By Oliver Wagner

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

A: Learning classical piano from 6 years old. Learning guitar from 13 years old. Playing in various bands (New Wave, Rock, Punk) from 14-18yrs. Learning Jazz piano 20yrs. Playing in various Jazz bands. Establishing a music studio in Frankfurt/Germany age 24yrs. Producing club music for many years. Several Top 10 and Top 40 charts. In the early 40ties slowly becoming interested in mixing and mastering using top notch gear. In the past 4 years I mixed and mastered 500 tracks with continuous highest ratings (on another platform).

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: To provide a rough mix and references. To quality check the stems for audio clicks/glitches.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Don't attempt to copy what others do. Be creative, be yourself, experiment. If a melody does not touch your heart it won't to other's heart. Music is to evoke emotions and feelings. Try to make songs that exactly do this: causing goose bumps when listening. It is easily said I know, but persistent "try and error" may lead to desired results.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I would say I bring life and dynamics to a song. I am able to open up a song and add that necessary touch of magic and depth. This can be only done with analog gear. It is hard to explain but the end results just "sounds like a record".

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Though it is not clear on the sample photo my studio is fully acoustic treated. There is also a subwoofer important for EDM and Hip-Hop mixes. I am 100% convinced that plugins are still not able to provide the depth and magic of the emulated hardware. Why? It is that simple: I own both, the original classic hardware and the plugins for comparisons. I am also very much convinced that excellent AD/DA conversion tremendously contributes to the final sound. Thus, I use best available converters such as PrismSound and Mytek.

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

A: At another platform I mixed and mastered 500 songs in the past 4 years for so many clients. It is sometimes difficult to follow up the success. Often it takes time for them to produce accompanying videos etc. Meanwhile, positive feedback from clients keeps up my motivation and encourages me to take even more challenging and more complex projects.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am currently working on a rather simple project for which I increasingly receive requests: to mix vocals to a beat (Hip-Hop). It seems a huge trend now that clients (Hip-Hop genre) purchase a pre-produced beat and sing/rap unto it. The next step is then to mix several vocal layers (main, adlibs, backings etc) and to integrate it with the beat. Then mastering. Before I worked on an Americana album for Todd Warner Moore. I mixed already 6 albums for him.

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

A: It depends on the rough mix I receive, but in 90% of cases I can say that I can make it "sound better".

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

A: I sometimes receive stems without any rough mix or reference so I just mix the way how I think it would sound best. Then after my delivery client sometimes says: "Oh could you please listen to this reference I want it sounding like this". This is basically alright, but it is always better to talk about a specific reference sound beforehand.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I am in the fortune situation being able to compare many software emulations with the real hardware equivalent. Most plugins not nearly come close to the original. Mostly what plugins lack is the 3D depth and magic which is hard to explain but audible in the final result (it "sounds like a record").

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

A: Darrell Thorp.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: To work with so many people around the world. It is fantastic and it often leads to friendships with returning clients. And of course being able to listen to music every day and to learn more about music development and new productions styles. As a previous producer it is very valuable.

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

A: Are you doing a demo mix? Answer: yes for low stems counts absolutely no problem. For a 36 stem project I may hesitate though and instead point to the many before/after examples I have on SoundCloud.

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

A: To communicate well how to prepare stems. To see if production advise is needed. To provide a rough mix and references.

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

A: SSL G Comp, Pultecs, KushAudio Clariphonic, SSL 4000 E EQs, 1176.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: To provide clarity, to open up mixes to infuse depth and 3D and to add that kind of magic often missing in digital mixes.

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

A: I would like to work with artists like Dido or Jason Mraz such as I believe that especially here analog gear shines. I love challenges and I would also dare to work on projects by Goldfrapp, Coldplay or Massive Attack.

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

A: Alt-Rock/Indie-Rock, Folk/Americana, Hip-Hop, Techno, EDM...

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: To carve out the right frequencies of a certain element in a song. One reason is maybe that I played various instruments (piano, guitar) and also played many years in different band project (from rock, to punk to jazz). Thus, I am well aware how the different elements in a band sound. Also I produced a lot of club music on the late 90ties and 00ties. At Discogs I have 112 credits for (mostly) club music (under Oliver Wagner).

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

A: As a mixing and mastering engineer I surely have my "mix heroes". Among them are Toni Maserati, Manny Marroquin, CLA, Mick Guzauski and Trevor Horn.

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

A: Analog mixing and mastering. Often vocal tuning (manual pitch corrections using Melodyne). Sometimes I provide production tips before we get started.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Usually I ask clients to provide a demo mix to see if it really needs mixing or if mastering would be sufficient. In latter cases I ask for slight volumes changes here and there before I do the mastering. However, if I feel it needs also mixing I ask for the stems. I provide clear instructions what would be the best way how to prepare the stems. Then I begin printing the stems through selected analog equipment. I often use a chain of EQs and compressors to get the best sound. In the mixing process I sometimes apply corrective EQs in my DAW to integrate sounds better in the mix. I am a big fan of parallel processing. I often sum (aux) stems up and apply different EQs, heavy compression etc. and mix these sums lightly below the main stem. I also do lot's of fader rides to add more dynamics and (depending on the song) more epic and dramaturgic feel. Tedious panning and reverb are absolutely critical to reach a pleasant sound stage.