Mastering Engineer

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

A: Some clients believe the mastering guy can somehow make them sound like their favorite artist. The sound of a song is established in the MIXING stage, not the mastering stage. A mastering engineer can try their best to address mistakes made in mixing, but in that case it's best to go back and do a re-mix. Getting the best mix possible is important before mastering. A request like "please make it sound like Tame Impala" means very little. Or a reuest like "please bring out the vocal and the snare drum and the guitar" has little meaning because those are mixing adjustments.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: #1) PLEASE don't apply compression and limiting to your final mixes with the aim of making them loud. it's best to leave plenty of headroom when you print your mixes (keep them on the quiet side). I can make things loud on my end. When I get a mix file that's already been pushed up against a limiter (for loudness), the frequencies are smeared in a way that make it difficult for me to make EQ adjustments. #2) Try your best to keep the bass drum and bass guitar in balance with each other when you prepare your mixes. I often hear recordings where the bass guitar overwhelms the bass drum, and it's not possible to pull out the bass drum and make it 'thump' properly without also pushing up the bass guitar. Happy mixing!

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: For those who can pay more, I offer mastering with separated vocal / instrumental sources (also called 2-stem mastering). This allows me to focus on the music by itself, and the vocal by itself before combining them together again. Often an adjustment made to the music will affect the vocal in an unfortunate way, or vice-versa. All I need from the client is a music-only mix and a vocal-only mix for each song.

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

A: What is the benefit of a tape transfer? Transferring your mixes to tape adds slight tape compression and tape distortion - things difficult to replicate digitally. The difference in sound can be very subtle. Some people wonder if there is any real difference. In general I think tape can give a song more body and add presence. Again, it's not a drastic change. If you are happy with your mixes as they are, it might be best to go with standard mastering. But if your songs are digital and home-recorded, you might want to give a tape transfer a try.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is your preference regarding dynamics? (squashed and loud, or quieter with room to breathe?) Often I try to strike a balance between the two. Also, when the project is an album or EP, I will ask, will you be sending your project to a CD or vinyl manufacturer? In that case I will provide what the manufacturer needs in the form of a DDP file (for CDs) or .wav files for album sides (vinyl).

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

A: I am here for the DIY artist who does a lot of their own recording and mixing and wishes to optimize the quality of their recordings. I am also here for artists who've done their recording at a studio but do not want to spend loads of money for a result that can be achieved by me for less. Often high-end services are not required to achieve a positive result. Granted, if you have spent loads of money at a studio to record your songs, then you will probably not want to hire the "budget mastering guy." This title does not imply that I do budget-quality work (See the reviews). I tune my ears closely to each individual track, and never use pre-sets or filters. There are some very pricey tools used by high-end mastering engineers that I simply cannot afford. Is the difference in the quality of mastering proportional to the difference in cost? Decidedly not. It's all about the person you hire to do your work.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both

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

A: I began as a musician and learned sound engineering as a necessity. Later on I took up mastering the albums I produced after learning from my master, Chris Keffer.

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

A: rock, acoustic, heavy rock, ambient, lo-fi, instrumental, folk, singer-songwriter, or anything home-recorded

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

A: I master anything from rough, lo-fi rock to clean, acoustic music.