Mixing

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

A: I am currently in the process of recording and mixing drums for a variety of different artists and genres, in a small studio in Toronto with a team of artists. We have been experimenting with different micing techniques and working hard to the best possible sound right off the floor. Following up each session by mixing these tracks is giving me deeper insight to where we got it right and where we could have improved in the tracking so the following session we are able to resolve those issues. This has improved my drum recording tool belt ten fold and has resulted in drum tracks that are getting exponentially better and require less and less mixing. They are sounding fantastic.

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

A: Often I get asked about what they should do once finished with their project, what distribution company they should release their works through and how to get their music to reach their fans. Well this isn't exactly my wheelhouse I have a lot more experience than most of my clients with releasing music and my answers I always tailor to their goals, budget and music. I have had good and bad experience with marketing my music on a variety of different budgets so I feel I can usually offer some decent guidance and great resources.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. Tracking with nice preamps, outboard eq, compression and saturation is wonderful. Mixing in the box is fantastic full of possibility and actually affordable to most folk. My outboard gear is very specifically curated to achieve things I wouldn't be able to accomplish in a digital domain.

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

A: To work together to reach the artistic vision you hold. To offer advice where it is wanted and appropriate. To work with you towards your career goals and bring my years of knowledge as an artists, music producer and mix engineer to the table. I have no secrets that I wouldn't share, anything you want to know about my process or what I do I will share with you. Your success, whatever that means to you, is also my success.

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

A: It's hard to say but I think that people don't really realize that if a recording isn't done well the job becomes fixing the issues and there is less room to enhance what sounds good. When a recording is done beautifully my job becomes bringing out the magick. A better sounding recording will result in a better sounding mix.

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

A: Know what your goals are how you will achieve them. And have realistic and healthy goals and expectations.

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

A: Sand, some salt water, some palm trees, a tanning booth and maybe a couple of seagulls.

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

A: I've been recording and mixing my own albums for over 10 years. I have been working with other artists for nearly 5 years. About a year and a half ago I started freelancing and mixing regularly and in the past 6 months I've started getting steady and regular work mixing.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Dreamy... maybe Earthy.

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

A: Probably if your reading this I would love to work with you! You're probably the next big thing.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Take your time with your microphone, get a good sound going in. The end result is determined by the first step. Do a couple of different takes of each track and pick the best one, or comp different takes. Fixing things in post is never as effective as getting them right at the source.

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

A: Folk, singer songwriter, mostly, both traditional and modern. I have started working more with electronic and sample based musical artists. I would love to work on more Pop oriented songs.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I have a lot of experience with a lot of different kinds of music. One of the most common things I hear from artists I've worked with is that they didn't realize their recording was going to sound as good as it does. I am great at creating a wide and deep sounding mix, that is clear and colourful. Adding motion and excitement. I’m also good at solving problems in recordings, I’ve worked with a lot of home recording artists who record in less then ideal spaces. I find it’s important to solve real issues well retaining some grit. I really enjoy bringing those songs to life, and making them sound bigger and more lush. I hope I help bring music to life well letting it retain the life it has.

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

A: Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Their music is pure magic and their records are some of the finest sounding recordings I’ve heard. Stereolab and Broadcast. Wow, where to begin? Neil Young, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Brian Eno, CCR. Very creative and curious artists who constantly explore yet retain their idiosyncrasies. Perfect in its imperfections. I'm a big fan of modern Pop, Hip Hop and R&B. I love watching new artistic movements emerge and evolve. I feel like todays R&B is at the forefront of musical and cultural innovation. I take a lot of inspiration and learn a lot from this.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Communicating with my clients. I have built lasting relationships with many of my clients which really helps when they come to me with new projects.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I start by editing tracks, removing excess noise, tuning and aligning vocals if needed and getting things level. I want to make the song sound as good as it possibly can before I start any kind of proccessing. I then begin fixing any issues in any tracks using my most transparent EQ's and Compressors. I will get all the levels and gain staging set so the mix is sounding clear, clean and balanced as possible. I then often send my track through my outboard 500 series rig to add mojo, any additive EQ and beautiful analog compression, if needed I will reamp guitars. At this point I have a great sounding mix and I can send all of my tracks to their respective mix bus and use effects sends to bring space, texture and movement to the mix. I often use my Softube Console 1 on each bus to level things properly and glue things together. I use it to get creative with volume and stereo imaging automation. I use dynamic Eqs to fix any sonic masking so every instrument can shine in its own space. My final stage of the mix is to listen to the song on every source I have available to me including my Airpods. I often find there are things that I would like to be hearing, and I go back and complete those things. I will usually send a mix to my clients when I feel its about 75 percent done to make sure they are happy with its direction. When we agreed on where it should go from there I will finish things up and send them a mix I am proud of. I usually give myself time to work on a revision if they would like, some people do and some don't, usually the revisions are relating to creative vision. I have yet to work with someone who was not very happy with my work.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I mix and record in two spaces, my home studio and a rented studio space. My home studio consists of outboard and in the box tools. I mix on a pair of Genelec Monitors as well as Sennheiser HD650s, and Audio Technica M40s. I sometimes use Focal Audio Alpha 65s and KRK RP5s as a backup. All passing through a Sonarworks after using their reference mic to measure the room. For outboard mixing I use CAPI preamps (for saturation) a Rupert Neve Designs 551 Inductor EQ and a Retro Instruments Doublewide Variable Mu compressor. I often will reamp through a Kemper Modelling amp or some of the guitar amps available at my studio space. For in the box mixing I use a UAD Apollo Twin with a huge suite of plugins as well as the Softube Console 1+ and Fader along with the majority of Softubes plugins. My workhorse plugins are UADs LA2A and 1176 Collections, Neve 1084 and Manley Vox Box. The Softubes Console American, British and Chandler Limited channel strips. Soothe 2, Melodyne and Autotune for vocal tuning, Izotope (Neutron, Ozone and RX). I also use a variety of plugins by Soundtoys, Waves, IK multimedia. For recording I often use a Townsend Labs Sphere though I have a large mic locker as well.

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

A: I primarily do mixing for artists who have recorded in their home studios or in a smaller studio. I do a lot of editing and vocal tuning, cleaning up audio as well. I occasionally do composition and recording of guitar, synths and drum machines. Many also want me to master the songs I mix for them as well.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Mixes for clients, Creating a backlog of library music, Finishing up recording new 2 EPs for my project Nature Walk to be released late 2021 and early 2022.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Problem solving, learning, and just engaging with music on every level.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What services they need? What are their goals and based on what they have and what I can provide are these goals attainable? How many tracks they have in a recording What are some songs they would like their project to turn out similar too? What their plan for releasing their music is, and how will that correlate to their goals?