Ben Davies Music

Record, Edit, Mix, and Play!

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45 Reviews (43 Verified)
Ben Davies Music on SoundBetter

Mix engineer, multi instrumentalist, Tonmeister. Songs I've produced, mixed, and played on have over 3 million plays on Spotify, I've produced covers with 200k+ views on YouTube, and recorded and mixed records released by Moshi Moshi Music.

A graduate from the Tonmeister course at the University of Surrey, I'm currently working towards the construction of a commercial recording studio - throughout construction, I'll be offering my services as a mix engineer and musician from my residential property.

During my career I have produced tracks in multiple genres, including: acoustic, classical (chamber, choral, and orchestral), hip-hop, jazz, rock, metal, pop, rap, and sync (radio adverts). I listen to a wide range of music daily, and am confident in producing music in an appropriate manner for a variety of genres.

I have several instruments at my disposal, along with industry standard microphones. If you have a project that requires additional instrumentation, and you would like me to fill in what you cannot, I play these instruments to a high standard: acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, drums, piano, and alto saxophone. If you want to ask me about other instruments, feel free - I may be able to source them or find a musician to help us out!

Tell me about your project and how I can help, through the 'Contact' button above.

Credits

Discogs verified credits for Ben Ewan Davies
  • Joe Danks
  • Joe Danks
  • Various
  • Blood Wizard
  • Miles (59)
  • Midnight Rodeo (2)
  • Joe Danks
  • Various
  • Blood Wizard

45 Reviews - 9 Repeat Clients

Endorse Ben Davies Music
  1. Review by Noah T.
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    Ben did exactly what I needed for my track. He provided a professional service, was on point with every note I gave him and exceeded at his job! I will be surely working with him again for a future project similar to this if I need to. Can’t recommend him enough!

  2. Review by Trevor F.
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    Ben is just all around excellent! Extremely professional, helpful, and skilled. He took my request and exceeded every expectation I asked for. Could not have asked for a better experience. Thx Ben!

  3. Review by Luis E.
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    Ben was so good at what he did! he was really great, and a true professional hope to work with him once again!

  4. Review by Donnie R.
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    Tuned, time aligned, and level balanced vocals.

  5. Review by Spenser
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    I am so glad I connected with Ben on soundbetter! This was my 3rd and 4th song that he mixed and mastered for me. He was very professional and easy to work with.

  6. Review by Jerry E.
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    Ben was an absolute pleasure to work with. He added so much expertise and creativity to my project, and is just such a nice guy! After he sent the first draft of my song over to me, we did a revision session virtually where he shared the project with me while he made edits in real time. This was extremely helpful and he was super willing to experiment and go the extra mile to achieve the sound I wanted, and he gave me as much time as I needed to make everything sound great. Highly recommend!

  7. Review by Kris R.
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    Fact: it's hard finding musicians willing to pick up a recording of a composition for church organ.
    Luckily for me, I found Ben Davies. Ben set up the recording, the venue and the organist, all of which were the best possible.
    I'm happy with his willingness to help me achieve what I wanted to achieve and his expertise was vital in delivering a top product.
    I'd also like to thank and recommend the organist, John Keys, who had to perform a difficult piece almost a prima vista!

  8. Review by Matt F.
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    Great guy. Very knowledgable in audio signal chain flow and music gear setup. Helped me out a lot. Highly recommend.

  9. Review by Rzn8Str
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    I am a repeat client. Ben pours his heart into his work. I can tell that he pays attention even to the smallest details. I never walk away less than 100% satisfied. Will be sending another song his way, for sure!

  10. Review by Edward P.
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    Ben is great at what they do and is extremely polite and prompt with his turnaround time. Very professional too.

  11. Review by Spenser
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    Ben definatley delivered! He was very easy to work with and professional.

