Cut what needs to be cut so each instrument can sit in its own space.

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

A: Electronic music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I would say my strongest skill is my workflow. I try to work as much as I can on music, and put in long hours whenever I do.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Before I do any mixing, I tend to group/buss everything in a project first and set my reverb sends. My usual groups would be Drums (with groups within that for kicks/snares/hats, etc), Instruments (separate group for basses), then FX. My 2 reverb sends would be split off into 1 for percussion, and then 1 for instruments. After that is set, I start by EQing frequencies out of sounds that don't need it, which is usually just low end that is reserved for the kick/sub bass. Once all that's done, I start working on getting the drums to where they need to be. Drums are very important for electronic music, so I put the most work into making sure they hit right and sit well in the mix. Then I work on mixing the rest of the track.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work in Ableton Live 10 and monitor my mixdowns mainly with my 598s. All of my EQ's, compressors, limiters, etc come from Ableton, although I do use Valhalla Shimmer for my reverb. I master all my work with Ableton plugins, as well as Izotope's Ozone 8.

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

A: There's quite a lot, but my top 5 are Skrillex, Rob Swire/Gareth McGrillen, deadmau5, KOAN Sound, and Adam Tell. All of these guys have had a huge impact on my music and my style of production.