Mixing, Mastering

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

A: The work that I am most proud of is Wishful Thinking by Kalyhina. I was the one who did the guitar track, mixing and mastering. It's the 2nd song that I did with her and regardless of how it sound, for me it's the best cause I have learned a lot on that project.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: At the moment, I am working with an indie artist as well as my own songs.

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

A: No one.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. I think each have their pros and cons. Whatever is available, as long as you know how to use it, you can still produce great sounding music.

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

A: I promise to give you great sounding music prior to industry standards.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The fun working with different types of music. It helps me learn more and improve my quality of work.

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

A: Fixing it in the mix. As I've said over and over, it all boils down to the source. Trash in, trash out. If it's workable, it's fine, but don't expect superb quality.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Their inspiration and vision for their songs. How they wanted it to sound. Reference tracks.

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

A: Probably It's still about getting good at recording/producing and decent sounding gears. Mixing can only do so much. Mastering is only as good as the mix.

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

A: I think it would be an acoustic guitar, laptop with all the software and plugins on it, mic, 25 key midi, and decent sounding interface. My wife's not a hardware so I'll take her with me too. Haha!

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

A: Music has been part of my family ever since. My mom and dad used to be band mates back in the day. Lucky to have a natural singing ability since I was a kid. I first learned how to play instruments when I was 10, had my first experience in music production when I was 14. In middle school I formed my first band and also joined singing groups. Fast forward, I was 27 when my brother taught me mixing and mastering. Having tough time as an artist, I decided to pursue this industry more as I found myself really enjoying it and learning a lot in a short span of time. This is part of my calling I guess.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I always admire the works of Andrew Scheps and Chirs Lord Alge. I think my style is more inclined to theirs. Yet I am always trying to encorporate my own creativity to every mix.

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

A: John Mayer! I am always amazed by his musicality and style. It would be such an honor to work with him.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Making it right from the source! Nothing beats practicing before recording along with decent gears. That's the key to a great sounding music

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

A: For my own preference, alternative, acoustic, singer-songwriter kind of vibe are the genres that I typically listen to. My previous works leans more on indie pop. But I can work and connect to any type of music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is being able to connect to any genre of music. I am not just a mix-master-get paid kind of guy. I do this for the art more than the money.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: As a recording artist myself, I always strive to make the songs enjoyable and to help deliver the right emotions to listeners as part of my job as an engineer.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My typical work process for mixing begins with preparation. If demo mix and reference tracks we're available, I will listen to it first to try to get the objective and idea of the song. Before I start mixing, the first thing I typically do is to arrange the tracks with their specific colors, folders and busses. Next thing is checking if there are phase issues specially with vocals and drums. 3rd is gain staging to get the proper levels and making sure that I have enough headroom. 4th is to make room for each instruments using hp/lp filters and panning and then I will move on to mixing. Before mastering, I make sure that I did whatever I can to make it sound perfect in the mix so that I will not fix anything or boost too much. I typically just do a bit more on stereo imaging, saturation, multiband compression and get the song to client's desired loudness.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I am currently mixing and mastering purely in the box using Windows 10, Reaper 6 as my DAW. Samson SR850, Edifier R1280DB and Behringer UMC22 as my main hardware I am using good sounding plugins mainly from Waves, SSL, Soundtoys and more.

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

A: When it comes to mixing I am inspired by Andrew Scheps, Serban Ghenea, Tchad Blake, Dave Pensado and Chris Lord Alge. As a musician, my inspiration is John Mayer.

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

A: Mixing and Mastering