Mixing, Mastering & Editing

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Typically, when mixing, I like to separate the technical elements from the creative elements. For this reason, I spend time to begin with comping takes and editing any timing or pitching parts if need be. Once I am happy that all the audio is as correct as it can be, I start the mixing process. This is led by listening, subtly shaping the sound to match my vision for it. I have found that the best way to mix is to not think too deeply on specific technical details, instead being led by the song itself.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: A lot of the work I do is 'in the box', using a combination of Pro Tools and Logic Pro X, and a number of plugins. For monitoring I use Focal Alpha monitors, and Beyerdynamic DT250 headphones. My audio interface is a combination of an AKAI EIE interface, and a Presonus interface, giving me 6 inputs and 6 outputs. I also have a few bits of outboard processing, a DBX 164 compressor, an Alesis Microverb III, and a Digitech Studio Quad. The setup is small and very portable, allowing me to meet people at locations if recording is ever needed.

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

A: I am inspired by a number of music technicians, and I'll give a few examples below. Firstly, record producer Liam Watson is an inspiration because of his attitude towards digital equipment. His preference of analogue equipment seems based on actual sonic qualities as opposed to any cultural pressures. Another influence for me is mixing engineer Cenzo Townshend. Having met him and observing his working practices, I was able to draw inspiration from his ability to use technology but think musically, not being distracted by the specifics of the technology.

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

A: Typically, the work I do for clients is studio based. I work as a recording engineer, mixing engineer, producer, session musician, and (less frequently) mastering engineer. Typically, I will be working in one or two of these roles - most frequently recording engineer, mixing engineer and producer.

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

A: I have recently finished producing an album for Fox Reneau. It was really rewarding for me, as I was tasked with crafting full productions out of songs that were brought to me as, typically, a guitar part and half a set of lyrics. I was tasked with recording, mixing and mastering as well as producing, and also played many of the guitar, bass and piano parts. It became very collaborative in nature, which was very refreshing for me as I had not worked in this way for a while. To be released soon...

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

A: Indie, Pop, Jazz, Rock, Soul, Acoustic.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: One of the skills that I have found most useful in audio production is the knowledge that I have of analogue electronics. I grew interested in specific differences in sound that different circuit designs had, and spent a lot of time researching this, and how it related to microphones and preamplifiers. I have found that specific knowledge of how circuitry works has allowed me to explore sonic characters more, both in hardware and software emulations of hardware.