Mastering | Stem Mastering

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

A: I do professional mastering for my clients including traditional stereo mastering and stem mastering services. I make sure their music sounds the best it can be and ready for release.

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

A: Everybody who is passionate about music can be inspiring in some ways. If I had to choose some names, I would say I found Chris Gehringer's and Glenn Schick's works and attitude very inspiring.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio setup is very minimal, but I have everything what is needed for professional audio production. First of all, I have a soundproofed and acoustically well treated room. I use an RME audio interface for conversion and Sonodyne studio monitors for monitoring. I use some headphones and I also check the final sound on some hifi systems and well-known Bluetooth speakers. I work in Cubase with native plugins such as Eventide, FabFilter, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, Softube, Soundtoys and Waves. Digital technology has been drastically improved in the past decade in a really good way. I always try out the latest plugins and recently I've been very impressed by the quality what you can create with these tools. I have experience working with analogue gears, however I ended up working only in the box because of the reasons mentioned above and the flexibility what this working method can offer.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: First, I listen to the mix a few times to get involved to the track. Meanwhile, I’m taking notes if there is anything I would like to change to begin with like taming certain frequencies. After that, I’m not following any recipes, just trying to find what suits best for the actual song. A reference track could also be helpful if the client has any ideas about the final sound, but I also believe that every song has its own sonic characteristics and sound what we mastering engineers have to perceive and with our ability, skills and equipment we have the responsibility to bring these up to the surface.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: My aim is to bring clarity to a song. All artists have their own vision about how their song should sound. On every level during the process we have to support this idea and I believe it all starts with clarity.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: First, I thought I should answer something technical to this question, but there are many other skills which are also equally important during the process such as communication. I have worked on hundreds of different projects with hundreds of different clients and what I learnt and developed through these experiences is how to listen to and understand their needs. Our job is to make artistic visions come to life and for this we have to be patient, understanding and supporting during the whole process. Communication is the key factor in any kind of collaborations.

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

A: Through the years, I had a chance to work with a wide range of artists and genres. I enjoy working on both acoustic and electronic genres, but I also think we shouldn’t be genre specific. The only question what we should ask from ourselves is whether we feel connected to a particular song and make it better.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Less is more. Try to use less elements and be perfectionist with those. Most of the producers think nowadays, the only way to create something remarkable is to use infinite numbers of equipment. The problem with this mindset is that you are never going to know all of your equipment as much as you could get to know only one or a few. Just pick one gear and figure out everything what you could achieve with that. At the end you are going to realize the possibilities are endless.

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

A: Very hard to pick only one artist, but I can tell, I would be happy to work with anybody who has some original ideas and some kind of uniqueness. That's what I'm always looking for and that makes me inspired.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: As a professionally trained musician I'm influenced by countless artists, records and genres. I like minimalism, the opportunity to create something extraordinary with only a few elements.

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

A: My interest of music has begun in the very early ages. I started learning classical piano at the age of 8 at a local music school and I continued learning along with classical composition and jazz piano at a music conservatory. After that, I made my degree in both, composition and sound engineering. As music production requires musical and technical knowledge, I really wanted to understand both sides and I've been professionally working as a composer and sound engineer in the past 10 years. I was also managing a recording studio for 5 years in London where I had a chance to work with many great artists on many great records. Nowadays, I'm doing the same as a freelancer with the main focus on mastering.

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

A: As I don't want to carry too much stuff, a piano would be more than enough :)

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

A: Many amateurs are advertising themselves as professionals out there. Those ones who have verified reviews, work samples and you like how they introduce themselves, probably you can't go wrong :)

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I always ask prospective clients to try explaining to me their sound as detailed as possible. In that case, I can have a better understanding what they are looking for and the possibility to deliver something closer to what they have in mind.

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

A: A mastering engineer is not a mixing engineer neither a producer. When I say, I'm possibly able to improve sound quality, musicians often think I can also improve their production, but that's wrong. I'm happy to give feedback on a mix when a client wants to achieve something in terms of sound and the song is not ready for it. In that case, I can suggest things to change to be able to get that exact result they are looking for.

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

A: The question which most commonly asked is how much time I need to finish a master. In general, I can deliver a master within 24 hours.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: My job allows me to be creative all the time which is very important for me. It is also a pleasure to be part of something new and helping to make it better with my knowledge.

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

A: I can't promise anything, but my clients can be sure I will try my best to get the best possible sounding result out of their music.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I already had some thoughts on this earlier. I think both are great. I prefer digital, but the final result is depending on your knowledge, not on your equipment.

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

A: Currently, I don't know anyone yet personally I could honestly recommend to work with, however I'm sure you can find plenty of professionals on the site with great reviews you can trust.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: There are always many projects going on. I just finished mastering a Rock album which is coming out soon and I’m in the middle of the process with some Singer-Songwriters.

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

A: In 2021, I got involved to an EDM project which was produced by a Swedish producer PW Music. I mixed and mastered the song as well as gave him some production advice. I really enjoyed the whole process and the creativity throughout. The song has reached more than 900 000 listeners on Spotify by now. I’m proud of this work. You can also have a listen to it in the “NEWS” section on my profile.