Audio Engineer

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

A: I tracked & mixed and EP titled "Outlier" from a Minnesota Artist named Qou. This was a few years ago when I first moved to LA and we tracked it and mixed it from a garage in the winter (Believe it or not it gets cold at night in LA during the winter) and it came out awesome. Some of the most fun but also challenging times I've had as an engineer.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I recently finished mixing for a feature length independent film, as well as mixing and mastering songs for some clients. Working freelance from home at the moment but as things start to go back to normal and open back up I'm eyeing a return to the studio.

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

A: I'm honestly not sure if any engineers I personally know are on here or not.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I honestly love them both and they both have their strengths and weaknesses. With analog, nothing beats the vibe of being in a big control room with a ssl or api console and pushing faders and patching cables to your gear. With Digital you can still get that same sound now a days, but its just so much easier to use and saves a lot of time and money and space. It's definitely a lot more convenient. Still can be a lot of fun but it doesn't have the same feeling as analog gear.

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

A: I'll always do my best to work with you and get you what you want.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I get to be a part of making cool music. I'm a fan of music in general and can usually enjoy pretty much anything so being able to help make that music as my career is awesome.

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

A: "How soon can you have it done?" This obviously varies project to project but for single songs I normally have a 1 day turn around time. I CAN do it same day if I get it early enough but I personally don't like doing that because I like to be thorough and make sure I'm delivering a high quality mix.

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

A: That it is easy and anyone can do it if they twist enough nobs and press enough buttons. There is so much more that goes into it, there is an actual science behind what we do and that's where the "engineer" part comes from in Audio Engineer.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What inspirations they have for their project/song? Do they have other music already released I can go listen to? Is there any songs/artist that have a similar sound to what you are trying to attain?

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

A: Just start reaching out to people who do what you're looking for. It's no problem at all answering any questions you have beforehand and lets us know what you're looking for and if you feel like its a good fit then go for it.

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

A: I started making music seriously when I was in the 8th grade and because of that learned about audio engineering. It became something I wanted to do as a career by the 10th grade and have been doing it for over 10 years on my own and doing it professionally for 4+ years now.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Very clean and accented. I like to add my own touches here and there but I never want to overstep and do something the artist/client doesn't want so I keep it minimal unless told otherwise.

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

A: I would love to work with Drake, I've been a fan for ever and the quality he puts out is second to none and being a part of that would be a dream come true. I'd also love to work with Kanye because I feel like I'd be able to learn so much from him and be exposed to a lot of out of the box stuff I otherwise would never have learned.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: There's really no rules to this. Its an Art as much as it is a science. If it sounds good then it is good!

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

A: Hip Hop/Pop

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Understanding what changes need to be made depending on the feedback I get regardless if its explained "properly" or not.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Clean powerful sounding vocals with creative ideas and fx to make it unique.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Most of the work I've been doing recently is remote because of the pandemic so I receive stems of a project, talk to the artist about what they're looking for, and mix/master to the best of my ability and work with them until the song/project is to their liking.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: DAW: Protools 12 Microphone: Pearlman TM-1 Interface: Steinberg UR44 Pre Amp: Focusrite ISA ONE Monitors: KRK Rokit (5 Inch)

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

A: There's way too many, but to name a few: 40 (aka Noah Shebib), Kanye West, Scott Storch, Dr Dre and so on.

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

A: I do a lot of vocal tracking and mixing for my clients.