Toby Hulbert on SoundBetter

In an era of laptop producers that has led to everyone and their dog calling themselves an engineer, Toby is a rare breed. Having spent nearly 10 years working in house at some of the top studios in the UK and US he’s had the unique opportunity to learn the craft of engineering from some of the world’s best. Now setup and available for mixing

After graduating from University of Surrey’s BMus Tonmeister course, Toby made his way up the ranks in-house at Abbey Road Studios where he spent seven years immersing himself in the studio’s rich recording history and working with some of the world’s most imminent producers including Tony Visconti, Nile Rodgers and Malay. One of very few engineers to have the opportunity to learn in such a professional studio environment, his career developed by working on a huge variety of styles and genres. His work includes recordings with artists such as Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Oh Wonder, Frank Ocean, Dirty Heads, Kasabian and Dawes, and as part of Abbey Road’s live sessions he’s worked with artists including Alabama Shakes, Mumford & Sons, Izzy Bizu & Jack Garratt. Toby has also worked as a score recordist on titles including the Oscar winning Gravity, The Imitation Game, Suffragette and The Avengers, and as a digital scoring engineer for Ridley Scott's The Martian, as well as engineering solo sessions for Hacksaw Ridge.

In 2019 Toby moved to Nashville, TN, to work alongside six-time Grammy winning record producer Dave Cobb at RCA Studio A. He’s now focused on continuing to learn American recording styles and particularly enjoys creating natural recordings to tape with musicians playing live together.

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Credits

AllMusic verified credits for Toby Hulbert

Manuel Carrasco
Sting
Barry Gibb
Barry Gibb
Barry Gibb
Barry Gibb
Barry Gibb
Anderson East
Dawes
Dawes
Lori McKenna
Lori McKenna
Airbourne
Keith Urban
The Oak Ridge Boys
Daniel Elms
The Highwomen
Elton John
Taron Egerton
Dirty Heads
The Highwomen
Alan Silvestri
Renée Fleming
Chic
Nile Rodgers
Manuel Carrasco
The Beach Boys
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Alex Heffes
Danny Elfman
Harry Gregson-Williams
Danny Elfman
A.R. Rahman
Europe
Danny Elfman
Alexandre Desplat
Yann Tiersen
Trevor Morris
The Weeklings
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Kenichiro Kobayashi
Miyuji Kaneko
Mark Ronson
Geoff Zanelli
Kenny Wheeler Quintet
Kenny Wheeler
Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Desplat
Kasabian
Kasabian
Alberto Iglesias
London Symphony Orchestra
Rolando Villazón
Antonio Pappano
Al Di Meola
Steven Price
Sting
Guy Barker
Carl Davis
Philharmonia Orchestra
Pavel Sporcl
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Michael Price
David Arnold
Howard Shore
Faryl Smith
Daniel Pemberton
Barry Gibb
Dawes
Inon Zur
Anderson East
Dawes
The Highwomen
Anderson East
Stephen Emmer
Manuel Carrasco
Roque Baños
Dawes
Dawes
Zach Bryan
Jessica Chastain
Dawes
Dolly Parton
Barry Gibb
Jason Isbell
Barry Gibb

10 Reviews - 2 Repeat Clients

Endorse Toby Hulbert

by Chris Duggan
Verified
Toby's a very talented guy, it was great working with him and I love his mix.
by Rasmus H.
Verified
Really nice work.
And very good communication.
I can highly recommend Toby.
by Megan Leigh
Verified
I can always count on Toby to deliver the best work and in a timely manner. He is phenomenal at what he does - highly recommend!
by austin c.
Verified
Toby was a tremendous help in taking the songs in my project to the next level. Quick to respond and eager to help achieve the desired sonic goal. Highly recommended!
by Megan Leigh
Verified
I have worked with Toby several times now, and each time has been truly awesome. I am consistently impressed with his work, turnaround time, and pleasant, easy-going attitude. So glad to have connected with Toby here, and I will continue to work with him as much as possible!
by Jimmy H.
Verified
Toby is awesome to work with, he did a great job bringing my track to life! Highly recommended!
by Eli L.
Verified
Toby is the man! Always ready to rock for every project and super excited of the results 🙌
by Megan Leigh
Verified
Toby has done a truly amazing job mastering my two solo tracks as well as three for my duo project. He delivers as promised with regard to time and flexibility in making changes, and is professional, communicative and easy to work with. I highly recommend him for your mixing and mastering needs!
by Eli L.
Verified
Toby is an absolute pro and took our songs to the next level!

