Remote Mixing Music Producer

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

A: My good friend has a music ministry.We set to brand the group and create social media buzz for it. Doing so required that we produce the videos from the ground up so they would be unique to the group under their brand. The group consists of 9 members and covers most of the traditional instrumentation you'd find in a large ensemble like this. From start to finish I produced the entire year long campaign. Shot the video, edited it, recorded live music at events mixed it all and at the end of it all produced a Music Video of their most popular song. It was my first step into the role of an EP and being able to say we did that, well there's nothing quite like the feeling.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A feature length film titled "The Long Drive" I am editing, mixing in 5.1Composing the sound track, and sound designing the film.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: I am a new comer to Sound Better and I do not know anyone here

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Analogue for warmth and character, Digital for ease of implementation and consistency. There,s room for both on every project

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

A: I will work with you to get the end results you can be happy with.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The freedom to create a product that people can enjoy. The diversity of projects I work on.

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

A: What projects have you worked on? Here's my Reel. Can you have this back to me tomorrow. Depends lets have a quick listen and see what were working with. Can you fix all of this clipped audio? No, a Clip is a clip but I can massage it a bit to lessen the impact it will have. Can you get rid of this dump truck idling next to the talent? No, But I can scrub a little of it out and make it a well placed background asset.

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

A: Is that there isn't any skill involved. Audio is an after thought that no one budgets for. "just have the editor sound design this one" "Just throw a compressor on it to level it out" Mixing and mastering is a pure art form. It takes years to develop your ears and years to practice techniques to be good at this job. Technology doesn't help when the adverts make it seem like you can get platinum album level quality mixes by uploading your work to an AI site for 10.00. You still need the human ear in the chair to rerally coax out the nuances.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is the ultimate goal of the project. How much creative input do I have Where will this be released Was it professionally recorded and or mixed Do you own all of the rights to the music or have the authority to make changes.

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

A: Take the time to actually talk to the person. Far to often Clients make the mistake of judging the book by its cover. You might be passing up on the perfect person for the job simply because they haven't had a lot of work to post up. I know a lot of engineers without awards and accolades that could run circles around most that do.Take the time, have the conversation.

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

A: Solar Charger, Laptop, my trusty HD 800's change of underwear and my wife.

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

A: I started off a hobbyist engineer who ran sound for his buddies bands, and my own bands. for 23 years I was an ASE Master Certified Automotive Technician. In 2015 I was really feeling the burn out of the career so I made a hard left turn and went to school to study Music Technology. From there Ive slowly built up my skills, leveled up with anyone who would take a minute to teach and here i am nearly 10 years later. I still run F.O.H. for people but now I get paid to do it!

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Eclectic. I like odd meters, Serialism was something I found interesting... Composing music with a grid... Who knew. I love to assemble layers upon layers of percussive elements listening how each additional layer evolves the entire piece... Eclectic. I grew up on Hard Rock and Country music. Metallica to Hank Williams Sr. and everything in between.

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

A: Dave Grohl. 1. Nirvana, Duh! I'm a drummer. 2. Foo Fighters... Legendary. Dave has an insight that a lot of other artists do not have. He's also not a gatekeeper and absolutely would teach in the moment. Most importantly I feel like he believes that every person working on the project from the PA or stag hand assembling the lighting to the lead producer are all an invaluable part of the team and doesn't take that for granted.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Know when too much sound is too much. Everyone love a thick full mix... but there's only so many frequencies available in specific bands to work with. Knowing when to cut back is a priceless bit of wisdom and it can make all of the difference in the world

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

A: A to Z. Working in post audio for advertising and film exposes me to nearly every Genre of music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Logistics. Seeing the path through the forest. I'm also a halfway decent musician who uses those skills to help identify issues with tracks. I understand instrumentation, sound staging, keys, sharps and flats, in tune vs out of tune... I first and foremost am a team player.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I'm a percussionist first. rhythms are my bread and butter, I see the nuances in-between all of the louder more prominent sounds. Using tools like compression,EQ, filters verbs delays etc.. I coax out those subtle nuances that really help a track come to life. Of course I massage all the other stuff too, there's just so much under the surface of a track that gets forgotten. I also produce so I can add that extra sauce it needs as well.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: First step for me is a meeting with the client. I need to know where their head is at and what their expectations are VS the reality of their ask.After having a chat I like to sit and listen to the stems as they are, getting to know the nuances of the work. It's important to know the beast you're taming before you get into the ring with it. After ive familiarized myself wit the work I lay out markers for trouble spots and really from there its more about what the project is. I could write a book going through my process for each and every scenario ive run into over the years but I'll just say this; My process is working with the client to achieve their goals, getting as close as we can to their vision.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work out of my home studio. I use both Apple and PC. My console is an Allen& Heath SQ-5 I 32 physical inputs through the use of 2 Focusrite 18i20 interfaces in addition to the SQ-5. My studio is 5.1 capable, I have Eris44 MTM stereo monitors with a T-10 Tremblo 10" Sub and for surround I have 3 Polk Audio 3.5" MTM enclosures driven with an Alto Macro830 amp. I use Ableton live 11 for production and Pro tools Ultimate 2024 for all mixing, mastering and sound design. I am remote record capable up to 48 channels and can do supervised sessions through meeting apps like Teams or Zoom.I have live tracking capabilities as well here in my studio. I affectionately call it the Q room after my Son. My mixing space is approximately 150sq' and I have a small vocal booth that can accommodate a single musician with a guitar or 2 vocalists comfortably.

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

A: For composition I lean on Hans Zimmer, Max Richter and Phillip Glass. The way they build out their music is simply inspiring to me. I also have great admiration and respect for artists like Jim Morrison, Aphex Twin, Dave Grohl, Radiohead, just to name a few.

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

A: The majority of work that I do is post audio. Mixing, sound design music composition and mastering. I work post production remotely out of Chicago and have worked on a multitude of nationally branded advertising spots.