Specialist Audio Mastering.

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

A: Evaluate the logic in your choice of engineer critically. What do you think you're buying? Don't play roulette. Find someone experienced and teach them to give you what you want.

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

A: Pop, Rock, House, Afro-Pop, Kwaito, Maskandi, Gospel, RnB.

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

A: Bob Ludwig mastered a huge percentage of the CDs in my collection (yes I still listen to CDs). He's so humble, and his exacting standards place him in a league of his own as a once-in-a-lifetime figure whose immense talent, which emerged with new consumer formats, was matched only by the demand for it. I love the work of Clearmountain, O'Brien, Brauer, Marroquin, Ghenea...the usual list of mind-blowing talent.

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

A: Laptop, Headphone DA and my music collection. I'd pray that Acustica and Plugin Alliance never went out of business.

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

A: 18 years. I left the corporate telecommunications field, married a great woman and she gave me the courage and permission to follow my dreams.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Warm, musical.

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

A: John Mayer. I think he'd be fun to talk to.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Imitate well first, then find your voice.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. I like to say that mastering is turning sonic moments into musical moments.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I listen to the song, then I decide what tools will work best, and let the results guide me from there.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Over the years I've had everything from Manley's tube gear to SSL's classic G384 (1997 build). I still have some of it, but work exclusively in the box now. I'm trying to bring myself to actually sell the hardware but letting go is hard.

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

A: My work mirrors the market. I do a lot of Pop, House and Rock and the rest as it comes up.

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

A: aKing, the album called Dutch Courage. It was the rock album that got it all started for me.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Qadasi, a South African Maskandi artist.

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

A: Not yet.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital. Because you can't beat the flexibility, the choice of sounds, the sonic integrity of digital.

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

A: If you present me with work that reflects your passion and make me part of the story, you'll get the very best possible outcome for your project.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The occasional single that sucks me in and gets me singing along.

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

A: "how long will it take?"

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

A: Mastering is easy money.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Are you happy with your mix?

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Attention to detail.