Extreme Metal Mix & Master

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

A: I started more than 25 years ago as a musician, and I've always been asking questions and trying to work mu

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I'm an old school guy with a strong personal taste. I love prominent, roomy, punchy and natural drums with crisp guitars and a good amount of bass guitar. Imagine 70s meet 90s revisioned in current days.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Production? Let's talk drums and extreme metal: if you're not a machine, record your double bass separately and play only hands in those parts (try to move your feet on the ground and play air pedals!). Capture also the room and oh mics of the kick, then we don't have to deal with flamming drums which are impossible to edit without losing all the goodness of the room mics.

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

A: Anything ranging from rock to metal.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Probably giving a real sound to drums, even if they are fake or with lots of samples.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Balls!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: After listening to the rough mix and to the material, I visualize what kind of sound is appropriate for the song and also what kind of result I can get with the raw takes. Then I do a quick mix in few hours, to avoid losing the focus from the bigger picture. After that, I come back as many times as necessary to the song with fresh ears to add refinements and automations.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have an hybrid digital/analog workflow, I often rely on hardware for key elements like drum, bass and vocal compression and to enhance the master bus. In this way the recalls are easier but I still have that magic analog feeling on the most important pieces of the song. Plugins are good today, but nothing beats an analog compressor - especially when you push it really hard, something we do a lot in metal.

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

A: I'm a big fan of productions that can sound modern and organic at the same time. Ideally, what I like is the analog warmth and punch of old rock/metal recordings, mixed with the crispness and detail of the modern stuff.

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

A: I'm not afraid to work on tracks that has not been perfectly recorded. I started working many years ago for friends, saving bad recordings and bad playing techniques. I always put the same amount of passion and work in every song. I'm usually able to elevate home made recordings - of course, the higher lever we start from, the higher result we will get.