Doofdum on SoundBetter

My goal is to help artists improve the quality of their songs. My passion is in reliability, putting individual time and attention into bringing my clients' ideas to life. I've always had a vision for how I wanted my tracks to come out sonically, vocally and instrumentally... now I want to help others see too. Let's work together on your next hit!

Hi! My name is Doofdum.

I'm a music producer/mix engineer who specializes in hip-hop/rap, trap, R&B, pop, dance/edm, and dubstep. I love making vocals sound gorgeous, but I'm just as happy to work on organic instruments, drums, synthesized production, etc.

I've been making music for most of my life. I started playing saxophone in 2006, and in 2013 I picked up Ableton Live and found my passion in music production. While making beats was fun, I was always fascinated with finding ways to improve the sound quality of my mixes and work my way around vocals. I love polishing up vocal tracks and making everything blend as smoothly as possible.

For the past 8 years I've been working full-time as a freelance musician. I truly love what I do for a living, my work is a reflection of that. My job is done quickly and effectively, but I'll take however much time is needed to bring your project to life.

The sound of your songs' mix is a huge part of your brand as an artist, of how your sound will be received by any potential fans/supporters. You could have the greatest musical ideas on the planet and they could be overshadowed by a poorly mixed song.

I'll be happy to consult with you on whether or not I feel I could be the right fit for your sound, just hit me up using the "contact" button above and I'll get back to you ASAP. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Click the 'Contact' above to get in touch. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Credits

12 Reviews

Endorse Doofdum

by Escobands_
Working with doofdum is the best choice your make 100% 10/10 mixing and fire beats
by Sam
Doof is easily the best engineer I’ve ever worked with. He has an amazing ear when it comes to mixing and I highly recommend his services to anyone looking for a professional sounding mix done by a very professional engineer.
by Cruzlife
Amazing producer that really takes true pride and dedication to his work. He does an amazing job with vocals and how to make your tracks sound clear. He has worked on a lot of my tracks and will continue to work on them. Thanks for the hard work you give to this music man.
by Cam Kazi
Doof sum is super easy going and a cool mf!! Work is all time high quality and worth every dollar ! Thanks for all the help doof!
by SlimReaper
Doofdum has exceeded my expectations EVERY single time. He has helped me create some of my best tracks I’ve ever made and he always works incredibly professional. I can’t stress enough how multi talented this man is but I can say I would recommend him to my closest of friends and anyone who needs not only a professional sound but also a professional experience
by Somedaysoon
Amazing producer and a next level engineer. I won’t let anyone else touch my mixes other than Doofdum. Outstanding quality and very professional.
by soap.
Doofdum is a very professional and talented producer/engineer. He takes great care to detail and has produced and engineered some of my favorite tracks. I would recommend him to anyone who is serious about their music and how it sounds!
by Tyler Hunter
Doofdum is the most genuine audio engineer I have ever worked with. Working with him in my first full album release I got to spend dozens of hours around him, and here are a few of the observations I had:
- Doof is just as good at teaching as he is with the music, so he always explained things in a way that helped me grow
- Doof is always responsive, and timely with his work. We had a huge project together that wrapped up almost a week early.
- Doof gives meaningful feedback, and will help hash out ideas with you live.
- Doof is just a great at what he does, period. Ableton Encyclopedia
by Atryp
Easily one of the best I’ve worked with . Lord Doof 🙌🏾
by New England Boy
Doof is seriously one of the most professional engineers i ever met, you can tell everytime you’re in the room w bro that he seriously cares about the smallest errors and works his hardest to do his magic. He is also a phenomenal beat-maker too and can adapt to any style of music. I never have personally gotten anything mixed or mastered by him because i’m not a vocal artist but everytime i shoot a music video for someone who has gotten songs mixed by him they always are crazy good & professional sounding.
by Jordan Davis
DoofDum is one of the best people I’ve had the pleasure to meet and work with in the music scene. I first heard of him through twitter via Lil Xelly, and then he came down to ATL to visit and he and I linked and worked for the first time and he is truly a great person to work with. 10/10 would recommend DoofDum, he just wants to make hits!
by Fuller
Purchased instumentals from Doofdum. Some of the best sounds and the most reasonable pricing.
Doofdum goes the extra mile as well to help artists find the sound they are looking for and even takes time to give feedback on the tracks to help you perfect your craft.

DOOFDUM NEVER MISSES. WILL CONTINUE TO DO BUSINESS WITH HIM AGAIN IN THE FUTURE.

