Mixing and mastering

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

A: I think The Diva Dance was really tough. I remade the whole song for one of my clients. I was searching for every detail and sound for hours. There were almost 100 channels and it was really interesting to work with such a big project. I'm really proud of this. I think that i get it done. My role was as a producer, mixing and mastering engineer in this project.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working on the song "Ehtiyacım var" by Natavan. Remade it for my sister and now mixing it.

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

A: My friend Elchin Elshad is reliable person and good sound engineer.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: For now all i have is digital. I hope someday i get to work with analog gear. I'm open both to analog and digital.

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

A: I promise that you'll get wide and clean sound. Your track will sound really good on every speaker!

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Organizing, setting balance and making everything sound clear and transparent.

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

A: Many customers ask about when it is done. My answer is 2-3 days maximum, because there can always be some unseen circumstances.

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

A: Some people can confuse mixing and mastering with production. I can do it as well. I produced for a few local artists, remade many songs. I have experince on that but for now i would like to focuse only on mixing and mastering.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: It all depends on the material. First i have to listen. Then if something is not clear for me i may ask some questions.

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

A: If you have any preferences or requests just tell me. Also you can send me a reference track so i can make sure that it sounds close to what you expect.

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

A: Can we do an exclusion and make it 6? :D Guitar, sound card, monitors, midi, mic and PC.

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

A: I started as a vocalist in 2008 studying in music school named after composer Tofiq Quliyev in Baku. Then i switched to guitar and stick to that. Although i sing my own songs and produce them now i make living as a session guitar player. But also i've been doing mix and mastering for local artists for a couple of years. I enjoy it more than playing guitar so i hope one day i make living doing only mix and mastering.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Pop, Funk, Pop-Jazz, Pop-Rock, Disco-funk.

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

A: To be honest there are so many amazing artists that i get lost :D

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: The most important thing is to know what kind of sound do you want to achieve. The rest is learning and investigating.

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

A: Pop, Soul, R'n'B, Rock, Pop-Rock, Funk.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I think my strongest skill is my ability to hear is everything in balance or not.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring a clean mix. I always try to get the most transparent sound out of the song so it does not tire a listener. Some engineer tend to do mixes with a lot of lows because they think that it sounds more powerful. I don't really like it. I think every frequency or instrument has its own place and my job is finding it and locating everything the way that it sounds clean, easy, even and soothing.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Firts i mix drums and bass. Then i listen if they sound together and in pocket. If it satisfies me i go to balancing all tracks. I always try to get rid of low frequencies in all tracks because it can make the overall mix sound to muddy. Always EQ reverb and delay. Panoraming all the tracks so your song end up sounding big and wide. One of the most important things is mixing in mono which i do a lot because it helps to hear which instrument is too loud or quiet. Once i finish mixing i go to mastering. I have really nice chain for this. Using plugins as C4 Compressor to check if bass sounds without any noise from mid. Gullfoss which helps to achieve some kind of sweet saturation. SSL Bus Compressor to glue the mix, Limiters and so on.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Adam Audio T7V monitors, Steinberg UR44c soundcard, HP60 MkIII professional closed-back headphones, CM25 MkIII condenser microphone, PC (Windows 11), Cubase Pro 12.

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

A: Mark Ronson, Quincy Jones, Kenny Larkin and many others.

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

A: I do mixing and mastering for my clients.