Artist, Engineer, Producer

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: My next project.

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

A: Honestly don't know.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: As a engineer you take someone else work and with a new perspective and fresh ears you can make the record sound amazing. Make the client surprised about how good they song sound now. Plus as a engineer you learn something new everyday because every mix is different.

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

A: I mixed one of my first mixtapes on my own. It sounded bad but that was the first step to improving. I would play my mixtape next to others and it forced me to improve my skills and create better mixes to compete with competition.

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

A: Glenn Schick, Chris 'Von Pimpenstein' Carter, Joe Zarillo, MixedbyJordan.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both, I don't like being 100% digital in my mixes. If I can use analog processing, I will.

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

A: I promise I'm not an automated robot that just run your music through presets.

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

A: A question I'm always asked is if is mixing hard. I say no. Learn the basic rules of mixing and then break them. Sounds easy to me.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Be clear about what you services you need done and if you're not sure ask me questions. I'm here to help you get a great sounding project out.

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

A: Be realistic about results. As a engineer we take what clients give us and enhance it. 9 times of out 10 to your ears you won't sound like your favorite artist and that's not a bad thing. So be realistic.

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

A: Only 5 pieces of gear, well I would take a U87, TubeTech Cl1b, SSL desk, 1176 and 1073.

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

A: My career path is to be an artist, engineer, writer and business owner. I've been doing the first 3 since the age of 13. I actually been writing since elementary but that's another story for another day.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: It's a Vibe.

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

A: J. Cole. I chose him because I've met him once and he was very inspirational. Great artist and he's very involved in the mixing/mastering process of his music.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Louder is not better.

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

A: Hip-Hop, Rap, Pop, R&B.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Work ethic.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring a different fresh perceptive to a song. When I mix records, I usually ask a client if they want me to be extra creative on the mix and add what I think will make it pop. I make whatever view the client has for the song clear a precise.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I could tell you a typical work process but every song is different and has different needs. If its a split track mix I usually start on the bass and kick relationship and go from there.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I use Pro Tools as a DAW. I have a mic setup for personal use. I run vocals through a BAE 1073MP and then convert the audio through an Universal Audio Apollo Twin. When mixing, on top of the many great emulated plugins I use I also own two hardware compressors I use for mixing vocals. Mastering is all ITB.

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

A: Ryan Leslie, Fabian Marasciullo, Glenn Schick, MixedbyAli, Juro Mez, Noah "40" Shebib.

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

A: I mix records for artists, both 2-track and multi track sessions. I also offer *rough* mastering. I am not a mastering engineer but I've had to master many mixtapes for release.