Mix Engineer

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

A: I'm super proud of how the Ghett's album 'Ghetto Gospel New Testament' sounds, ita a great album that touches on many deep powerful subject as well banging hard!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Currently mixing new Tom Zanetti single, mixing several Splurgeboys productions, recording new singer songwriter Eddy Luna and working on my own artist project.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital because I work on loads of songs all the time and don't enjoy recall! I love using analog gear and spent years working in some of the best studios in the world including Abbey Road, Capitol, RAK, ICP etc For me nothing beats a great monitoring environment with modern Acustica Plug Ins with a beast of a computer.

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

A: To do my very best everytime to achieve your goals

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Creatively steering someones music and elevating peoples art.

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

A: How much does it cost...it depends lol

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

A: Mixing doesn't automatically make a song better.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What do you want to achieve and what do you love about the project/whats the most important thing!

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

A: Do as much research as you can regarding what you're expecting to achieve and how you want your finish product to sound. Honestly evaluate your project and tailor your expectations accordingly. Organise and label everything with notes and ideas!

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

A: ATC Monitors, Acoustic Guitar, Laptop and interface, Royer SF24 stereo mic and Maschine.

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

A: I've played music since I was seven (Violin, Viola, Guitar and Bass) in various bands and ensembles and got into the studio side of things whilst recording my bands first demo when I was 15. I graduated from LIPA with a degree in Sound Technology in 2003 and started working as a runner/assistant at Miloco Studios in London in 2004.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Clean and detailed and hopefully transparently musically enhancing.

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

A: I'd love to work with Dolly Parton as I love her voice but I've never really heard the kind of album I'd enjoy from her. I guess doing a dark stripped back Rick Rubin style re-imagination of some really sad songs could be incredible. Imagine her dueting with Ray Lamontagne!!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Anything involving deep bass requires tailoring the relationship between kick and sub for example. Sculpting low end is common and possible in mixing but its much better to choose and program low end sounds well in the first place. Tuning, side chaining, filtering and most importantly listening just to low end is crucial. I listen to mixes with a low pass filter set around 100Hz so I can zoom in on just the low end and see how tight everything is or if anythings clashing etc. It works on headphones but I prefer to hear the bass in my chest!!

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

A: I work on a broad range of music but recently I've done lots of pop music and UK hip hop based stuff.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill set is my deep technical knowledge and understanding of mixing that allows me to make parts fit together and move in ways that enhance the music!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I believe I bring strong musical approach to everything I do. My career has taken me down several paths and everything I've learnt songwriting for example greatly helps when mixing.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: If I'm mixing I start by simply listening to the reference mix and making some notes, figuring out what I like or I think needs fixing. Then I see how close the parts sound to the ref mix and check everything through before loading everything into my mix template. I spend between 1 and 2 days mixing a track and have no set way to approach things, I prefer to respond to what I've got to work with rather than sticking to a strict method. I work methodically once I've got a grip on what I need to do but it can change drastically from project to project!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio setup has gone through several locations and configurations before settling in my purpose built ground up bunker! The space is designed around my favoured ATC SCM100A monitors which are acoustically decoupled on springs and flush mounted in the walls for ultimate sonic accuracy. My room is incredibly detailed and clean with excellent bass extension down beyond 25Hz! The run has extensive treatment including bass traps around 1m deep covering the rear wall. I've used Pro Tools since 2000 am very comfortable using it! I recently switched to a PC (i9 14 Core) and do pretty much everything in the box (got bored of manual recalls!!). I use a large amount of Acustica Audio plugins as well as more regular stuff. Production wise I love Maschine and use that extensively. I have a world class mastering grade monitoring environment and it makes my working process much easier!

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

A: I'm a huge fan of producer Mike Dean for his technical sonic and musical mastery and sustained dominance in the world of hip hop. Closer to home Wiley has provided lots of inspiration over the years and he's the only person I've worked with who can claim to have invented a genre of music! The Motown setup has always inspired me since I first collecting the Motown Chart Busters CDs as a kid. Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Norman Whitfield and many others are all legends. Musician wise there are so many but I guess Bill Evans, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis are some of my absolute hero's.

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

A: At the moment I'm spending most of my time mixing but I also have my own artist project (Ancient Lights) and produce and co-write with a few artists.