akMix - Mix Engineer

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

A: Are you a mastering engineer? - No. I see the value of having a professional mastering engineer master my mixes. I have mastered some things in the past but having another set of ears to put that final icing on the cake can be very beneficial. They have the perspective and experience of mastering a huge quantity of music. I know a number of mastering engineers I trust with my mixes that I can recommend.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: A fresh set of experienced ears and perspective. I aim to take the vision the artist and producer had of the song to beyond even where they had pictured it. As well as my ears and taste I feel I can bring my experience and 20+ years worth of knowledge both in engineering and music production to a song.

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

A: Suncream, a solar powered generator, a water filter, cooker, and a fishing rod. Wait..was that not the gear you meant?

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I think that mixing is much like painting a room. The prep work is crucial. There's no point in painting a wall if it has a huge crack in it or having to stop in the middle of painting to fill holes. So I spend a good amount of time thoroughly making sure a song is actually ready to be mixed. I check through the multitrack files for clicks, glitches, edits that could be better..or anything that I think needs addressing. I make sure the levels and gain staging are good for mixing and especially do a lot of prep work on the vocal tracks. As I'm doing all of this I'm getting a sense and understanding of what's going on in the song and getting some ideas of where I might like to go with the mix. Once I feel my session is in a good place and ready to be mixed, if possible it's wise to take a little time away from it becoming coming back to mix with a fresh perspective. I like to build my balance and mixes up from scratch while referencing any "rough" production mixes or reference tracks to see if in the right universe. Once happy with my mix I'll review it with fresh ears before sending it to the client and then we'll take from there in terms of any necessary revisions until everyone is happy.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a hybrid setup of both some analog outboard and digital plugins. I mix in Pro Tools on an iMac Pro which has plenty of processing power and speed for working comfortably. My converter is a UA Apollo x8 and my monitors are Amphion One15's on Sound Anchor stands.

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

A: I am focused on mixing but inevitably engineering, editing and other aspects of music production come into play within that.

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

A: Some of my mixing influences are Alan Moulder, Michael Brauer, and Tchad Blake.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I think it's clear both have their positives. There are now some extremely complex plugin emulations to get that analog magic that can be missing from digital recordings. The benefit of instant recall and levels of control in the digital world can certainly be seen as a positive.

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

A: That mixing is just a technical rather than also a creative process.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Monitor at low volume. Any mix can sound exciting pumped up loud..does it still sound that way when listening quieter? You also tend to lose perspective and your ears won't last as long at high volumes!