I specialise in indie rock, indie pop and hybrid production. If you like mixes where the instrumentation is detailed and clear rather than a chordal wash buried beneath the vocal, then we're on the same page.
I work remotely as a full-stack producer, recording and mixing tracks and taking artists' initial 'voice memo' type demos through to finished tracks ready for mastering. I specialise in guitar-driven pop rock as well as highly layered hybrid production, blending acoustic and orchestral elements with electronic and synthesised sounds. I can offer fast turnarounds if mixing is all you need and am happy to work with you as long as it takes until we land on something you're happy with. I'm particularly passionate about live drum sounds and have significant expertise in crafting specific drum sounds. I also love doing the post-production and mixing for live tracks as I spent much of my early mixing years working as a broadcast mix engineer.
I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.
Interview with Timothy Stephenson
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I've released a lot of my own music as part of a band called 'Emissary'. I wrote, recorded/produced and mixed all of it and obviously I think it's good because we all think that about our own stuff!
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Becoming a better person - life is not so much about what you do as it is about who you are.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Mathew Delemos - great mastering engineer
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both because it's a silly debate and ultimately distracts from the reality that it's all about ears and being able to get the results you want from the gear you have.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: Your tracks/mixes will have character and a distinguishing 'something' about them - no playing it safe.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I'm massively goal-oriented, so I love the satisfaction of having an idea of how we want something to sound and then seeing that come to life in the finished track.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: 'How much do you charge for a full production?' - There are so many style-specific variables.... is the style minimalist or highly layered? Is it gonna need real drums or electronic, or no drums? There can be a lot of things that affect how much work is involved. But rough ballpark figure, £600 a track.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: A lot of people think mixing is where the magic happens. In truth, if the rough mix doesn't sound great, the mix won't either. The magic is in the parts, the tones and the attention to detail....Oh and it has to be a great song.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What's the vision?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Take time to listen through their portfolio and decide if you like their style. Focus less on whether the music is similar in genre to yours and instead ask 'if i wanted to make music in this style/genre, would I like how this person has arranged/produced/mixed this?'.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: My Veritas Portlander guitar, a great fender/vox amp, a vocal microphone, my laptop and an interface.... I guess I'd need some cables though too....
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I've been doing this for 5 years. I've been playing and writing music for much longer than that but 5 years ago I felt I had learnt enough technical skills to be able to produce and mix to a professional standard and so have been working with clients ever since.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Intentional. I love highly layered tracks, but only so long as each layer serves a specific, felt purpose. I don't like tracks where all the layers merge together to create an amorphous chordal wash. I like the key elements in a production to be loud and clear and the parts for these elements to be interesting enough to deserve it! Not a fan of 8 layers of guitars all playing rhythm - I'd have 2 guitars playing specific, complementary parts, turned up.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: John Mark McMillan or Gable Price and Friends - they always write super interesting songs that would be v fun to produce or mix or both.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: If you wouldn't want a part to be clearly heard in the mix then you need to A. Write a better part or B. Get a better tone or C. Do both.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Indie rock or contemporary christian music (I like it when those 2 things are the same).
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Writing and arranging instrumentation and finding the best structure and flow for a song.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I frequently bring most of the inspiration/creativity and know-how when it comes to writing instrumentation and arranging a track around the basic lyric and melody, as well as the technical expertise required to bring artist's ideas into reality. I love making music where, even if the vocal track was muted, the song would still be an interesting and captivating listen.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: Depends on whether it's production or mixing, but if it's a production I'll start by going over the song with the artist and making sure the writing is as good as it can be in terms of melody, lyric and chord structure. Then I'll map out the song with some basic sounds and focus on the drum arrangements, and the parts for the most prominent element (usually guitars, sometimes keyboards). Then from there I'll put together the rest of the basic production and go back and forth with the artist until we're happy. Then we'll arrange for vocals to be recorded either remotely or we'll book a date in my home studio, and in the meantime I will flesh out the production and refine the more basic elements, and replace the programmed drums with real tracks if applicable. Once vocals are tracked I'll do all the editing and then put the mix together. How long this all takes massively depends on the artist, but if they're making it a priority in terms of their time commitments and can articulate their vision clearly it can be a very efficient process.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a 1-room home studio where I typically do all programming, guitars, keyboards, editing and mixing. I also have a larger basement space where I record drums and vocals when needed. It's largely untreated, but by a stroke of luck it happens to make killer drum tracks.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Chris Greely, Bobby Strand, Gabriel Wilson and Shawn Everett are my favourite producers/mix engineers. Radiohead, Alvvays, Boygenius and John Mark McMillan are my biggest songwriting influences.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Full-stack production and mix, commonly writing and recording all instrumentation, while the artist records vocals remotely or in my home studio.
- Mixing EngineerAverage price - $200 per song
- Full instrumental productionContact for pricing
- Electric GuitarAverage price - $100 per song
- Keyboards - SynthAverage price - $100 per song
- EditingAverage price - $40 per track
For mixes I offer unlimited revisions (within reason), with a turnaround time of 1-2 weeks. Full productions include mixing if desired, turnaround will vary, message with details for an estimate.
- Alvvays
- Radiohead
- Bethel Music
