Mixing and Mastering Engineer

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I like being able to work on different genres of music every day and getting the opportunity to meet wonderfully creative and unique artists.

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

A: You can't fix everything at a mixing or mastering level. Arrangement and sound selection heavily influence the trajectory of a mix. I'll very often recommend that clients modify their arrangement or make different sound design choices.

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

A: Find an engineer that will give you pushback. Surrounding yourself with "yes" people is like living in an echo chamber and does nothing to breed creativity. At the end of the day, my clients always have the final say, but I make sure to provide them with an assortment of creative options.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Versatile. It's quite common that I master a few EDM tracks in the morning and then pump out a pop mix in the afternoon.

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

A: Most of the mastering work I do is for EDM artists, while most of the mixing work I do is for rock and pop artists.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio has been professionally sound-treated and sees 8-12 hours of heavy use every day. Analog-modeled plugins play a big part in my mixing and mastering workflow, most of which are Universal Audio emulations; these are some of the best analog-modeled plugins on the market in my opinion.

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

A: I'm incredibly inspired by artists like Excision, Post Malone, and Calvin Harris; their production quality is top-notch, and the gold standard within each of their respective genres.

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

A: I mixed and mastered "Alpha" by Vincent. We grew up in the same hometown; his music project blew up and I had the opportunity to mix and master a track for him.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm currently editing and extending the course curriculum for Icon Collective; a music production school in Los Angeles.

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

A: I promise that my clients will be satisfied with the final product, and enjoy the process along the way.

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

A: "I need to send a master to a record label tomorrow. Are you able to have this song back to me by then?" I absolutely can, but 24-hour turnaround costs extra.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I prefer digital because, with the current state of technology, analog emulations are almost indistinguishable from their analog counterparts, cost a fraction of the price, and don't take up space. This allows me to deliver a high-quality product to my clients at a fraction of the cost of my competitors.

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

A: I grew up in Winnipeg, MB and started producing music in 2012. After graduating from university with a degree in English Language and Literature, I moved to LA to attend a music production school called Icon Collective. Three years after graduation, I quit my day job and have since been working full-time in the music industry as a writer, producer, and audio engineer.

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

A: I'd like to work with Post Malone. He seems like a really nice and genuine person.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Mix with your ears, not your eyes.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is that I can, in one way or another, turn budget bedroom productions into radio-quality tracks.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring a solution to all of your mixing and mastering problems.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What's your goal? This determines the entire trajectory of a project and allows me to create a step-by-step formula that will provide results.

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

A: My computer, Apollo x8, Shure SM7b, MIDI keyboard, and my ATH-M50x headphones.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: It's very important that I speak with my clients and gain some insight into their artistic visions before mixing their projects. More often than not, clients know what they want, but they just don't know how to do it. I'm here to provide my clients with the technical tools they lack and help them break through creative blocks. Mastering is all about achieving goals. I ask all of my clients for reference tracks and use them to provide clients with mix feedback that will ensure the highest quality master possible.

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

A: I mostly do mastering work for clients since many of them are producers and like to mix their tracks themselves. Most of my mixing clients are musicians looking for a more comprehensive evaluation and overhaul of their work.