Recording, Mixing, Mastering

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working on an album with an exciting local indie rock talent, and couple of singles from local artists

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Doesn't matter as long as you know your stuff well.

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

A: I'll get it to your definition of "DONE"

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The mental exercise i get from working on a mix is super fun, like playing a crossword puzzle.

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

A: Q: Can you bring the vocals up just a touch? A: Sure

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

A: I'm certainly not a one stop shop record handyman. If you deliver to me a poorly produced, poorly recorded, poorly arranged material, then you should expect a well mixed, poorly produced, poorly recorded, poorly arranged record.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I usually ask for the kind of record that they like, or they are using as a source of inspiration or reference.

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

A: Do a lot of research. Make sure you know what sonic goals you're aiming, and make your preference based on that with a budget in mind.

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

A: My macbook, my focusrite saffire, my HS 8, EV RE20, and a MIDI controller keyboard.

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

A: Basically I'm an avid record fan turned musician turned recording engineer. I've engineered for 7 years and in between those years i enrolled in recording engineer program from 2 different trade schools.

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

A: I'm especially proud of the work that i'm currently working on with this exciting talent that fuses elements of folk, post-rock, psychedelic and ethnic music in their works, because it's a great challenge and i learned and grew immensely as an engineer through this project.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I tend to mix a hard hitting, in your face and or enveloping record with a lot of characters and warmth. But then again should the client request it, i can also mix with a more conservative approach.

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

A: I've always wanted to work on big session like orchestral or big band jazz production as musical accompaniment to voices like Diana Krall, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux etc.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Try doing more with less, instead of the otherwise

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

A: Recently, I've been working with a lot of, Alternative, indie rock and folk artists. I've also worked on Metal, Hard Rock, Alternative, and singer songwriter tunes in the past.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is mixing.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I always try to bring a balance of artistry and technicality in to a song. Over the years i've realized that every engineer/musician/artist has a different view and taste in listening to music, especially the ones that they create. Sometimes a record doesn't need to meet a certain technical standard to be called complete by the artist and the listener. My full realization of this coupled with willingness to empty my glass, listen to the artist, and help convey their visions, are what i always bring to a song.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Depends on what kind of work we're talking about. If it's a mixing job. Upon receiving the Job I will discuss ideas with the clients in order to set some goals for us to chase in a mix, it could be influences, references, technical stuff etc. After that we are on our way. I'll execute the mix and send the full mix (cutting out the last couple of seconds) to be revised. Once we're done with revisions and payment, then i will send the full finished mix to the client.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I'm mixing in the box using a 6 cores i7 powered PC running pro tools 10, with Focusrite Saffire 56 converter audio interface, UAD Sattelite Quad that powers all the UAD plugins (obviously), Softube Console 1 controller, and Behringer BCF 2000. I'm monitoring thru a pair of Yamaha HS8, and a pair of Kurzweil Ks-40A to simulate household speakers, along with cans like ATH M-50 and Sennheiser HD-650. All of them are plugged in to Mackie Big Knob studio command center.

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

A: I draw inspirations from different renowned engineers and it could change from time to time. It depends on the type of music i'm working on. Some of them are Michael Brauer, Tom Elmhirst, Tchad Blake, Al Schmitt, and Chuck Ainlay. As for musicians i'm leaning towards fascinating sound designers like Trent Reznor, Nigel Godrich, and Electronica's new bloods like James Blake, Nicholas Jaar (Darkside) and Dan Snaith (Caribou)

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

A: I record, mix and sometimes do a little production and mastering too. Mixing is my forte, I usually discuss some ideas and set goals with my clients prior to execute a job, to make sure that we are on the same page right from the get go, and reducing numbers of revision down the road.