  12. Review by Mark
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    by Mark
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    Ben has an eclectic taste in music. He can produce many styles of music. And if he hasn't worked with a particular genre before he will study it and learn how to create it. Just like he did when I worked with him on the Haitian konpa/zouk instrumental track. Konpa was a fairly new style to him but he reassured me that he can create a similar sound. However he went above and beyond and produced the same sound as the original with new instruments that surpassed the original track. I recommend Ben.

  13. Review by Rzn8Str
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    I have been thrilled with the mixing and mastering Ben has done on my tracks! It's hard to define, but the "dimensionality" of his work is notable. It's as though I hand him a 2-dimensional song and he sends me back a tesseract. He has an intuition for mixing background vocals that is mature beyond his years. I do a lot of retro-sounding music, and he seems to have an innate understanding of the sound I'm trying to recreate. Looking forward to continuing to work with him!

  14. Review by Marcus B.
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    Ben was great to work with! Very professional with a quick turnaround!

  15. Review by Nicolas E.
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    Ben really helped me a lot in finishing my song. He really listened and delivered a great job!

  16. Review by garlick.sauce
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    Ben is a patient, professional, and creative collaborator whose work embellishes and elevates the artist’s sound and vision. His work is a wonderfully blatant portrayal of musical talent.

  17. Review by Dane M.
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    Super simple and straightforward to work with. Did a great job and was really easy to communicate with. It takes a lot of time and energy to find good collaborators like Ben. Very thankful to work with you, Ben!

  18. Review by Andy D.
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    Ben was fantastic. He did a great job on the mix, took time to understand my vision, and worked with me patiently on revisions. He approaches mixes in an artistic and unique way. Would definitely work with him again.

  19. Review by Rzn8Str
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    Ben brought a level of professionalism to my song that very much impressed me and left me eager to send him another song to work on, which I did right away! He was very attentive to my special requests throughout the transaction.

  20. Review by Austin B.
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    Excellent work on the track as always!

Interview with Ben Davies Music

  1. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  2. A: While I'm waiting on construction of my recording studio, I'm working in a residential property. My setup revolves around an Avid S3 control surface and a Universal Audio Apollo 8p. My main monitors are a pair of ATC SCM100ASLs, with ADAM A5Xs and Genelec 8020Ds as minis, and I have a good selection of microphones including industry standards such as the Neumann U87 and AKG C414. I own both Logic Pro X and Pro Tools 12, but do most of my work using Logic. I use mainly UAD plugins and a full list of available plugins is available upon request.

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

  4. A: Well I'd need a MacBook for one; I'm really loving my UA Apollo 8p, so I'll be taking that for sure; Neumann U87s seem to work on just about anything, so I'll have one of those; it'd be a coin toss between a Rhodes and a Wurly for item 4; and I can't forget about monitoring, so my pair of ATC SCM100ASLs will definitely be coming.

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

  6. A: The cover of Taxman on my sample tracks was a great project. Recording to 2" tape and then mixing down through an SSL console straight to ¼" tape is a thoroughly different workflow when compared with the "normal" workflow of today. I had to commit to EQ and compression on the way into 2" tape, meaning that any EQ or compression errors would be captured on tape and would be irreversible, and then I could only alter panning and level during the mix when capturing to the ¼" tape. The main goal was achieved, with the client being very happy with the end result!

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

  8. A: I began my career in the live sound sector over a decade ago. While completing my senior school studies (age 16), I recorded and co-produced my first commercial album. After completing my further education, I went on to study music and sound recording as a Tonmeister and the University of Surrey. Now that I've graduated, I teach music technology part time at A level (17/18 year olds) and am building a recording studio to carry out my business as a recording and mixing engineer.

  9. Q: How would you describe your style?

  10. A: Logical, efficient, and focused.

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

  12. A: I like to vary the genres that I work on if possible. If we're in the "pop" (and by that I mean not classical) world, I like things that have a nice groove to them. If the track engages me, I'm in!

