Indie/Folk Mixing Engineer

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I’d like a mix to be transparent and dynamic. It has to breathe and sound natural, without losing loudness. That’s my main goal. It‘s a balancing act, but I don’t stop until I get to that point.

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

A: Fink and Sufjan Stevens are idols. Not only because they are great songwriters, but also because of how they build an atmosphere. Their songs live and breathe. I would love to see them in action during that creation process. Radiohead/The Smile, same thing. Oh, and Paul McCartney. Because he is Paul McCartney.

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

A: I work with singer-songwriters mostly, ranging from pure folk and minimal electronic to pop, classic rock and indie with full band arrangements. Lately I worked on an indie soul track and even a hardstyle song. Not my specialty, but I loved doing it. I don’t shy away from a challenge.

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

A: I’m always proud in a way when a client releases something that I had a part in. If I really have to pick one project right now, I’d say: my own vinyl only album Lives To Be Lived * Things To Be Lost, at the end of 2025. Because I did 9 out of 10 songs by myself. And an LP, well... that was a dream come true.

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

A: I’ve played in bands since I was fifteen. At home during covid I started to write my own songs and taught myself how to record, produce and mix. I was hooked immediately. In 2023 I studied songwriting, producing and mixing at Wisseloord Academy, in the world-famous Wisseloord Studios (NL). Working with top mixers and producers on high-end boards with priceless gear: what a trip. During that year people started to ask me if I could help them with their mixes. Most of my fellow students mainly wanted to write and produce, they didn’t like the mixing bit. Well, I do. That was the beginning of something that is starting to look more and more like a new career.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Only use production tricks when they enhance your song. Overproducing can kill a vibe.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I never lose sight of the emotions that an artist has put into a song. Mixing is a bunch of techniques, and that technical part can totally take over if you’re not careful. For me the vibe of a song must stay central. When it comes to a crossing point between technique and emotions: I’m an expert on Melodyne, tuning your vocals in a way that doesn’t feel tuned.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I just started mixing the new album of a Dutch singer-songwriter, and I’m in the middle of recordings with my band Herb’s Excellent Adventure. My own songs are in the production phase.

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

A: Oh, I don’t know really, I have to check. Let me come back to this question later.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital workflow, analog vibe. Although analog gear can definitely enhance the sound, it also makes the workflow overly complicated in my opinion. I love plugin emulations of analog gear though. Together with saturation plugins, bitcrushers, you name it, they can make your almost completely digitally tracked songs come alive.

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

A: If an artist gives it all before he sends me the song, the least I can do is give it my all once I’m mixing. I'm only satisfied when I’ve made the most out of what has been given to me.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: That every mix is different and therefore a new challenge. There is no template for, let’s say, an indie or a folk mix. While listening to the rough mix for the first time I always hear where I want to go. But how I get there changes from mix to mix. I love that.

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

A: 'Can you make the [...] a bit louder?' And I always do, even if I don’t agree. :-) If I really think it is not wise to alter something, I explain why I did what I did. And then alter it anyway. Because you have to be happy with the end result, not me.

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

A: That every mix is the same. When you watch YouTube mixing tutorial videos, content creators often want to make you believe that when you do 'this or that trick' it always works. It doesn’t. There is no holy grail of mixing. Every song is a unique combination of sounds, frequencies and emotions, and for every song you have to find out what is the best approach. That is exactly what I love about mixing.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is it that you want to get across? If it’s not directly clear to me: what is the song about? Do you have reference tracks, songs with a sound/style that you are inspired by? Are there artists that inspired you for this song? And if you don’t know: do you want an organic or electronic feel, a vintage or modern vocal sound? This can all help to shape the vibe of the song.

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

A: Make sure you are happy with the song before you give it to me, and make sure that it’s finished. A mix can change a lot, but the song is as good as its performance and recording. And re-recording is costly, so only send me your song when you are 100% sure that you have done everything within your capabilities.

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

A: I did that not so long ago actually. Well, I didn’t go to a desert island, but to a deserted part of France. I rented a house for a week. I took my guitar, laptop, a keyboard/controller, audio interface and mic with me and wrote and recorded a song a day. I don’t need more. Okay, headphones. Six pieces of gear then.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: It sounds lame, but whatever you want me to bring. I can optimize your production sonically, but if you want to give me space to enhance it, I can do that too. I work for you, it’s not my job to make your song into something that I like. The only thing I want is to let the emotions you’ve put in your song come across as good as possible.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I always ask you (whether it’s for mixing or mastering) to send a rough mix and one or two reference tracks, to give me an idea of where to work towards. I find gain staging incredibly important for both mixing and mastering, so that comes first. After that comes the balancing act (mixing), both in mono and stereo. I tend to start with the focal point, mostly the vocals, and build the mix around that. If I hear flaws in tracks (ticks, clicks), this is the time to fix them. If a client wants me to tune/comp vocals, I also do it in these early stages. Now I can start processing. When the mix is done, I make a 'quick master', so you can hear it on a streaming-ready level. I do three revision rounds for free (but I tend to go on until you’re happy, please don’t tell anyone).

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a modest but well-treated studio. I work completely in the box in Logic Pro. I’m so happy with my crisp and unforgiving Adam Audio A7V speakers, that make every little flaw audible. My Steven Slate Audio VSX Immersion One headphones were the buy of the decade, They have helped me immensely in making my mixes come across in all kinds of environments, on all kinds of speakers. The SSL UF8 controller is an integral part of my workflow. For recording purposes I have a Dachman U87i condenser and two Neumann KM 184 small condensers. I use them mainly for vocals and (stereo) acoustic guitar recordings.

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

A: That's a big range of people, from The Beatles/George Martin and Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Jeff Buckley) to Beck, Tchad Blake (Arctic Monkeys, Black Keys), Ethan Johns (Laura Marling, Rufus Wainwright) and Jaycen Joshua (Rosalía). Sufjan Stevens, of course! Not everyone is operating specifically in my part of the musical spectrum, but I absorb all the production and mixing tricks they have to offer.

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

A: Personally I think the main goal for a mixer should be to help artists and producers get their music, and all the emotion they’ve put in it, across as well as possible. But I notice that quite a lot of clients are giving me more freedom and ask me to enhance their production rather than polish it. I love to do both.