Mixing and Mastering

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Since a young age I have always had a great ear for music and everyday I am finding ways to keep improving on that. I am constantly learning new skills new techniques and finding all the ways I can to be creative. I have a healthy obsession with being creative and making art and that is why I enjoy mixing so much. To have the ability to be creative with vibration is predi insane if you ask me. So I guess what I bring is pure passion and a seriously strong focused work ethic. Over the years I have taught myself how to be disciplined, mindful and patient. And these attributes are certainly needed when being creative. So next to passion I would say I bring a well structured mind set which in my opinion is paramount when working on another persons art. I wont give a long list of all the wonderful things id give to the song but rather give an honest description of the character I posses. And I think that speaks more than a list of flattering adjectives.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My typical work process is to get a feeling for the rough mix that a band has sent to me. I like to imagine a story while listening. I find it is important to connect to the song first before becoming creative with it. after I have become familiar with the song I will begin doing a quality check on al the audio files. then I will import the files into my DAW session and start to label and design a format foe the song that makes sense to me. After that I will start doing a rough Mix balance an panning. Once everything is sounding balanced I will start to do samples replacement on the kick and snare if it is required. My next step is to use techniques of eq, compression, limiting and saturation to add punch, frequency balance and harmonic design to the mix. these processes will be done across all elements of the mix, generally I start with drums, bass, then guitars. Then other elements such as synths and lastly vocals. After the heavy lifting is done I will then start effects processing to add ambience and depth to the mix. this is generally done with various reverbs delays and other effects software. These techniques will be used mainly on lead guitar parts, vocals and drums. It really depends where it is needed. The mix process can me unpredictable and can always go in different directions which for me keeps it exciting. After the effects process, I generally listen to the exported mix over a couple of times to makes notes for changes that need to be done, or my mind might spark another cool idea that I did not think of during the mix process. I then make the changes while make sure I have done the best I can do. When that is all complete, I will master the song and send to the client for Mix revision.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Hardware>My studio setup consists of Yamaha HS 5 monitors. Scarlette focusrite 8i6. Samsung Ultra Wide monitor Wide surface studio desk Esp ltd Ec401 electric guitar with EMG pickups Corsair gaming keyboard and mouse Studio Room consist of various sound treatments designs Shure sm7B Shure sm58 Shure sm57 Rode NT1 I use various plugins for in the box mixing such as Waves Audio. SSL Bus compressor SSL E channel EQ. L1 Limiter and more Slate Digital. Various tape emulations compressors saturators and many more from the slate all access bundle. Kontakt > Drums. GGD. Moder and massive, Invasion EZ Drummer Guitars> For re amping I use various Neural DSP Amp simulators and various other Amp sims

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

A: Adam Nolly. Kellen Mcgregor Rick Ruban Tue Madson

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

A: Mixing and mastering multitracks for bands. Most of the multitracks consists of recorded or MIDI programmed drums. Recorded guitars or DI guitars for re amping. Recorded Bass or programmed MIDI Bass. and Scream/Clean vocals as well as various other elements that might be in the production.