Mixing & Mastering

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

A: That's a tough one. I would definitely take my computer with all my software in it, my Neumann U87, Apogee Symphony I/O, Focal Twin6 Be monitors, and the Rupert Neve Designs 5060 summing mixer. That would be everything I need to be able to record and mix music.

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

A: I started off as a musician who played piano and was always interested in the mixing process. I loved the ability of being able to take someones raw recordings and bring it to life. After being interested in music production in High School, I went to college to study music and audio production at Five Towns College in Long Island, NY. Towards my final years of College, after I felt like I gained some chops, I did an internship at Dream Recording Studios where I learned much about recording and mixing music. I assisted many sessions at Dream Recording Studios under the head engineer there. I then began to work at the famed QUAD studios in NYC where I assisted the top engineers in the business and assisted many major label sessions. After some time there, and gaining the trust of the studio managers, I began to engineer sessions at QUAD. I now have been working as an engineer for 5 years. Currently, I work fully out of my own studio with local NYC based artist and occasional artist from other parts of the U.S.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I think I bring a sense of creativity to a song. Often when working within a mix I will hear something that I think would work great with the song, such as a reverb, delay, some sort of effect in a section, etc. I will add that to the song and more often than not, that addition I did will open up the song. I am also not afraid to abandon my idea if I or the client feel like it is not working with the song. I think I also bring a sense of musicality to a song. Along with my technical training, I mix with feeling and work based off of what feels right in a mix. Having a technical and musical mix is very important.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My work process usually starts off by listening to a rough mix that the client sent me of the song or just listening to the song with all the stems imported and leveled out in Pro Tools if no rough mix was given. As I am listening, I will try to imagine what the song should sound like as a finished product and what it needs for it to reach that stage. I will then begin any organization and assigning of the stems as I continue to listen to the song. After all organization is taken care of in Pro Tools, I will decide what are the most important elements in the song and start to mix those first. I will continue to mix the rest of the elements to the point where I feel like the song is almost where it's supposed to be. After I feel Like I reached that sound, I will bounce out the song and take a short break from it. After my break, I will take it outside to the car and listen to the mix there and do the same in different listening environments. After I get a sense for what the song sounds like in "real world" listening environments, I will do some tweaks to the mix and then send out the first version of the mix to the client to hear and send back some of his/her feedback. I like the client to feel completely happy with their product so I am always open for feedback and revisions. I will run as many revisions as needed until everyone is happy. Usually it takes me 2-4 revisions to get a mix completely right.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio is a hybrid set up. This means I mix in and out of the box using both plugins and analog gear to create my mixes. I work out of Pro Tools 12 and use the Apogee Symphony I/O as my converter. I have two sets of monitors. I have the Focal Twin6 Be speakers as my Hi-Fi monitors and the Avantone Mix Cubes which covers consumer type speakers. This allows me to make sure my mixes sound good in a wide spectrum of listening environments. From Pro Tools, I run my audio into the Apogee and then into my Rupert Neve Designs 5060 summing mixer. The 5060 brings the sound of Neve's legendary analog consoles into my mixes. Some outboard gear I usually incorporate into my mixes are: the legendary SSL G series compressor, API 550b Eq's, the Manley Stereo Variable Mu, Rupert Neve Designs 542's Tape Emulators, Pultec Style Tube Eqs, Rupert Neve Designs Portico II Master Bus Processor (for mastering), and a stereo HendyAmps Michelangelo Eq (for mastering). Plugins I use in my mixes include: UAD, Waves, Soundtoys, Fabfilter, Antares Autotune, Celemony Melodyne, Audio Ease Altiverb, Steven Slate Everything Bundle, etc.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Currently I am working with various artist who are working toward releasing an album before the start of the summer.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I believe having a combination of both is best.

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

A: I promise to work with you so your song gets the treatment it deserves.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Record like there is no mixing. Mix Like there is no mastering.

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

A: I usually work on pop and hip-hop music. Occasionally I'll receive some work that is rock or another genre, but I'd say about 90% of my work falls under the pop and hip-hop category.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Communication. I am always communicating with clients to make sure I deliver exactly what they are looking for from me as their mix engineer. When delivering the first mix to a client, I am always open to feedback and always do my best to respond promptly and get back to them with a new mix with their suggestions ASAP.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love hearing a clients work before the start of a project and watch it completely evolve towards the end the project. I love helping artist bring their music to life.

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

A: Bruno Mars. I think his last album, 24k Magic was awesome! I love how he incorporated old school genres into his album and completely revamped them to be modern hits.

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

A: The biggest misconception I find about being a mix engineer is that a lot of people think that any or all issues can be fixed in the mix process. No corners should be cut before the mixing process. A song should be sounding great before the mix and the job of the mixing engineer is to enhance the sound that is already there. The less fixing a mix engineer has to do, the better the product will be.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Are there any songs/productions you really admire and really love how they sound?

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

A: Find an engineer who will treat your work like it is his own.

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

A: The most common work I do for clients is mixing and mastering. I have many clients who like to do their own recordings and then they send me their track for me to mix and master.

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

A: For a long time Manny Marroquin was my biggest mixing inspiration as a mix engineer just because of his ability to work within so many genres of music and create great sounding mixes every time. Lately I've been hearing a lot of Serban Ghenea's work and his mixes are just incredible. Some of my other inspirations include, Andrew Scheps, CLA, Steven Slate, etc.