Mixing & Mastering, Production

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

A: The project I am really proud of is a song that I produced on Bandlab mobile for an artist called Sampada Verma and it went to several Spotify algorithmic as well as editorial playlists including "Fresh Finds India"

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am working on a number of client projects and some of my own projects at the moment.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I am all digital because why not! you just can't carry an actual compressor with you everywhere, but with the same vst plugin which is just as good as the actual deal, I can take offload from my shoulders.

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

A: My promise to my clients is that I will try my best to deliver the best possible result every time because I want to build a lifelong relationship with them.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The one thing I love the most about my job is that although it's a repetitive process still you get to learn new things with every other song that sounds similar to another song.

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

A: People often think that Mixing is magic and that you can throw anything in your session and then mixing would make it sound awesome but the truth is nobody in the world can make a bad recording sound good, rather good recordings are necessary for good mixing.

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

A: I have a day job and I am working for 7+ years now.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: My tip is to balance your song in mono because saves a lot of time and gives you a fairly balanced mix.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: 1. First and foremost I drag all the stems in my session and do my gain-staging and listen to the song multiple times just to find out what exactly the artist wants to translate from the mix and what are the problems in the mix that are stopping it. 2. Then I start by deleting things that are just there for no reason and are not serving the song. 3. Then I start editing things, especially the vocals because vocals are the main characters of a song. 4. After the editing is done I give the song another listen just to be sure. 5. Now I start mixing the elements of the song mainly the instruments so that they all sound good together. 6. Once I am done mixing the instrumental, I start mixing the main heroes of the song which are vocals. 7. After mixing vocals I solo all the vocals and give them a listen just to make sure that they are nice and clear 8. Once I'm done with everything then I give the song another listen and automate some parameters to taste just to make sure that the mix is translating itself or telling the story or vibe.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a fairly nice laptop(it's not very high end but it gets the job done!) I also have some great plugins, I use both paid plugins from waves, tal, Tokyo Dawn labs, arturia, valhalla etc and free plugins from my daw and other plugin makers. I have always been an "in the box type guy" so all the things I need are on my laptop in the form of Vst plugins which are exceptionally good.

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

A: I usually receive the stems of their songs and then i mix them in my laptop, I also do some small things like cleaning voiceovers,tuning vocals, editing just vocals, editing just music, mixing just vocals, mixing just music etc.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I often ask my clients to send multiple reference tracks so that i can get the exact idea what the artist want. Also i request my clients to always send the well labeled stems with name and pan for there tracks.

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

A: Please try to send your already edited stems so that the mixer can apply his mixing knowledge and make mindfull decisions rather than just editing stuff that just kills time.

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

A: 1. My laptop 2. My guitar 3. My usb microphone 4. My mini midi keyboard 5. My headphones

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is always keep it simple because there is no right way to make music.

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

A: I grew up listening to alot of artist like Michael jackson, Prince, Coldplay, Green Day, Justin timberlake just the name of few but one artist i would like to work with is Bruno mars because i am curious about how he makes his music which sounds old and new at the same time.

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

A: I usually work with Pop, Rock, Hip-hop, R&b and Edm music

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I can help the artist to achive the sound they are going for.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: What I bring to a song is the vision the artist wants to deliver. I know what the standard references are and what labels are usually looking for. With all this in mind, I work on pleasing the client and setting them on track for a successful release.

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

A: They inspire me to keep learning new things and finding new ways to solve a problem.