♫ MASTER+MIXING ♫

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

A: Max Martin, and the grandmaster of melodies himself, E-Type.

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

A: Sunscreen, Elon Musk, a knife, a Wilson ball from Cast Away, and a time machine so I could go back to 2009 and mine bitcoin.

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

A: Back in the early 2000's I had a PC but no DAW, so I recorded audio in layers on top of each other to make a final mix. A digital flute didn't sound realistic enough so I created reverb/depth by playing the sound through PC speakers & then recording it back onto the mic of a video camera. The effect became very unique sounding, and I learned that music is about experimenting.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Anything that I need to start working. It's good if a client has an idea what they want the end result to sound like (eg. compared to another artist, "I want it to sound more like Alan Walker").

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I like modern sounds, electronic instruments are developing all the time and there's always new interesting stuff on the horizon. As an artist I try to avoid having a style though, I like to explore every aspect of music that I find interesting.

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

A: 100% customer satisfaction. I'll revise until you're happy with the result.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I hope I never end up having a job! I'm a freelancer & explorer of life. Just remember to differentiate hobbies from professional endeavours. The music industry is extremely saturated, and it's important that you decide what you want out of it.

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

A: Composed my first song on a computer back in 2003. Music has always been a part of my life, I used to play in the orchestra as a kid (trumpeter's can turn garden hoses into magic devices, did you know that?)

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

A: Be as detailed as you can. Your goal is important, how you visualize the end result to be like.

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

A: Outside of SoundBetter, I've had a few ones like: "Can you please make music for free first, then maybe later we'll pay you if we like the result?" I don't work for free. And neither should you!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I'm a headphones person. My walls are filled with different headphones (no joke!) that I switch between when mastering to be able to hear subtle differences. Even if one uses quality equipment when mixing, I find that it's important to hear the final sound through "consumer grade" speakers as well, because that's how most people will hear it. You can have a fancy expensive setup, but very few consumers will hear the final audio like that.

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

A: Madonna. I remember seeing her music videos on TV as a kid in the early 90's being completely fascinated. Another dream project would be to make an English vocals remake of "Det Vackraste" by Cecilia Vennersten. It has one of the best combos of emotion and chord progression ever made.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Many different songs! It's fun to step outside your comfort zone and do styles of music you're not used to.

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

A: I've hired people here before and I also know others from the industry that are on the platform. It feels unfair to mention names, though!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital. I'm studying computer science at the university so I could go on about this question white-paper style... but I'll save you the suffering!

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

A: That music is simple, because it sounds so simple when you hear it. It takes many years of practice to make stuff sound the way you want to.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Have a strong melody first. Lyrics will just be lyrics without a melody that pulls you in.

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

A: As an artist I mostly do pop and electronic sounds. As a mixing engineer, I look forward to explore new areas of music. I like a challenge!

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Melodies are spontaneously appearing in my mind all the time. Several of my own songs have spawned from a tune playing in my head in the middle of the night, then I wake up & have to make sure to record it before it disappears. The day after when you listen to the recording on your phone it's either a masterpiece, or a drunkard mumbling something inaudible.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: As a mixing engineer, my goal is to give the client what he or she wants. As an artist, I think good music should have a strong emotion to it, both to the melodic structure and the vocals.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Doing many different songs at the same time. One can easily get "monorail"-hearing when listening to the same loops over and over again, focusing on details but missing the bigger picture.

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

A: Just starting out on SoundBetter, so I'm pumped to get working with fun & interesting projects!