Club-Ready Mix & Mastering

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

A: Well, I suppose I was pretty proud to 'win' a mastering shoot-out recently. A Berlin-based client, Ronald Christoph, sent his track to several mastering engineers, including some very well-known ones in Berlin, and chose mine. That was quite nice for validation, but I'm proud of everything I do!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Mastering for the Less Chat, More Mucic digital and vinyl release on Puzzle Projects, plus a bunch of artist EPs, and providing retrospective mixdown services to a California-based artist. I also do a lot of copywriting/blogging about music production, and am working on my 5th studio album.

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

A: I'm brand new here, sorry, no!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: A mixture. I will be adding some analog compressors and limiters to my rig in due course.

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

A: My promise is I will work with every ounce of skill and dedication I have for every client. Some engineers might go through the motions, but I never will.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love working on new things and making clients happy!

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

A: I'm not sure there is a common question, beyond the obvious 'can you master this for me? How much?'

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

A: That it's a one-size fits all thing. Every time I work, I start from scratch and ask myself 'what does this track actually need?'

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: How can I help?

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

A: Try and be clear about your expectations in terms of punch and loudness. And, if you can, provide a reference track that you want the master or mix to sound like.

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

A: My Moog Subharmonicon, Mercury Meris 7 Reverb and ZenDelay pedals are the first things in the bag. Then, a DSI Tempest and Jupiter 8 would have to come along. I'm assuming the desert island has electricity, right? Right?!

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

A: I've been DJing since 2002, and producing since 2006. My first vinyl record came out in 2007, and I've toured Europe, played festivals all across Europe and had an amazing time making and playing music for the last 20 years. As I've gotten older, my skills have developed technically, and I am now at a level that could be classified 'expert'... but there is still so much to learn! I cannot imagine not doing this for a living.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Trust the process. Communicate with the client. Test everything.

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

A: The Avalanches. I absolutely love their production skills and mixture of sampling and original audio. They have such a unique character to their music - you know immediately when you're listening to an Avalanches track.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Yep - in fact I've written over 100 articles on music production for Mixed In Key's 'Captain Plugins Wiki'! My one tip would be A/B referencing. Any time you process something, it can be easy to get lost in the fun of changing the sound, and lose perspective. Always disable the process you've just applied, and A/B it against the mix you're working on. It's amazing how many times A/B testing reveals that you've overworked the processing.

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

A: Anything electronic from House/Deep House/Tech House to Techno, Electronica, Ambient, Synthwave, Dream-Pop etc

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My ears and intuition. I'm an artist, not 'just' an engineer, and I apply my artistry to my technical processes.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I'm not gonna say I'm 'better' than other engineers, and I don't have any Grammies or major awards. But I believe I have an excellent ear and experience with, and understanding of, dance and electronic genres. I trust myself to sculpt a great tone and achieve the perfect loudness for the track in question. Give me a try!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Mastering: I listen to the premaster without any audio processing and take notes on potential improvements/flaws. Depending on the intervention required I might mono the low end, or begin with surgical EQ to sculpt the balance. My chain is built from scratch for every release, as it's impossible to predict whether Mid/Side compression, Dynamic EQ, Saturation or any other mastering process will be required. I do what I believe the track needs, and my clients usually agree! I'm a fan of using multiple limiters to precisely work on loudness and transient punch. Mixing: I'll take the stems into my DAW, check for clipping etc, and begin with EQ and panning to get the stems sitting approximately correctly together. Then, some compression, bus/group processing, and send effects such as Reverb/Delay. That should create the fundamental mix, which can then be augmented with more destructive processing such as saturation, audio modulation and sound design techniques.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I use a lot of analog synths by Moog, Roland and Korg, alongside my SSL interface for pristine DA/AD conversion. I also have a vintage Tascam 688 20-channel desk with 8-track multitrack tape recorder, which can be amazing for adding subtle tape warmth to things. I have the creme de la creme of VST plugins by the likes of Slate, Eventide, Masterlab, Acustica, Arturia, Brainworx, Izotope (inc RX7) and many, many more. I have the perfect tool for every audio job imaginable!

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

A: As an engineer, Bob Macciochi inspires me massively. He's taught me a lot and explains things in a super clear and digestible way. Artistically, I love deep and complex mixes, artists like Andrew Weatherall (RIP), The Avalanches, Todd Terje, Lindstrom and Prins Thomas. But I'm equally happy perfecting super clean, modern mixes with sparkling clarity and precision.

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

A: Mastering for long-term clients at dance music record labels. I also provide mix consultation and mixing services for clients on an ad-hoc basis, as well as working on my own music, mixdowns and mastering on a daily basis.