MIX/MASTER ENGINEER, PRODUCER

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

A: "How long will this take?" It will take 3-5 days for the highest quality mix/master(s). "Do you know how to mix "insert genre here"?" Yes sir or ma'am I do.

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

A: I used to be an employee at Intel Corp. Before that, I was in the United States Marine Corps working as an optics technician. I've been around electronics my whole life so making the move to audio engineering has been easy. I've been producing, mixing, and mastering since late 2020 - early 2021.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring in my 10+ years of experience being involved musically in all aspects of my life whether that was having my own band, singing karaoke in Japan every weekend for two years, playing bass, traveling to Tijuana to chase a dream, etc.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My work process for mixing a song is simple. Get organized before anything happens. The more organized, the more fluent the session will go. This also applies to recording artists in my studio. Having a template ready to go improves workflow for all processes. VU Meters are a must now! My typical work process for mastering a song is I pull up the DAW, drag the song inside, and check the levels of the mixed song to see how much louder the track needs to be in order to apply the proper plugins. I have a LUFS loudness meter in the mastering chain in order to pay attention while i'm adding the finishing touches to your mastered track. My work process for producing a song is pulling up the DAW and starting with the melody. Create a 4 or an 8 bar loop. 99% of my beats are made from scratch so I lay down the melody with enough room for the artist to rap or sing. Next I add the drums and finish the beat from there.

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

A: I primarily record, mix, and master people from San Diego, Tijuana. I also get different mixes from people all around the world.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What kind of production are you looking for? What's your budget? How fast do you need this job done? How would you like your song to sound like?

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am building a brand day by day by being active on social media. I hope to make music my primary income by doing this.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital because of the flexibility it offers. I travel quite a bit so having everything on my laptop and hard drive comes in handy.

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

A: I am currently working with Reggaeton, Dembow, hip-hop and R&B. Gotta adjust to the culture while in Tijuana.

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

A: A project that I recently worked on was with an artist in Rosarito by the name of Grislee. The name of the EP is called Impredecible. I mixed and mastered that entire EP and produced "Ven Ven". It was a very good time working with this artist. He knew the sound that he was going for and achieved it effortlessly.

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

A: I recommend hiring Michaela Shiloh (FKA Mickey Shiloh) if you're looking for a phenomenal songwriter.

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

A: I promise to give you a product that you will love.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The flexibility that it offers. This is a huge passion of mine so most of the time it doesn't even feel like a job.

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

A: Production is more than just making a beat. Production is the goal of trying to make an entire record around the artists' vocals.

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

A: Communication is key. Please communicate with me throughout this process to both parties are satisfied.

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

A: I would take my MacBook, my Apollo Twin X, my monitors, my bass, and amp.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My specialty is dark trap. Anything dark and eerie. Sounds that make you feel something is my niche. Make it loud!

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

A: I would like to work with $uicideboy$ because my sound matches their sound perfectly.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Cut the unnecessary low end on most instruments and sounds. Save the low end for drums. I made this mistake in the beginning of my music production journey of not knowing what an EQ was. Get familiar with EQing.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is persistence. Persistence is a skill that is needed if you want to finish a song or a job within a certain time frame. Another way to put it is that nothing else will happen until a project is finished. Set small goals for this if the project is a big one.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I am currently working out of Tijuana and have my studio there. My main piece of equipment is the Mac Mini 64GB RAM. My other pieces of equipment are the Apollo Twin X, Adam Audio T7V's , a Neumann U87 microphone (with a kaotica eyeball attachment), and the Adam Audio H200. Honorable mention: I have a Schecter Demon w/ an amp, and a Ibanez bass w/ a bass amp in my studio for custom work.

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

A: My musical inspirations are rooted within both the trap scene and the metalcore scene. Music professionals such as The Word Alive, Asking Alexandria, Korn, Metro Boomin, Pooh Shiesty, Gucci Mane, etc. The EDM scene has a huge inspiration on me as well. The EDM artists that inspire me are Yellow Claw, Tiesto, etc.