Interview with Doofdum

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: CHECK THE MIX ENGINEER'S SAMPLES. Check multiple samples of each producer's work, and make sure they have the SOUND you want. This is so important. Listen to the vocals, listen to the beat, and use your own discretion from there to determine if they are a good fit for your music.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: Spending more time on a mix will not yield better results. I could argue that the more time you spend on a mix, the more likely you will end up messing something up. Listening to the same thing for too long is exhausting on the ears. I find that I get the best quality mixes done by focusing and getting the track polished within a reasonable time frame (1-3hrs usually). After about 4hrs my ears are exhausted and nothing sounds accurate, so you're basically shooting in the dark at that point.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What DAW do you use? What kind of music do you make? What are your short term and long term goals for your music? What kind of sound are you going for in your songs? What's your story?
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Macbook, apollo twin, tlm103 mic, iloud monitor, and a comfy chair.
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I worked with Lil Xelly on his "Side Effects" album. We started on it back in October 2019, I recorded and mixed like 80% of the project, as well as produced 2 of them. It's a melodic R&B/rap album, so fire though. The lyrics and everything are things that we can relate to as adults, as kids, anywhere in between. There's a song in that project for just about everyone.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I'm working on building up my artist catalogue right now, I've been sitting on some HEAT with a handful of artists that I've been releasing little by little. I've got a couple small projects loaded in the clip... just finding the right time to fire.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Digital, it's all I know.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I promise to give your song the treatment it needs, that will give you the confidence to show your music to any and everyone.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I love that I can spend all of my time developing my skills as a musician. My time is very valuable to me, it makes me feel good to know I spend it doing something productive that I enjoy.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Q: What DAW do you use? A: Ableton Live 10 Q: How do I send you files for mixing? A: Bounce your dry session stems, zip them up in a folder, and email them to me via WeTransfer. Q: How do I get better at mixing? A: PRACTICE. Mix hundreds of songs and aim to get a little better on each one. This stuff takes time; put it in and you'll get there.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: My production style typically is melodic and heavy (I like bass), sometimes playful. But I bounce around wherever my inspiration takes me. As far as vocal mixing style I prefer to go for a natural, but crisp "pop" type of vocal quality.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I've been making music 14 years, producing music for the past 6 and mixing for the past 4. I was originally a music ed major in college... university wasn't my thing, but I still love teaching music to this day. I ended up on the career path I wanted, I feel like I get the best of both worlds by still being able to spend my time helping artists grow and improve.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I would love to work with Kid Cudi, would love to have worked with Juice WRLD (rip).
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: I'll give you a few. Use your ears; there's no rulebook on how to create great music. Break the rules, evaluate problem areas in your craft, sharpen your sword, rinse and repeat. Identify problems, fix problems. Oh yeah, don't overthink things either. Make more music, don't be too attached.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: I usually work on hiphop and r&b music, but I'm finally starting to lean more in the direction of my original influences in house/edm.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Listening to everything in context. I always try to keep in mind where everything is meant to fit in a song, in an ep, in an album... all of these factors have an effect on how you should approach a song
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I bring life to a song. Every mixing job I treat like I would my own art, because the work put into those songs are a reflection of myself. I'm objective, not afraid to experiment and comment on potential changes where necessary, but I also know when to switch hats and step aside to fulfill the artists' vision as they see fit. I don't believe in getting overly attached to your art, it can lead to making lots of mundane decisions that won't have any effect on your listeners.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: I always start by listening to the song as a whole a couple times to determine where it currently is sitting sonically, and where it could be improved. Every song has different unique needs so I always start from scratch. After I decide my direction I start by editing the audio tracks to make sure everything is timed correctly, then I do some basic leveling and jump into the bulk of my work: EQ/compression. I spend a LOT of time shaping audio with EQ/comp to give it each sound the consistency needed for it to blend beautifully with everything else. Then after all of the EQ work is done I finish each song with whatever effects are needed to make everything sound beautifully glued together (de-essing, autotune, chorus, delay, reverb, bus effects, etc).
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I work on an iMac in Ableton Live 10. The mic I use is a Neumann TLM103, ran through an Apollo Twin interface. I use Presonus Sceptre s8 monitors for mixing and monitoring in mono, and I also often use my ATH-M50x headphones to do the bulk of my mixing actions when I'm live streaming (so I can talk to people in chat while I work).
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Scott Storch, Dr. Dre, Metro Boomin, Big KRIT, Kenny Beats, MixedByAli, Dillon Francis, Kaskade, Rusko, Dash Berlin, Armin Van Buuren. The EDM producers really helped me find my taste in vocal mixing style.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I spend most of my time mixing & editing vocals for my clients' songs. I record local clientele at my home studio here in Akron. I prefer to produce songs completely from scratch. It's the best feeling starting with a beat and working with a great recording artist to bring the track to life.