Music Producer/Mixing Engineer

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

A: I'm really proud that the metal band INMATE made it to the finals of a national Eurosong competition for our country.  2 songs I produced for them in fact made it to the finals 2 years in a row.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm currently working on full album production for the Australian rising star YSOD (You˙ll See One Day) - almost finished. They are really talented and they deserve more attention in the music scene. Besides that I'm working on a special musical side project which is out the genre I'm usually used to work on. Also I'm creating some relaxation music compositions with the healing frequencies. Going out of confort zone is key to evolve.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital. Simple: it can be archived and restored any time. Digital technology made great progress through the years in sound quality and sometimes it´s pretty tough to separate between analog and digital. I agree that the analog can sometimes bring some more mojo in sound though. The mic preamp is analog of course.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I just love music and being creative. I love how the end product sounds andI feel fulfilled when the song gets all it needs to be perfect and that the musical story of the song is completed. All songs I'm working on are like my children so I pay much attention to nurture them and help them grow to become mature.

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

A: The most common question is how much is this going to cost :) My answer: it depends on what stage the song currently is and how much work needs to be done from basic ideas to major hit song. Naturally writing a song from scratch is more expensive than editing just a few vocal tracks.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I usually ask them if they have any demo recordings of their ideas/songs and what way would they like to participate in the songwriting/production process.

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

A: Guitar with a cable, mic, solar battery charger, laptop and audio interface. That's all I need to keep making music.

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

A: My life lessons had huge impact on me. Every experience and life decision marked my emotional side of me and made me who I am and how I express myself through the music. I have started young singing the cartoon songs as a kid and then singing in the school choir for 7 years. After the primary school I found the love of my life - a guitar and started learning how to express though it. I also founded and played in a touring band LastDayHere for 11 years and was also a songwriter for the band. So I'm working in the music industry for about 17 years and I'm still here and kicking because I love what I do. That love is called music.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Actually I have two important tips: If you have extremely low tuned guitars mix the kick drum's fundamental (strongest) frequency above the bass guitar's and if you have a kick drum with lots of sub frequencies mix the bass guitar higher in frequency spectrum than the kick drum. Pay attention to the phase between the kick drum and bass.

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

A: I usually work on modern and alternative rock, metal and pop genres with electronic, EDM, trap and symphonic/cinematic elements. Recently I'm also working on the musical compositions for the relaxation with healing frequencies.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skills are precision and the melody. Every element in the song matters in my opinion and it has to have a reason for being there. I like "polished" productions. I also focus very much on the melody which is the main element that stays in the memory.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring uniqueness and emotional impact to the song, that's what makes them stand out.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio setup is mainly 'in-the-box' which consists of a PC computer workstation, audio interface and the Steinberg Cubase Pro 12 DAW. I'm also using Rode, Shure and AudioTechnica mics in combination with the Warm Audio ToneBeast preamp. My studio is acoustically treated and tuned with 2 main monitors Dynaudio LYD-48 and 4 Presonus T10 Temblor subwoofers to make the frequency response of the control room 'ruler' flat.

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

A: I'm very inspired by other types of genres which are not my comfort zone but I get a lot of fresh ideas for the styles I used to work with.

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

A: Most of the time I usually provide full song production which includes song arrangement, writing and recording guitars and a bass guitar, writing sampled drums and making unique sound designs for each song. I also edit, tune and time align recorded vocal tracks frequently. Mixing and mastering is also included in my productions.

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

A: All talented artists are welcome. Good vibes always result in high quality end products.

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

A: There are so many talents here, it's hard to pick a few, yet harder only one but still I would recommend my friend and buddy from the LastDayHere - singer Marko Duplisak. He is a multi voice talent and very dedicated to the project he is working on. Feel free and check him out: https://soundbetter.com/profiles/500524-marko-duplisak

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

A: The product will be finished on time and I will give my 100% to the project to ensure that the client is satisfied.

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

A: That the producers work for free and can repair a bad vocal performance.

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

A: Be open to new ideas and let everybody involved in the songwriting and production process work for the benefit of the song. Try to be unique and be yourself.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Rock/metal meets EDM/pop and they flirt with clean/screamo vocals.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Clients usually provide very basic demo song ideas (few guitar riffs or/and a vocal melody) and I start developing a song from there.