HD Mixing & Mastering

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

A: I worked with a band called Autumn Kings recently, and it was the most involved I've ever been in a project. Not only was I the mixing engineer, but also the producer, writer, sound engineer, mastering engineer and worked over 1-2 weeks on just 1 song! After everything was finished, I couldn't have been more proud of the final outcome.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working on many mix projects from some local indie artists as well as some high profile record label projects.

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

A: I recently just signed up, so I'll have to do some research before I answer this!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both, because going completely analogue could sound "better", however it's slower for recalls and could get much more expensive. Going completely digital is not bad, however sometimes mixes sound a little flat imo. When mixing digitally with some analogue components mixed in, you get the best of both worlds with speed/efficiency at a fair price.

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

A: My clients will always be happy with the final outcome.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Everything! I've been doing this all day everyday for over 15 years and I still wake up and look forward to mixing/mastering songs for clients all over the world.

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

A: How fast is your turn around? 1 week If you don't like our song, will you still work on it? No How long does it take you to mix 1 song? Depending on the track count/duration, 0.5-1.5 days.

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

A: Some artists think I can fix anything in a song, which in partially true, however, if a vocal performance is bad, or the voice is no good, that's something no one can fix!!! Please spend time on your vocal tracking! It'll be worth it in the end.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is the deadline? What kind of sound are you going for? Could you send me some other artist's songs for a sound reference you're shooting for? Are you more into the pop/clean sound, or more on the raw side?

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

A: Do your research and check out other audio mixers to ensure that I'm the right fit.

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

A: Pro Tools/Computer Neumann u87 UAD Apollo Yamaha NS10m monitors '52 Fender Telecaster

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

A: I started off in the music industry very young at around 17-18 years old. I'm now in the industry for over 15 yeas with a very large clientele built up.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Larger than life!

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

A: I'd like to work with 5 Seconds of Summer. They have a really nice hybrid sound that involves modern production with some pop and rock elements that I love to produce and mix on my spare time. I could defintely really help them craft their next single.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: No matter how good my mix is, the song has to be great to compete with the elite in this industry. Don't expect a mix to distract the listener from a poorly written song. Write GREAT songs!

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

A: Lately I've been mixing lots of pop music. Other genres include rock/hardrock, country, electronic, hip-hop as well as an electronic hard rock/pop sound that's been creeping up in the industry lately.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is the attention to detail. I don't receive a song and give it a quick mix and then immediately send it to the client. I spend hours making sure I'm fully happy with the mix before the client hears it for the first time.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I give the song the sonic landscape it needs to help indie/high profile artists compete with some of the greatest audio mixers that exist.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Usually a client will find me through word of mouth, then ask me to mix/master a song for them. Once payment is received, I receive the audio files and load them into my system. I normally will spend around 1 to 1.5 days mixing the song before sending it off to the client. Normally a client has 0-3 revisions tweaks to make, so I apply the changes, and master the song for them before an official release.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I own and operate a state-of-the-art recording studio that runs as a hybrid setup. This means that I don't mix everything entirely in the box (computer). I run lots of automation and processing in Pro Tools while running drums, vocals, etc through many high-end hardware to give my mixes the depth and punch.

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

A: Serban Ghenea is one of the worlds greatest mix engineer for Pop, and I do my best to try and keep up with his skill level. On the Rock/Metal size, I often compare my mixes against David Bendeth, Randy Staub and Andy Wallace. Those guys are remasters at what they do.

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

A: I'm usually hired as a mixing & mastering engineer for projects. My genres that I specialize span from Hard Rock Metal, all the way to Pop and Electronic.