Robert Hayek on SoundBetter

With over 10 years professional experience, let's break through the crowd together and make your music sound better!

Background:
I am a multi-instrumentalist turned recording engineer, mixer and producer. I owned and operated a commercial recording studio in New Jersey for 7 years before making my way out to California to produce a record for a world renowned classical guitarist. I have since been freelancing all across Southern California, having worked with multiple grammy-award-winning artists, bands and musicians although I have yet to receive my first real credits. My main genre and focus is rock music.

Services:
Recording, mixing, mastering, and production. I also can add guitar composition as well as additional instrumentation if need be!

I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.

Credits

1 Reviews

Endorse Robert Hayek

by King Kaos
He took mediocre Home recorded tracks, And turned them into a sold great mix! took notes well and made quick adjustments in a short time! highly recommend him!

Interview with Robert Hayek

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: When I first came to California in 2017, I engineered and mixed an album for classical guitarist Eric Henderson. He had Ian Palmer on drums and Mark Egan on bass. It was some of the most complex, well arranged and passionate music I have ever had the privilege to work on, and the musicianship of the trio was absolutely other worldly.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I recently finished a mix for an LA metal band, King Kaos called "The Stranger".
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Possibly? I would have to go through all of the producers and musicians.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Hybrid, I used to mix 100% analog but it has certain limitations in this day and age. I feel with a hybrid workflow I can get the best of both worlds, allowing easy recall and still achieve the sonic results I am looking for.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I treat every song as if it will be nominated a grammy. I always put in 110% and at the end of the day just want to see peoples musical dreams come true.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I get to constantly work with new musicians and test myself and abilities. It also allows me to grow, as I approach each project with a fresh mindset to complement the music. I want to adapt to the style of music and the song, not make the music adapt to me.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Q:Why should I have you mix, when my friend will do it for free? A: "You're right, if it can be done for free go ahead! When you're finished and unhappy I'll more than gladly do it right for you!"
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: Having to edit a session from scratch. Your tracks should be close to 100% edited, so I can focus on mixing. I will edit if need be, but that will be an additional charge.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: Quality of the recording, session size, budget, and reference mixes.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Make sure your tracks are edited and you are happy with the performance. If you are questioning whether a part is "good enough" you most likely should recut it better! The better your tracks, the better the mix I can provide.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Will there be electricity? Lol My senheiser hd 800's, portico channel strip, Taylor K24 -ce, neumann u87, and a 4 track cassette recorder!
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: Well I started as a musician at 9 years old, so I have been in studios my whole life. Professionally I have been engineering for 10 years now.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Organic and true to the music with a modern larger than life edge.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: With you of course!
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Get a good sound at the source. Too many musicians now a days figure everything can be "fixed in the mix" when reality a great mix is a great song/arrangement and well recorded material. Trust your ears.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Hard Rock, but I also do quite a bit of pop and used to mainly record and produce rap/hip-hop for clients.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Mixing
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: A fresh set of ears and a new perspective. I have a lot of old school inspirations and I like to combine that with the modern sound. I try to maintain a sense of organic-ness to the music, while still providing a hi-fi larger than life tone.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: I have a system for mixing that I have developed through trial and error over the years to turn out constantly consistent mixes.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a hybrid analog/digital setup. I have 20 faders of control surface ( 2x Avid Artist Mix and 1x Avid Artist Control) a huge collection of plugins and 24 channels of Dangerous Music Analog summing. I also have a custom ssl style analog buss compressor that makes it onto almost all of my mixes, as well as my never portico ii channel strip.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Tom Lord-Alge, Joe Baressi, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, and Avenged Sevenfold.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Remote mixing