Mix Engineer

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

A: My promise is that I'm always going to take your work seriously. Working in music, I'm very much used to the concept of the material I'm working on, being someone's passion project. I've been in studios where engineers haven't been showing the work the respect it deserves and it always has a detrimental effect on the outcome of a record.

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

A: I get asked "how did you get (insert some instrument here) to sound like that?" Which I think is a good indicator for my quality of work. I'm usually very open about how I got something to sound a certain way. I think like most niche communities, there's a lot of "gate-keeping" with techniques and I feel like clinging to a certain sound has a really negative effect and prevents you from growing as an engineer.

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

A: After years of making music and recording my friends bands, I earned an audio engineering degree in Los Angeles in 2013. In early 2014 I started working as an engineer at a recording studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn owned by Axis Mundi Records. Shortly after starting at Axis Mundi the studio moved to a multi-room facility in Rockaway Park, Queens. I began mixing professional in that studio while building a collection of my own gear at my apartment. Along with mixing out of my own studio now, I work as an assistant engineer at Red Convertible Recording in Williamsburg, Booklyn.

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

A: I do a lot of work in the indie pop / indie electronic fields but I've done work on a wide variety of genres.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I think it's a pretty common workflow but I spend a long time getting the instrumental feeling good. I always start with the drums and bass as they are what the rest of the instruments rely on. I do vocals last so that I can balance them with the rest of the track as a whole.

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

A: My biggest influence for really getting into mixing is Philippe Zdar. He really had a fun and energetic approach to mixing focusing more on the vibe and less on the tiny details that a lot of other engineers get caught up with.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: There’s no true answer to this question other than what works best for you and you have the means to work with. Analog is often praised but it has so many clear setbacks especially for a modern mixing workflow. I’ve found a really wonderful balance by mixing with a hybrid setup.