ROCK + METAL Mixing & Vocals!

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

A: Even though I'd love to work with well established acts, I find that up & coming bands, recording artists with fresh ideas and raw, undiscovered gems can often be the most thrilling projects. Plus, although I appreciate and can work with all genres of music, booking me if you're a rock/metal artist is definitely a better idea than submitting your jazz song to be mixed by me.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital, but with as much analog emulation as possible. Digital has a lot of potential and provides a smooth workflow, but the analog character still needs to be respected and sought after.

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

A: A laptop, Universal Audio interface, Sennheiser HD600 headphones, FabFilter complete bundle, Ozone 11.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Modern metal mixing is my area of focus and makes up about 90% of what I do!

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

A: Yes! I've had the pleasure of collaborating with a very talented producer and engineer named Jonathan from Sweden, and I'd definitely encourage my clients in need of high quality production to contact him.

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

A: I mainly get questions about how the client can make sure that the final product will sound as good as possible. My usual recommendations (and common areas of improvement) are: Tune your guitars (unfortunately very common!), add the correct amount of layers (not too much, not too little), have a clear vision for which elements in your track are going to be the most important.

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

A: Probably that as a mixing engineer I should be able to fix mistakes that were made during production. Each phase needs the utmost care if you want a good sounding track!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is a good reference for the sound you're going for? (This is not for copy/pasting, I only use it as a double check) What is the emotion you're trying to deliver to your listener?

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

A: I wrote, recorded & mixed all songs for my band's first album, "The Affection" by SEVENSENT. I've been working on that material since I was a teenager, and finally seeing it come to life was incredibly rewarding.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: First version: just get started, first thought - best thought. Then it's a looong process of listening, re-listening, and then listening some more. Being open to client feedback is also paramount.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I can remember making my own music as a young songwriter & being constantly afraid that the work of the people I hired, with the little money I had, wouldn't live up to my expectations. I want to be that person that paints a smile on the artist's face, what I provide is the feeling that someone took your idea seriously and breathed life into it.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Don't get so lost in the details that you end up losing the bigger picture. Perfection isn't perfect.

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

A: Well, I once had a blast singing on a hybrid rock-bossa nova song, but modern Metal is definitely my genre of specialization :)

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I can usually intuit the artist's vision and enhance it.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Raw aggression! And usually some melancholy. I also like things to sound big, so I'm a fan of layering and intricate productions.

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

A: As a producer and engineer, I really have a soft spot for Devin Townsend, Chris Lord-Alge, Peter Tagtgren, Jens Bogren, Adam Getgood and Zakk Cervini (not to mention the mastering skills of Ted Jensen.) As far as vocals are concerned, I'd say most singers who can deliver raspy, high pitched and moving performances: Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, Corey Taylor, M.Shadows, Einar Solberg, Sam Carter are a few names which come to mind. And as a composer, can I cite Nobuo Uematsu, Akira Yamaoka and Alan Menken?

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work 100% in the box: Universal Audio interface & preamps, Sennheiser HD600 headphones (Sonarworks calibrated) plus my beloved Avantone MixCube for mono monitoring; I sing into a Shure SM7B microphone with Neve preamp, 1176 compression & Pultec EQ UAD sims, and I have a vast collection of sound libraries for production purposes (Komplete 12 Ultimate, Steven Slate drums, PunkBass & all the Odeholm audio basses, most Neural DSP amp sims and BIAS FX 2, Serum synth & XO sampler), while my plugin selection is a mix of FabFilter, Waves, Slate, iZotope & SoundToys.

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

A: The very basics: double track your guitars and be especially demanding about your guitar tuning - if it's off, the mix won't sound good and there's nothing I can do about it. Check your input level when you're tracking - if you're clipping, re-track. If your room is not perfect, don't track vocals with expensive condenser microphones - get a shure SM7B, which always gets the job done. Have an idea of the finished product that's as clear as possible. Send references, give honest feedback, go for what you actually want. The more you help me, the more I can help you.

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

A: I started as a classical piano player at the age of 6, moved on to drums at the age of 15, studied at the Collective School of Music in New York, toured a bunch of countries and recorded at the Saltime Studios in Mesa. I remember writing my first song in my early teens, and I've been singing & professionally audio engineering since the early 2010s.

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

A: Great communication & teamwork. You will be listened to, and you will be happy with the final result.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Raw, aggressive, from the gut.

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

A: I started with the intention of focusing on mixing, but the amount of requests for vocal recordings have been (happily) overwhelming! So I'm currently splitting my days between vocal & engineering duties.