Mixer and Producer

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: The never ending behind the scenes work of mixing Michael Brook's vast sketch library. He's got over 5000 pieces of music in there, and I work my way through it whenever there is time.

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

A: How long will it take? It depends on how many tracks there are, and how long the song is. A six minute song takes longer than a 3 minute song, and a song with 6 tracks is much quicker to mix than a song with 30. On average though I can usually get a longer, more dense song listenable in 48 hours.

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

A: I usually work on film and tv music.

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

A: I like people who make their own instruments, plugins etc. People who try weird things.

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

A: Take a little time to think about how you want the song to make people feel! It will help you make production decisions and help me with the mix.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love being part of a community of people who make things.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What, if anything, did you like about your rough mix? Are you for or against sample replacements for acoustic drums? Some clients expect it, others don't want it at all. I'm open to working either way but it's good to know at the beginning. The same goes for vocal tuning.

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

A: Brauner Phanthera, Schoeps 6/4, VSX Headphones, Zod ID DI, Panther Cub delay

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

A: I moved to Los Angeles from Kansas and got a job as a runner at the Sound Factory in Hollywood. Got promoted to assistant engineer and was fortunate to work with quite a few well known artists. Michael Brook was one of those artists and I wound up working at his studio with him, every day, for the next 20+ years. He invited me to start working on films with him and eventually I became his mixer. I also used to work with Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band on his side projects. I would go on tour with him and we'd work at night on his bus while traveling from city to city. We eventually built a studio at his house and did a lot of work there, including the theme music for ESPN's coverage of Wimbledon amongst several other projects.

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

A: Mixing first, music production second (tracking, arrangement advice etc)

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

A: I was the mixer for Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's posthumous record, "Chain of Light". Unless they unearth any additional lost recordings, it's the last thing we will ever hear from him and I am honored I got to contribute to such an important record.

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

A: I think it's important for the mixer to be easy to talk to and open to other people's ideas. Do you have a clear idea of what you want? Great, tell me all about it! Are you having trouble articulating your ideas, or even knowing what to expect? I can help with that.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring the versatility to mix and produce music that doesn't always fall easily into a specific genre.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work in Pro Tools or Logic with an extensive collection of plugins.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is adaptive. With so much experience in film I was often asked to mix some very eclectic combinations of sounds. Doing so requires responding to the way each track sounds rather than jamming the music into some template of plugins I like for a certain genre. Working that way makes it difficult for me to recall what I actually did on any given song, which is somewhat unusual in the engineering community. You'll never hear me talk much about my plugin chains because I change it up all the time. Did I use a Distressor on those drums? Maybe. I do that sometimes. Is it doing what it needs to do? That's what I care about.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: If your chorus doesn't sound big enough try muting some tracks. It can be counterintuitive, but If you have too many tracks the song will start to sound smaller.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Finding the personality of the song and shining a light on it. Sometimes it requires bringing lots of clarity and polish to the mix, sometimes it's about leaving it raw and dirty. Each song is different and warrants its own approach. I am not a paint by numbers mixer, at all.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I get an idea of what I think the client wants and I get started. I try to figure out which parts of the song are going to be load-bearing and dial those in first. After that's it's just finding a place for all the secondary parts to live. When I've taken the mix as far as I can in speakers I like to listen in various headphones and room simulators and make adjustments if necessary. I'll mix until I think I'm done in one session unless it's a large song. Then I come back the next day to tweak. Send it back to the client and start the revision process.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Either. They both have strengths and weaknesses but to choose one over the other would be a bit close minded in my opinion.