Rich Rainey on SoundBetter

3x Grammy Award winning engineer available for mixing. All styles.

I'm primarily known for mixing rock/alt bands but I also really enjoy mixing pop. I have a long standing relationship for over 20 years working with U2 which has given me a wide range of mixing opportunities including tv, radio and live concerts in 5.1 surround sound. I have recently also starting doing Dolby Atmos mixes too.I'm happy mixing all styles. Fast and friendly service. Credits etc on www.richardrainey.com

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Credits

Interview with Rich Rainey

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I engineered Beautiful Day by U2. It was great to be a part of such a globally popular record. It doesn't sound like anyone else
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Some U2 remastering
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Don't think so, sorry
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Digital nowadays. It's just a more practical solution
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: To deliver a result they're happy with on the time frame required
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: When a mix clicks into place and feels good
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Q: What are U2 like? A: They're good guys who work bloody hard
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: The glamour
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: Which records do you like the sound of? Is your rough mix a good guide for me?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: I guess you have to take a chance. If they've worked at a decent level for a while they should be fine. Maybe try one track to start
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: MacBook Pro, RME ADI-2 DAC, Neumann NDH20 headphones, Neumann 310 speakers and large iTunes library
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: Did the traditional route by starting as a tea boy and working my way up to assisting and then engineering. Great way to learn
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Could do better
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I'd love to record the Rolling Stones or mix a live show for them
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: mute mute mute
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: A lot of guitar bands but I actually love doing al styles
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Bringing a focus to the important parts and the feel of a track
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Hopefully a focus on the important parts!!
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: I spend a fair amount of time prepping a session to mix. This involves cleaning up audio and generally reorganising the tracks into my template
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: Nowadays I'm in the box. It makes sense from a practical point of view. I use Neumann monitoring and some Avid controllers to give me faders and buttons
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Rick Rubin, Nigel Godrich
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: These days it's mostly mixing.