Mixing & Mastering

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

A: Lately someone asked me if I was able to edit and comp a hip hop vocal performances. Of course yes! Editing and comp processing remains the same. You have to worry about only to record the best performance you can.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working on a couple of singles to be released within this year. This is also my professional portfolio.

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

A: None at the moment.

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

A: I can't promise a great result if the tracks are bad. This is not up to me. The more high quality tracks you provide, the better. Unfortunately it is not so obvious.

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

A: I'm quite clear in explaining what I need and the direction I have to follow to get the best result. I never had misconception to date, and I hope not to fall miserably. But you know... I am human too.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: See answer above.

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

A: Keep your time to collect all the info about your project, like Key of the song, BPM, lyrics, number of tracks. Export all your tracks in mono (stereo if have one or more) at between -18 and -12 dB Full Scale. Choose a couple of reference tracks of artists that inspired your music and your style. Explain me your vision about your song and your needs and let's start working on it.

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

A: It is a very good question! In my dreams I think they would be: 1. Neumann U67 2. A High-end Ludwig or Gretsch Drumkit w/ Zildjian K Light series 3. Empirical Labs Distressor 4. Tube Tech CL1B 5. Shure 545SD

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

A: I began writing song at 11. I'm on the run since I have that age and I never stopped, despite thousands difficulties. When I was 17 I started mixing my first own things, with really bad results. Time, dedication, passion and love did the rest until now!

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I am a very competitive with myself. I tried to push my limit over and over again to perfection. This is my life philosophy. If I do something, I do my best. Every time I learn something new.

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

A: There is no specific artist to work with. If music is well written, recorded and performed, the work become more exciting.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I like an organized session. Everything must be color coded and grouped by instrumentation. I generally start with drums and bass to get a solid rhythmic interaction. Then synthesizers, electric or acoustic guitars, vocals and background vocals. During the mixing process I put the vocals in to understand the relationship between the instruments and avoid masking in certain frequencies range. This allows me to get the right amount of room for everything, keeping an eye at the gain stage and phase/polarity issues.

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

A: I generally mixed and mastered other artist's songs. But I also worked as a co-writer, arranger, singer, lyricist. It depends on the project and the client's needs.

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

A: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Hard Rock, Rock/Pop, Pop, Indie Pop, Singer-songwriters, EDM

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: It is a combination of Pro Tools, the best plugins on the market such as Plugin Alliance, Soundtoys, Valhalla DSP, Solid State Logic. I also use analog equipment including SPL Channel One MK2, Focusrite ISA 428 (the blue version with VU Meters), Avalon U5 and some excellent microphones like Neumann, AKG, Royer and Shure.

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

A: There are so many. Since I'm a rock lover, I love production made by Chris Lord-Alge, Michael Brauer, Andrew Scheps, Tommaso Colliva, Vance Powell, Greg Wells and many more. Their workflow inspired me to create my own personal one from scratch with great satisfaction!

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

A: Of Shadows And Lights is my music project. I'm very proud of it. I managed and I'm still managing all by myself covering all the roles in the music production. Music is what I love, it does not matter what the role is. I always do my best for the sake of music. Mine or yours.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both worlds have their own strength points. I can't imagine to use only one of them. You can create something magic also in the digital realm. The most important thing is to know how to use technologies.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The best part of this job is the never-ending learning ability. Every day I can learn something different, and in general this is brought by both project and artist.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I like dirt. I love parallel processing because I can add strength and excitement to a track and a whole mix.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I think my strongest skill is the ability to find the right space for every sound. I mean, not all the sounds needs to be heard distinctly. It such a magic in which you can mute a track and feel that something is missing. It is difficult to explain.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I let the song speaks to me, and I let the river flows flawlessly. I do not like forcing a decision. Mixing is not like driving with autopilot. Hear the details, move. Hear the result, go ahead.