I mix your fantastic music

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Writing a few garage rock songs

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

A: Be honest with what you would like to have accomplished. Everyone's path is different.

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

A: What if we disagree on something? My answer, it is your song, let's do it that way you want it done!

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

A: Mix & Master! I can do both, but they are not the same thing and tend to get lumped into together. Mastering is not just tossing a limiter on the mix at the end of mixing.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Getting a great mix done in a reasonable amount of time.

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

A: One of the last projects I worked on was D.B. & The Deadbeats full length blues record. It was recorded mostly live off the floor, I recorded, mixed and mastered the project. And I did the graphics for the CD run! I had been working with D.B. on and off for about 10 years, it was nice to see the project finally get completed in a meaningful way. Great record!

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

A: Aubrey Whitfield she's awesome! https://lnk.bio/aubreywhitfield

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Analog because it forces musicians to be musicians! That and it's quite a lot more fun to play with recording consoles, patch in outboard gear, and rewind tape.

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

A: I will do my best to fulfil your vision, I will be honest with you.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Honestly getting lost in a song, and humming the darn thing for days.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: 1.) I would like at least one reference track for the song we are working on. 2.) What is your timeline/deadline? 3.) Are the tracks consolidated and ready to be mixed?

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

A: A 4 track cassette recorder, a small mixer, a stratocaster, drum machine and decent synth.

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

A: I worked as a producer recording engineer for 19 years at a small independent record label. The label specialized in world music. I took a bit of a break when the label finally closed and re-examined what I wanted to do. Now I would like to get back at it, focusing mainly on mixing and or mastering smaller projects.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I think I'm very much a documentary style producer and engineer.

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

A: Billy Corgan, his work ethic is crazy!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Use a small tube amp in the studio, you can get big sounds!

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

A: I spent many years working on all sorts of music from Pow Wow to traditional fiddling to metal. Nowadays I prefer pop punk, straight ahead rock and there is a special place in my heart for the blues.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Years of experience and an open ear.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Typically I spend about an hour just listening to a song, then I get into basic edits and mutes, arranging things. Then I jump into the mix. I usually spend about 2 hours mixing and then take a break. The next day I do the final tweaks.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My setup is a typical home studio, I mainly use Pro Tools but have recently switched over to Harrison Mixbus which I'm enjoying! I have a Scarlett 2i2, a set of Adam T5V's and avatone mixphones.

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

A: Butch Vig, Steve Albini, Rick Rubin, Sylvia Massey

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

A: I am mostly mixing for clients nowadays and mastering when needed. I prefer to only do one or the other when possible.