Mixing & Mastering

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

A: I recently worked on a hip-hop track for sync licensing placement by an artist named Virtuous. The track required a high energy and aggressive mix/master. I think because my personal music is more on the mellow side, I get more clients looking for help mixing music of a similar style. I enjoyed working on this track because it allowed me to get out of the box a bit and try a few things I normally don't get the chance to try. In the end I ended up with a happy client, grew in my skills, and got the chance to work on something that might end up getting a notable placement.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Analog. I just love coloration, and hate that many analog emulations have aliasing issues. This is why I do appreciate UAD plugins and utilize them for the sake of quality and recall.

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

A: I promise to be understanding and kind throughout the process. I promise not to view you and your projects as a "task" that needs to be accomplished. As an artist myself (Spencer Annis), I know where you are coming from in this process and I promise to do the best I can to help you accomplish your goals.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I enjoy bringing out the feeling of the songs, and accentuating the artists intention. If I can mix to the point where the emotion of the song is translating, I know I have done my job.

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

A: Computer, DT990 Pro X Headphones, Apollo Interface, TLM103 microphone, and my UAD plugins(does this count as one thing?).

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

A: I have been mixing for as long as I can remember but it wasn't until I had a mentor and was able to work with a variety of clients that I was able to really hone in the skill. I would say I have been "proficient" for only about 3 years.

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

A: Kevin Garrett. Because he is amazing. ha

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Make sure to EQ and compress your reverb sends! We notice reverb done very sloppy on alot of projects, so we typically like to handle the technical aspects of this for our clients. Calculating pre-delay and tail times ect, ect.

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

A: We are lovers of all genres and push ourselves to be as well rounded as possible. Currently our favorite music to work on is indie pop, pop, indie rock, RnB, and worship tunes.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Dialing in those sweet saturated tones.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: We believe one of our strengths is taking tracks that might have a lack sonically due to inexpensive equipment, bad recording environment, ect. and cleaning up/mixing to provide an expensive and professional sounding final product.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: First we will make sure the client knows what we need as far as files, then we will setup the session in ProTools. The next step is taking care of any sonic issues on any individual tracks (harsh resonances, timing, pitch issues). The next step is getting a good balance of all tracks and panning to create space. Next we begin some top down mixing on busses. Then comes individual track processing on anything that could be accentuated. Next we add effects needed to enhance the artists intention. After that automation is added where needed. Finally Mix bus processing is turned on and dialed in. When a master is needed, we will then master the track being sure to clean up any final resonance build up and adding some nice saturation and a final punch. Finally we deliver the first master to our client and begin the revision process if any changes are desired!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Currently, I am mixing out of a home studio setup in a treated room utilizing a hybrid mixing setup. When clients send us files and we know they have been tracked on a simple setup, we like to run the vocals through our Heritage Audio 1073 Pre/EQ and WA76 Compressor, giving the vocal some professional sounding analog shine. Then when needed and typically on busses, we will run audio through our 500 series setup which includes some SSL channel strips, an SSL UVEQ and an Elysia 500 Xpressor. We are big fans of Universal Audio and Waves, so our in the box work flow consists of use of a large tool box of these plugins collected over the years.

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

A: Most commonly we do mixing/mastering work and include detailed vocal tuning services.