  13. Q: What's your typical work process?

  14. A: The first important step in achieving an end product that meets the clients expectations is in understanding what those expectations are. I strive to provide a friendly, approachable, and open communication with the client to fully understand their needs. If they have an idea of how they would like the end product to sound, ideally including a commercially available example for me to work from, then I can efficiently work toward that end goal. Part of my training at the Institute of Sound Recording involved communicating effectively with people who perhaps aren't trained in any technical way, and so I am still able to form an idea of what needs to be carried out technically in order to achieve the ideas that they have put forward. It's impossible to explicitly detail any sort of "standard" workflow for a project though, as every track is different and poses its own challenges and requirements. I aim to be flexible to account for those changing needs.

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

  16. A: During my studies at the Institute of Sound Recording (at the University of Surrey) I was allowed full access to their industry standard studios. This access meant that I was able to invite musicians into the studios for me to work for them as recording, mixing, and mastering engineer, in addition to being producer if they didn't already have someone doing that for them. All of this work was carried out alone, with the exception of an assistant engineer during recording, meaning that I am very used to each of these roles. Though I no longer have access to the large inline analogue and digital consoles that I used while at university, the skills honed there are transferrable to other scenarios outside of the traditional studio environment. This means that I am now able to efficiently and professionally carry out in the box (DAW) work, in addition to recording (admittedly to a slightly lower standard than the purpose built studios at Surrey) in my residential property.

  17. Q: Can you share one music production tip?

  18. A: When mixing, set the monitor level at a comfortable place and leave it there for the duration of the mix. It's incredibly tempting to get excited by a track simply by ramping up the volume, but the solid reference point established by leaving the volume static will allow you to accurately assess your progress throughout the session. One caveat, however, is that it can be helpful to utilise the dim button (found on most DAWs, mixing consoles, and audio interfaces) to assess whether any elements of your mix are sitting too far forward or back in your mix.

  19. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  20. A: An age old question. It depends entirely upon the situation. If your session requires a vintage sound, you may find it easier to achieve with analogue outboard and a more "traditional" approach to the session. If you're looking for a more clinical sound, you may find that you get more precision in the box. That said, plugins are getting scarily good these days and many engineers are scrapping outboard gear entirely. Given that I don't own any outboard currently, I'll have to say digital - my UAD plugins are pretty tasty anyway!

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

  22. A: If you're not sure about something, don't be afraid to ask! The chances are I will be able to make it work for you, one way or another, and I'm a friendly guy - I won't bite, honest.

  23. Q: What do you bring to a song?

  24. A: A desire and determination to produce something that I would happily listen to (I'm a bit of a perfectionist), that communicates a message to the listener, evokes an emotion, and inspires them to create and innovate.

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

  26. A: In terms of musicians, I'm constantly inspired by Robert Glasper. The way he communicates through his music is beautiful. When it comes to production professionals, I've been intrigued recently by the five mix bus technique, as detailed by Michael Brauer (Mix Engineer for Coldplay "Parachutes", The Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels", and Paul McCartney "Back in the U.S.").

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Halo by Blood Wizard

I was the Mixing Engineer in this production


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    Halo by Blood Wizard
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    Need You Now by Miles
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    In The Dark by Joy Mumford
Terms Of Service

Initial draft and two revisions included in fee. Typical turn-arounds (depends on current workload): Mix/Edit - 1 week; Full Production - 2 weeks. Additional costs if equipment hire is incurred.

GenresSounds Like
  • Gabriel Garzón-Montano
  • John Mayer
  • Theo Katzman
Gear Highlights
  • ATC SCM100ASL; UA Apollo 8p; Plugins: UAD/Soundtoys/Fabfilter/iZotope/Waves/Celemony etc; Native Instruments Komplete Ultimate 12; Arturia V Collection 8; Avid S3; Logic Pro X; AKG/DPA/Neumann Mics; Warwick Basses; Martin/Fender Guitars; Moog Synths
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