Mixing & Mastering Engineer

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

A: Yeah this is a personal stuff. By the way I made in the 2019 a lo fi album recorded with a minimal set up without computer on tape using a Tascam. I really loved work out of the box. I made the master here on SoundBetter by Mark Kramer (he has collaborated with Allen Ginsberg, Half Japanese, Daniel Johnston, etc)

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: At the moment I am working on the album of Mattytwohats and probably it comes out in September 2020. He is a very talented musician from Australia.

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

A: Yeah! I can recommend Rodrigo Genni if you need a very talented drummer and percussionist or Nacho de la Riega if you want a great mixing and mastering engineer or if you want to record an album in Argentina. I love how works these guys.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I think in digital but I am analog. Why? Because I started my job in the box but I grew up doing music without computers. This year I will go in UK and I will start an hybrid set up. So the point is arrive to be totally analog one day.

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

A: I promise the 100 %. If I don't arrive to that I tried my best with infinite revisions. And also if I am not the right mixing and mastering engineer I usually say before start the job. Sometimes I refuse jobs for this stuff. I don't want work on everything. I only want to work on music that I can enhance and this is not a question of genres. It depends to the human relation that I create with the musician.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I like the feeling to be the man that makes cool this song and the most coolest stuff is that I can be invisible because I didn't sing or played an instrument in the song.

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

A: Usually clients ask me if I can do a song sounds like the Queen or Michael Jackson or Eminem etc. I usually answer that: "I can do my best only if the stems are well recorded and if you are amazing like the Queen or Michael Jackson or Eminem". If a trapper that has recorded in a basement with a phone a track and ask me that it has to sounds like a super mega hit I answer that. Sometimes I have to declare the limits of job to people that doesn't now how works mixing and mastering music properly. The most important stuff is to record in a good way in a good place with normal equipments, not expansive, but nor the mic of a mobile phone. I love the lo fi and what it has instead: background noises, feedback, etc... I think noise is a component of the music if you work with an outsider artist that loves home made recording and Sonic Youth as me.

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

A: I don't remix music. I mix and master music. Sometimes people don't understand this big difference. I am not a DJ! I am a mixing and mastering engineer :)

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I usually contact new clients after I had listened they music online. If I really like an artist I contact him and I ask "How amazing is this song? How can you arrive to create a song like that?" I tried to understand what is the process that brings this artist to this new way of writing music. I am interest to mix and master new artists also because of that: to discover new music.

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

A: I advice all my client before place one of my services to ask me for a free sample. This helps me so much with new clients, because they could test my skills without spending money.

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

A: I will bring with me a Neve Console with two Pultec and two 1176. The Neve Island. LOL

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

A: I start as a musician when I was a teenager in 1996. I create my band and then I start to produce the local bands in my town for several years. In 2018 I decide to focus my self only on mixing and mastering process and I studied online at HOFA College. I start to promote my gigs online and it works! So I create my website where I start to work completely remote with over of 100 clients in world.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My mix sounds like an ice cream when you want a break and you are hungry.

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

A: I would like to work with independent artists that are searching someone that can grow their sound to the best! Also all the guys that create songs at home and are happy with the lo fi concept. I like Daniel Johnston way of recording! Half Japanese! Stuff Like that. I would like to work with all the outsiders. About famous artists I would like to work with Billie Eilish, Lana del Rey & Beck.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Like Miles Davis said "Less is More". I think the same. You know that a song really works when it is naked.

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

A: I usually work with indie, rock, electro-pop and folk. I did also many old rap and hip hop in my career but I came from a rock so it is not properly my genre. I grow up listening many different music: Beatles, Nirvana, Smiths, Cure, Deftones, Korn and now I love Lil Peep and Billie Eilish and the new trap metal guys!

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I think my strongest skill is to never discouraged when the mix is not working. I rebuild the mix from scratch infinite times if I don't find the solution. The most important step is create a good relation with the client for understanding his needs.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: With my skills I bring the necessary amount of good eq, compression, fx, etc for having the best from the stems I receive. My priority is that the song will be perfectly what the client wants.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My work process is formed by 3 parts: 1) Understanding the client needs, the vibe, the music references, etc. 2) I usually start the mix with drum, bass and voice. Then I do all the other instruments. In the end I master the song and I send to the client to listen it. 3) Do infinite revisions to arrive to the song the my client got in mind.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: At the moment my set up is minimal. I work in the box. I got my Mac, my audio interface and my speakers. That's it. I have all the plugins that I need to recreate analog sounds, vintage vibes, retro stuff, etc. By the way I am moving to London this December 2020 for creating an hybrid set up in my new studio. I want to buy vintage outboards like Pultec, 1176, Api eq 500 Series and finally have the studio of my dream in UK!

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

A: I love the philosophy of Andrew Sheps. I love is set up and the way that he uses parallel compression. I am also a huge fan of Steve Albini (In Utero is one fav album) and Daniel Lanois (I love how sounds Oh Mercy by Bob Dylan) and the way to compress that create Michael Brauer! Love that concept.

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

A: The most important stuff for me is that my client are 100 % satisfied. So the first thing is to understand the vibe that the musician wants to transfer to me before to start the mix. This is the most important part of the process because we decide how the song will be. After that I proceed with the mix and the master. For mixing and mastering one song of 32 stems I usually provide in 5 days.