Remote Mixing & Mastering

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: No

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

A: No

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

A: The most important moment was the project of a singer from St. Petersburg, I was "chasing" her for a long time to meet and take a multi-track of her song. I wanted to get more experience so I went to my mix engineer friend to help me make a good mix. And I did it! She was very happy with the result, pleased with the attention to her songs, and I learned a lot of useful things and pumped up the level.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I think digital is as good as analog, but sometimes you can find analog units which give a special sound for a special occasion.

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

A: Cut the voice out of the mix.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Giving a good mix to a client and seeing their joy. And money for a good result!

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

A: "Is it possible to record me like I can sing?" Well... sort of yes, but no (but it's actually worth a try).

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

A: Mixing can fix EVERYTHING, even a bad source.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What kind of sound do you want? Shall we try to make something interesting?

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

A: Your source material has to be of good quality!

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

A: Good computer, RME sound card, Acustica-audio plugins, Ableton Live, Adam A8X

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

A: I worked for a long time with the cheapest equipment, because there was no money, no professional around. After a while I worked in a few studios as a performer, then after a couple of years I came to know about processing and instruments, started buying equipment to work properly, got training from professional studios, gradually got my own clients, and here I am - about 7 years of mixing!

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My personal approach. In general I think it's still evolving.

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

A: Dave Pensado - I want to get his experience and work as an intern.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Record it like there's no mixing! Mix it like there's no mastering!

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

A: Hip-Hop, Pop, but lately I've been working on rock more and more.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Work with me and you can figure it out.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring what the client wants to bring to life.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I load tracks into the sequencer, load sample tracks, listen to what instruments sound like, what their character sounds like. I set up levels of bassdrum/bd, vocal, drams and other stuff, and clean up unnecessary trash with EQ. Then EQ turns into compression, and maybe before that I will make some instruments wider or move them to the left or right. Then I add delay, reverberation, depending on how much it's needed. Sometimes I'll do it depending on the situation, like adding delay and making the sound wide, and then everything else.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have my own small studio with $10000 worth of professional equipment, and it has everything I need at this professional stage.

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

A: I gather experiences from lots of different professionals and genres to compare them, rather than focus on any one in particular.

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

A: Usually I do multi-track mixing, and sometimes I just put a voice over an instrumental track.