Mixing and Mastering

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

A: In a project of a local band because I was a fan of them since I was a child and now I had the honor of mixing and mastering them and they trust me a lot, also they are not only a band but they are also producers (the singer and the guitarist) and that honors me a lot.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Mixing and Mastering in my studio 100% of my time

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

A: Yes! my mentor Thomas Juth is here obviously I would recommend it 100%

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital a thousand times, I am a fan of analog equipment in the recording process, but in mixing digital tools are far above analog, things like multiband compression, tonal compressors like soothe 2, Spiff I could never get a sound as good as digital on a console.

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

A: My promise is that I will work until they are %100 satisfied. I never take money from someone who won't use my mixes

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: It's always gratifying when customers happily write or call to say thank you. Things like "sounds amazing" "thanks is much more than I expected" are things that really fill my heart.

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

A: usually about delivery dates. I always respond approximately 5 days, depending on the project

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

A: sometimes people think that mixing is about fixing something that is broken.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I like to know their musical tastes, one of the frequently asked questions is about their favorite artists and their goals with the song. Also the rough mix helps me a lot to know how they think.

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

A: just focus on making good music and trying to get the best possible recording

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

A: I only need my computer, my plugins and my monitors

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

A: My career began in a home studio that had many years ago producing and recording local bands, then I decided to take music production seriously and traveled to another city where I studied and graduated as an engineer in music production, during those years I worked and met many mentors including my mentor Thomas Juth (Grammy Award Winning Cat Stevens (with Paul McCartney and Dolly Parton) and Elton John and many more), Also my mentor Elmar Leal Elmar Leal (The Police, Queen, Paco de Lucia, current president of the Venezuelan section of AES (Audio Engineering Society). I worked in studios, live band recordings and in the last few years I have only dedicated myself to mixing and mastering.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Punchy, heavy but warm at the same time

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

A: Definitely with Rosalia, because she unites folklore with pop music. It is very warm music and at the same time very powerful and modern, I feel that it definitely has the best of both worlds.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I think the best music production tip I learned from Chris Lord Alge who says you can't mix what you can't control. So my biggest tip is ORGANIZATION, it is essential for me to take any project to the next level.

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

A: r&b, electronic pop, trap, rap, hip-hop. because I'm a big fan of Jaycen Joshua

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My greatest ability is good taste. I have been an audiophile since I was 9 years old and a musician since I was 14 years old. All that time in contact with music has refined my tastes and interpretation of music. I can interpret the artist's intention very well and take it to the next level.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring life, strength, clarity to the song, I also worry that it can be translated well in all systems and that the artist's intention is reflected in the mix.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: 1) Communication with the client and their needs. 2) I ask the client to send me the project to listen to it (recording) to know what I am going to work with, I analyze the data in case it has errors or does not have good quality (I do not receive data in poor condition). In the event that everything is fine with the data, I usually ask for a rough mix and a reference mix as well as talking to the client about the sound they want to obtain. 3) Once I am hired by the client, I first start with the editing stage where I have an assistant dedicated to the editing part, vocal tuning, drum reinforcement, always being supervised by me. 4) Process with mixing and mastering that later I send back to the client. I do not have a maximum number of revisions, I work until my client is %100 satisfied, normally I do not get many revisions but there are clients who are more specific than others. This process lasts approximately 5 days

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio setup is very simple, physically I work with the apollo x8 interface, focal monitors and avantone mixcube, as well as other audio equipment to reference my mixes. Mac pro, pro tools, various universal audio plugins, Fabfilter, waves, oeksound (Spiff, Soothe 2), acoustica audio, Plugin alliance Mix and master bundle, melodyne, auto tune, liquidsonics, softube and many more. My studio is perfectly tuned with special panels to obtain the best possible reference quality and best mixing decisions.

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

A: I have great admiration first for Jaycen Joshua and Josh Gudwin. I reference two of them and compare 90% of my mixes. after them is Manny Marroquín who was the mixing engineer with whom I first felt admiration to start mixing and obviously the legendary Serban Ghenea

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

A: Mixing and mastering is my main function in the music production chain. First of all, I advise on the project. I analyze and make notes on their recordings and productions so that they achieve the sound they are looking for. After those I do what is necessary as far as post production is concerned (Editions, voice tuning, drums replacement etc.) to have the data as perfectly as possible before mixing and mastering.