#1 Charting Mixing Mastering

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

A: The album "Colors" by Dewé. I had a blast mixing these songs that are all grammy worthy. We have reached #1 on the Global iTunes Afrobeats charts which was a great reward for our work.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I have quiet a lot of ongoing orders that I'm working on - I have recently finished mastering a TV Commercial for Xiaomi and MTV, I'm recently working on another album for a Motown artist, and another debut album for a Chinese pop artist, which is new for me and very exciting!

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

A: As I am only breaking into this platform recently, I haven't made any such connections yet - but I'm very eager to do so!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Why not both?

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

A: That you will be satisfied. I offer unlimited revisions - and that's not some marketing slogan. I have had times where I have gone back and forth with the client on more than 50 versions - Not because of some mishap or mistakes that have to be fixed, but because we wanted to test a lot of different styles. I do not rush to get to the finish line, but enjoy the project.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I get to listen to a wide range of music each and every day - and making these great tracks come to life!

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

A: Can I send you my (ProTools, FL-Studio, Ableton, Logic...) Project File? The answer unfortunately is no - every artist uses different DAW's with different samples and different sets of plugins. Thus, compatibility is a big issue. I (like most engineers) work exclusively with audio stems. These should ideally be delivered in 24-bit wav format.

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

A: I have heard numerous times that mixing or mastering engineers supposedly have built a preset that they use on every track - one mouse-click and the job is done. I can assure you, that is not the case. Each and every song is different and requires a long and tedious process. You will have to try a lot and fail a lot of times in order to end up with the mix that is just right.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I like the artist to tell me - what is it you like about the current mix, what would you like to keep, what would you like to improve? What are you trying to convey with your music. How is your current mix falling short of that?

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

A: Please reach out and tell me more about your project - this will determine if we are a fit!

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

A: Well - a deserted island sounds great. No pesky standing waves, no early reflections - I can simply setup my main monitors in the ideal stereo triangle and start work. So I would say - my Mac, my monitors, my monitor stands (decoupling is very important!), my reference headphones and my audio interface.

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

A: I have started producing electronic music in my mid teens, which led down a deep exploration path of sound and music. I was always particularly interested in the physical, engineering side of things. Phase, Fletcher Munson, Dither, Bit-Depth, Aliasing. These terms are not very interesting for most artists. However I was always both interested in how to make music, as well as how music works, on a deeply technical level. Thus I enrolled into an audio engineering college and studied "Music and Sound-production" in an academic environment, which taught me a lot. (There was a lot of math involved. I do not like math.) I then started freelancing for clients and offering my engineering services. Over the past decade I have worked with well over 500 clients across 40 different clients, ranging from labels, to independent artists, to mastering commercials for TV for companies such as BMW, Coca-Cola, LIDL, Bild, Chocomel, Xiaomi and more.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: The way I see it, is that a mixing engineer has to be "transparent", as in, I make the most out of any given track, without drawing any attention to the mix itself. A bad mix will stick out, whereas a good mix is invisible. It will simply make the listener enjoy the music to the greatest degree. Therefor my style is paradoxically a lack of style. Whatever the music and the artist demands.

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

A: I immensely respect the engineering skill of Drum and Bass artists such as Noisia, who are perhaps greater engineers than they are musicians. I would love to have a chat with them one day.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: If you are mixing and recording drums - make sure to check the polarity and phase of every layer. For instance, the bottom snare mic might have an inverted polarity to the top snare mic, which gives you a very weak and phasy transient. The overheads will also most likely be delayed to the other microphones, resulting in a comb-filter if you do not fix this - Of course, this is something I always check whenever I mix for my clients.

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

A: Pop and Hip-Hop have been my most common genres, though I have worked on a wide range of genres, such as Afrobeats, Jazz, Cinematic, Rock, Metal, Electronic and more.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Without a doubt, the greatest skill of an audio engineer has to be their hearing. Whereas others might hear an instrument or a sound - an engineer hears much more than that. I hear the frequencies and resonances, the stereo width, the dynamics, the transients. This is the skill that is crucial to an engineer and takes the most time to develop.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: As an experienced audio engineer, my job is to make the most out of any provided song or project. This goes beyond the typical mixing process of levels, EQ and compression - I am always honest with the artist about whether something might need to be recorded - whether a certain section of the track is working as well as intended. I think of it this way - You are not only purchasing my service as a mixing and mastering engineer, but also my expertise and knowledge of a wide array of music, that has accumulated over a decade working on thousands of projects as an audio engineer.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I like to discuss the vision of the artist, ideally while listening to their rough mix / demo mix. I like the artist to tell me - what is it you like about the current mix, what would you like to keep, what would you like to improve? Artists come to an engineer with a wide variety of expectations. Some expect a complete redesign of the track and leave me a lot of creative freedom, while others only want me to polish the last 5% of the track - It is important to communicate this clearly in order to achieve a great sounding result!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work in a Studio that has been built and measured from the ground up to provide the most ideal listening environment, as that is the most important aspect for every mixing engineer. I use near-field Dynaudio monitors in as my main monitors, with additional JBL monitors for Dolby Atmos and Surround mixes. My Studio is treated with thick porous absorbers, with an RT60 of less than 200ms across the frequency spectrum. The frequency response is very linear, allowing me an almost clinical listening experience. This is further enhanced by my reference headphones (Sennheiser HD660s), as well as a Subpac S2. I work mostly in the box with FabFilter, Waves and iZotope plugins, though I do have two 19" racks in my studio desk with an array of compressors, limiters and interfaces that I use whenever suitable.

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

A: I am naturally inclined to listen to a wide range of music, which is important as an engineer to keep up with the latest developments in audio engineering, as well as to get a grasp on contemporary genre norms. I am very intrigued by film composers such as Howard Shore, John Williams and Hans Zimmer. As an engineer and sound designer, the works of electronic music artists such as Noisia, Culprate and Koan Sound are a big inspiration.

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

A: I am specialised in providing mixing and mastering services for my clients.