Producer & Mixing Engineer

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Think always more like a musician and less like an engineer.

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

A: Indie and alternative rock primarily, but I also love working with singer-songwriters, classic rock bands and folk artists.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Being conscious that the music that I work with isn´t mine. I have opinions, and I try to push them if I think that´s better for the song, but always thinking in the interests of the artist and talking with them first. It´s their art, and I´m at their service for bringing It to life.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Whatever the song needs.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: When I work as a producer and I´m involved in the arrangements and selection of songs, I like to give some space first to the artist(s), an then act as a 3rd person, an outsider, to see what could or could not work. Then, when the general ideas are more or less stablished, I aim to understand and see the possibilities of the songs based in the artist intention, feelings and style, and I work with them to archieve what they want. On the mixing side of things, pretty simple. I always start with the kick drum, then the snares, then everything else. I get a rough mix first and then i begin to make things sound how they are supposed to, to make use of automation and bring life to the music in general.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I´m young and I dont´t have a lot of money, so I have a small but very capable home studio. I use the classics: Yamaha HS7, Audient ID14, an affordable condenser mic and a couple of sm57s. In the box I use emulations of classic gear from waves, Slate, and IK Multimedia. I also use more modern tools like The God Particle, some Izotope plugins, specially for mastering, and a couple of cool effects, modulation, reverbs, delays, harmonizers and saturation plugins that I use for adding color to certain instruments or being creative. For digital instruments, I have Superior Drummer 3 with a couple expansions and the Arturia complete collection for all kinds of keys and synths.

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

A: There are a lot! Some of the most remarcable are The Beatles and their way of thinking of the recording studio itself as a musical instrument, with George Martin and his open minded attitude when it came to creating revolutionary studio techniques and bold orchestral arrangements (like in "I´m the Walrus" or "A Day in the Life"). I also love the work of producer Owen Morris, specially his involvement with the first two Oasis records and the second studio album from The Verve, "A Northern Soul", which is to me the most magical sounding record I´ve had the pleasure of listening to. I also love the work of Chris Potter in The Verve´s two last records, "Urban Hymns" and "Forth". He makes those albums sound absolutely perfect, It´s just brilliant. At last, another producer that has inspired me a lot is Brendan Lynch and the sounds of different Paul Weller albums, specially "Wild Wood". I admire these people work with all my soul. They give the songs exactly what they need, absolute perfection within the imperfection, and soul-stealing arrangements. Brilliant.

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

A: The most common is by far mixing and mastering.