Mastering & Analog Stem Mixing

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

A: I recently got to work on a track with a house music legend and idol of mine, Mr. V. He sent over a tune to master featuring Grammy-winner Jill Scott on vocals. I am happy to say that the final product sounded HUGE!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring an understanding of the producer. I started off in music writing and recording my own music. I also bring great communication - I set expectations up front on a project and ask the artist a LOT of questions. There is more than one way to get a track sounding acceptable - it takes some level-setting to get a track sounding EXACTLY how the client imagined.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: The mastering process for me always begins with a notepad, a pen, and nothing but listening. I analyze the dry mix and try to identify what problems exist that I absolutely have to tackle - sometimes there's nasty resonances on the hi-end I can smooth out with a hi-Q dynamic equalizer; sometimes the vocals are too hissy and need some de-essing around 6kHz; often times the low end if muddy or boomy and needs some subtractive eq or even a lo-shelf filter to bring down the bass. After I take notes of the problems to fix, I then think what parts of the song need to be the most impactful or the most emphasized. From there, it's all about using the ears and making each move with intention and for a purpose. A lot of young engineers seem to apply a process just to apply it. Some mixdowns come in so perfect that all the track needs is some glue and loudness. Knowing what to do when, and why (and knowing when to leave things alone!) is invaluable and has only come to me with years and years or practice.

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

A: Many times people ask me what they need to change in their mix before I get to mastering for them. Almost always my answer is clear out more low-mids/mud from the sounds that don't need it. At mastering, if I try to thin out a boomy/boxy/or muddy mix I also am taking away parts of the kick and bass I don't want to reduce. It's imperative to EQ each element in a mix relative to one another. Masking is a problem in most mixes I get in to master.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Warm, un-squahsed, dynamic, round, airy.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is drum mixing. Starting out on electronic music, drums are king. I have found that to be true in every other genre as well - if the drums aren't slamming/perfect your track won't sound how you want, everytime. I've never loved a mixdown or a song and thought the drums were lacking.

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

A: Most commonly I work on mixdowns for newer electronic musicians. All the time I hear songs that have great musical ideas and potential, but they fall short because of the production. I get really disappointed sometimes when hearing music and thinking to myself 'this would be so much more impactful if only....Some of the most common moves I make when mixing or mastering include clearing away mud or boxiness from a track. Novice producers tend to use inadequate monitoring, leaving them with a mixdown riddled with EQ problems - usually in the low mids and bass areas. I monitor in a Sonarworks calibrated environment to ensure flat-frequency response monitoring. This enables me to make EQ/mix decisions with confidence and consistency. Especially in electronic music, where bass is king, I find myself time and time again removing content around 80-120Hz and 250-400Hz. If you're wondering if your track has too much bass, it more than certainly does! The hi-pass filter is a producer's best friend for keeping the low end tight and clean. Less bass is frequently MORE.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The day I stop learning is the day I am dead. I never stop learning and improving. The pursuit of the perfect sound is never ending but still incredibly fulfilling to me.

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

A: House, trap, edm, techno - but I am just as happy and experienced with mixing full rock bands/drum sets etc.

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

A: 1) UREI 1176 Blackface 2) Tube Tech CL1B 3) Kush Electra 4) An original Pultec 5) API 2500

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

A: No matter who you hire, tell them what you are looking for up front as far as sound goes. Send them links to a few songs that you want to sound like. What sounds great to one engineer may be fine, but at the same time not at all what you were expecting or desiring. Set expectations.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I always ask if there is a track that the client has in mind, or a certain 'sound' they are after. What I find most appealing and satisfying to my ears may not at all be what a client has in mind, so I like to level set that expectation right away! Reference tracks are worth a thousand words :)

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

A: I've been working with music in some way my whole life, but first delved into production and mixing when I was 15. That was well over a decade ago. I have been producing, remixing, and doing mix down work professionally since the mid-2000s, usually under my alias Phasen. I began pursuing mastering and mixing work full-time in the past few years.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Building my hybrid studio has been an ongoing love affair and money pit for me. New tools always provide me with the inspiration I need to be as creative as possible while mixing and mastering. I have a few racks of customized/modified analog gear. I love fixer-upper projects and working on upgrading vintage compressors/eqs to squeeze the best sound out of them. I also love the guys at Revive Audio who do a great job modifying and building custom gear. I probably use a 50/50 mix of analog and digital tools, with Slate Digital and Kush/Sly-Fi being my two favorite plugin providers.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. I run a hybrid studio because I believe they each have their strengths and weaknesses. Digital allows me to deliver super crisp, pristine, clean sounds that I just can't get with analog. At the same time, analog tracking, compression, and EQ have magical attributes all their own that just can't quite sound the same with plugins. I am a big fan of Slate Digital and Kush for digital tools and have hardware from Focusrite, UREI, DBX, FMR, Revive Audio, Roland, Ashly, Orban, Chameleon Labs, Altec Lansing, Tascam, Lexicon, Eventide, and way too much more. Each analog piece does one or two things incredibly well and are my go-to for certain instruments.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Everyone wants a big kick. I really like to take two or more kicks and layer them together, but here's an extra tip: After I layer my two kicks (I usually HPF one and LPF the other, so that I have the bottom end of one kick and the higher end of another) I delay one of them compared to the other by 0.1ms and then increase/decrease this value. Play both kicks simultaneously while tweaking the delay on one of the kicks. At some point, they will line up in phase and sound very, very big together! Just make sure you get the phase between the two lined up or else you'll have the opposite effect - a phasey pair of kick samples with no oomph/bottom end.

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

A: Ease of business and speed coupled with a great sound!

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

A: Hannes Bieger at Calyx Berlin and Robert Babicz are two mix and mastering engineers I admire a great deal! Their sound is impeccable, every time.