Raul on SoundBetter

Mix and master for +10 years

I am a mix and master engineer for over 10 years and FOH engineer for over 20 years. I mostly do pop, jazz, classical and contemporary worship music. I work hybrid, ITB with analog summing (Audient Sumo) I use a lot of plugins from UAD, Plugin Alliance, Softube, Sonnox, SSL Native, SoundToys, Focusrite, Slate Digital, Izotope, Pulsar, Waves, IK Multimedia and many others. I usually mix with Cubase Pro 10.5 and master in Samplitude Pro X4. Antelope A/D-D/A converters.

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Interview with Raul

Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both. Each one has its own gain.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: To be creative.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: How much does it cost and how fast can I deliver the final product. The answer depend of the situation.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That a mastering engineer is some sort of wizard that can make a bad recording or mix to sound as a big mainstream hit.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: I want to hear a demo of the song and a reference track that the client has in his mind for his/her song.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Try to see if the engineer is getting you the best sound of your music and go with him on your projects.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Audio gear, think I would take with me a pair of good speakers, headphones, a laptop with tons of good music, a microphone and a soundcard. I would definitely need a solar panel for all this :))
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I'm doing live sound since I was 14. That was in the middle nineties. I was trying to accomplish in live sound, the FX and the sound that I heard on great records and it was quite hard to even get close to some of them. After 2000 I started to record live performances on a laptop on a stereo channel. After 2005 I started to do multitrack recordings and started mixing in a DAW. In 2011 I met a producer that showed me how to really mix and master. Since then I kept studying more and more in this area.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Somewhere between Pop, Classical and Jazz music
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Josh Groban. I like his voice and the way he sings.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Record at the highest level(quality) possible
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Pop, classical
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Patience :)
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I try to balance the song and add depth and width and after rise up the loudness at a point where the dynamics are not smashed and the song can breathe.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: Usually it's cleaning/editing/restoration > mixing > mastering
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I go somehow hybrid, ITB with analog summing. Signal chain is Antelope Orion Studio 2017 D/A conversion going into Audient Sumo on 8 stereo groups. After summing, D/A is made in the Audient, it has an very good AKM converter and then I return into the Antelope Orion on S/PDIF and print.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Al Schmitt, Jack Joseph Puig, Humberto Gatica, David Foster, Igor Krutoy, etc...
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I mostly do mastering. There are times I do mixing and mastering and sometimes I do even recording and editing.