Rock music, mixed right by a rock artist.
I’ve been mixing mastering my own tracks for Spotify and other digital platforms for a number of years now, and have recently made the transition to mixing for other artists. I’m a rock artist, and I’m only interested in mixing rock, hard rock, alternative rock, etc. No rap, no hip hop, no EDM. I have a capable studio in my home with pro gear and acoustic treatment and have produced my own tracks, not only for Spotify, etc, but for radio as well.
I can only work within the quality of audio file that I am given to work with. Files should not be clipping, but should be loud enough as well.
Files should be supplied to me as WAV.
Files should all be the same length when opened in my DAW, that is, they should have been mixed down from the previous DAW in a way that places the audio between the markers. For example, a lead guitar track may have 1m 30s of space in front of it prior to the guitar solo actually starting. Basically the tracks need to open up in such a way that the song can be heard, without having to move tracks around. I obviously don’t know your song, so I wouldn’t know where to put the parts.
Tracks should be labelled as to what instrument they are.
Send me a note through the contact button above.
Interview with Ian Kurz
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Can you make it sound like a song?
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What is your band’s most critical element? Is it guitar? Vocals? Harmonies? How does your band position themselves on stage? Vocal in the center? Bob on the left? Rick on the right? Etc...
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I’ve been involved in music all my life as an artist, and have played all over North America. Doing the mixing and mastering functions was just a logical step in my path forward as a musician. Naturally I mix and master my own music for Spotify etc, but have starteded helping out other bands that are looking for mixing as well.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Rock music, hard rock music.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: My typical flow would be to bring all of the tracks into a session, and balance them for volume etc from there, placing them into the stereo field, HPF and LPF where necessary, add effects as required, in a manner that will give space to the song, and not muddy up the frequency spectrum.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I’m a rock/hard rock artist, and I’m only interested in rock music essentially. There are some small exceptions to that rule, but I’m not interested in mixing rap, hip hop, EDM, or any other primarily electronic music. On the other hand, if your music is rocking, then I’m dying to hear it,
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: While the rule of thumb in music production is to trust your ears, you should not ignore what your metering is telling you. The bass may be right where you want it at your listening place, but on some other systems you may find it to be too loud. Trust your ears, in conjunction with your meters.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: In my room I’m using Cubase Pro, along with Waves and T-Racks Plug-ins, also I’m using Wavelab for mastering in Conjunction with the T-Racks mastering Suite. This allows for both a quality master, and the ability to add meta-data to the file if required, ISRC’s, written by, label, etc. I’m using Presonus monitors as my main mixing monitor, with KRK’s as a secondary check, and mono grot-box as a third check to ensure nothing drops out of the mix and that everything can be heard in several systems.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: CLA, Warren Huart, Dave Pensado,
Usually up to four days turn-around, 2 revisions allowed. I provide the customer with a WAV version of the song for digital upload, mastered to about -12db LUFS, and a 320 KBPS MP3.
- Cubase Pro
- Waves Plug-ins
- T-Racks Plug-ins
- Wavelab
- VariousOutboard preamps
- compressors
- digital effects