We sent him tracks of our songs to master, and we were blown away by the sound he was able to create.

He worked with us right from the start to make sure he was going for the sound we were after, and he struck the perfect balance between lower end warmth and vocal punch that we were going for.

Couldn't be more happy with the final masters and will definitely be reaching out to him again for future projects!
by Konstantinos Malliaris
If you are after hybrid and silky warmth texture to your vocals and refinement in your instrumentation and production Toby is the best. With Toby I never had to explain too much he always listens to my reference mix and delivers very quickly.

I have had the pleasure to work with Toby since 2017. He has been mixing all of my songs ever since my first professional release. We have done 10 songs together in 3 different genres and he has been exceptional.

He has always added amazing effects to my synths and pads and elevated my songs by using dynamic range very effectively.

Interview with Toby Hulbert

Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Recent notable projects include: Forthcoming record with LA-based Dawes Forthcoming record with Americana favorite Lori McKenna  Dirty Heads new record ‘Supermoon’ Sessions for the Monday Night Football Theme at Blackbird and with Hank Williams Jr.  A string session for John Prine  End credits song from the film ‘The Kitchen’
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: The best of both! I love working with tape as it can be a great way to soften recordings, glue mixes together and give a good character to the mix. Also I'm a big fan of analogue tape effects - slaps, ADT, flanges etc. I still think even the best plugins can't quite beat some bits of analogue - especially compressors, so I love to use a few of the real deal on mixers, especially on the important elements e.g vocal, drum bus, bass. But there are so many great compressors and tools we have in the box now that I'm obviously all in on plugins too.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Just get in touch and I'll be happy to chat about how I can help your project.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: My ATCs UAD plugs 1176 compressor Neumann U 67 My Laptop That's probably enough to make a great record (lets say the UAD has some preamps too! :) )
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I started recording and mixing my own music from age 13! I've been working in professional studios for the last 10 years since starting at a studio called Phoenix Sound in Pinewood Studios near London. After that I worked in film sound post production for a year and also assisted a film composer. I joined Abbey Road in 2012 and moved up the ranks there over my 7 year stay. In 2019 I moved out to Nashville, TN to work at RCA Studio A with six-time Grammy winning producer Dave Cobb.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Generally relaxed and easy to work with. I have more of an alternative sensibility in my mixes than pop. A good mix of modern with real appreciation of the great music and production techniques of the past.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I've had the chance to work with some incredible artists through the times in house at Abbey Road Studios and RCA Studio A. I don't think there's any particular artist I'd love to work with right now - I'm more keen on finding projects where I can be a part of honest music that is being made from a good place, and hopefully meet some like minded good people through that process!
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Finish your productions and keep moving forward!
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: It has been very varied so I'm really willing to consider taking on many styles of music. My recent experience in Nashville has been more acoustic based music - Americana, folk, rock n roll, alternative, but previous experience has been more wide ranging.- from hiphop, classical to electronic genres.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Great knowledge of a wide range of analogue equipment from all my time in professional studios where I've got to try a ridiculous amount of different outboard options. A great musical understand and (in my opinion) good taste when making mixer decisions.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: A good ear for arrangement and sonics. Experience to know that a mixer should always keep in mind the demo mix as the artist's intention
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: At the beginning of 2020 I've setup up a great sounding mix room so I can start taking on clients for mixing. I've invested in some acoustic treatment and have some ATC SMC20ASL monitors - some of the best and most revealing speakers I've ever used.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: I've learnt a lot from working alongside Dave Cobb at RCA Studio A over the last year. Other inspiring producers / engineers are Leon Michels, Tom Elmhirst, Shawn Everett, Nigel Godrich, Tchad Blake.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: At Abbey Road the work was varied - large orchestra film scoring sessions, score mixing, live band sessions, overdub sessions, orchestra pop overdubs, online mixing. I moved to Nashville in 2019 to pursue more music work and less film scoring and since then my work has mainly been with Americana, Rock n Roll - lots more band recording and mixing. I've got good experience with more electronic genres too having made alternative / electronic music for years, so my skills are wide ranging now.