Mix & Mastering Engineer

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

A: The first one I took care of from start to finish. It's not absolutely my best work, I'm almost ashamed to say what it is, but it was the project that made me go from being a producer tired of the routine to being a mixer passionate about his profession.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A folk song by a singer-songwriter and an RnB production by a singer who is going to make a lot of noise...

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

A: Anyone recommended by their customers. A satisfied customer is the best business card.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Analog for recording, digital for mixing. Actually, the correct answer would be "analog for everything", but given the frequent need to recall every time we reopen a project in an industry where more and more people are involved in the projects and even changes in the lyrics or music are required when the work is already finished, featurings with new artists, remixes... it becomes essential to work ITB, but it's great to be able to offer high quality equipment to clients who want it.

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

A: 100% satisfaction guaranteed. No small thing...

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I get to be transparent when needed and change and influence the final result when my clients want me to.

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

A: Some new customers, tired of encountering poorly trained engineers, are concerned about how many revisions to their mixes they will be able to make if they are not happy with the result. My answer is always the same: as many as necessary... although they are never necessary because for me, communication between us is vital and because my goal is to achieve their objectives.

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

A: I believe that an engineer should never put himself ahead of the client, the artist or the song. Ego has no place in that relationship.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What are your references? What final sound did you think of while composing your music? What band, what artist, what record do you dream of sounding like?

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

A: Love and work your music as only you can and trust an engineer whose only goal is to collaborate with you to show it to the rest of the world.

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

A: Guitar, MacBook, Lynx Aurora, BAE 1073, Flea M49. And Electric generator XD.

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

A: In the 90's, after several years raised between Hip Hop and Flamenco, I started playing flamenco guitar in different bands, in flamenco tablaos, cultural centers and theaters. Over the years of study and training in the different facets of the artistic side of this industry, I came across the need to improve my sound as a producer and arranger. Then, without thinking that this need was going to become a passion, I started training as a Mixing and Mastering Engineer in different schools with great mixing technicians and mastering specialists in the United States and Spain, especially by my teacher, David "The Mars Citizen", who is probably today the best mixer in Spain and around the Latin world.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Transparency, creativity, luxurious.

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

A: Vicente Amigo. Simply the best.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: As a mixing technician and mastering specialist, I want to help you, always at the service of your songs, to take that extra step, that extra gear that makes the difference between an amateur sound and a professional sound, without mysteries, without stories, without the magic chain of plugins that someone on YouTube made fashionable last week.

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

A: Since the 90's, I have worked with all types of clients: singer-songwriters, solo artists, bands, producers, beatmakers, other mixers looking for that sweet spot that a good Mastering specialist gives to their mixes, and with all styles of music you can imagine: from Rap, to Rock; from Pop, to Jazz, Blues or Country, through the particular folklore of different countries, especially Spain and Latin America, especially Flamenco; from voiceovers and music for soundtracks, advertising, podcast, radio, film, television and video games, to Trap, Drill, Reggaeton and all urban music, EDM, electronic music, Dance, Techno, and a long etcetera.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: As a mixing technician and mastering specialist, I want to help you, always at the service of your songs, to take that extra step, that extra gear that makes the difference between an amateur sound and a professional sound, without mysteries, without stories, without the magic chain of plugins that someone on YouTube made fashionable last week. Each song is a world created in the head and heart of one or several people and deserves to be treated as what it is: a unique work of art, not just another piece in an assembly line. Whether it is a mainstream style, or a more experimental style, copy-paste is useless, magic formulas from who knows where are useless, you have to treat the song as that song needs, process it in its right measure to take it to that sweet and unbeatable point that you never dreamed of when you wrote the first verse, the first chord.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Sometimes it's a small tweak; other times it is a lot of technical details, edits, automations, plugins and analog equipment put at the service of that work, that song or that record that an artist, a band, a producer, a musician or a beatmaker who has worked hard, putting the best of himself, looking in the mixing and mastering for that improvement, that extra point that takes your music to be played on the radio, streaming platforms, CD, vinyl, or any of the many formats in which we can enjoy music with the assurance that, now we have a fully finished product, competitive, in industry standards, of the genre, so that you get, after all, a REAL professional result.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Gain Staging, Edit, Ear References, Mix... and Magic!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Full ITB (Avid Pro Tools, Mac M2, ATH-ADT5000).

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

A: Serban Ghenea, John Haynes, David "The Mars Citizen", Manny Marroquin, Vicente Amigo, Paco de Lucía, Antonio Rey, Diego del Morao, Violadores del Verso, Tote King, Kase.O, Juan Carlos Aragón, Imagine Dragons, Mayte Martín...

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

A: Since the 90's, I have worked with all types of clients: singer-songwriters, solo artists, bands, producers, beatmakers, other mixers looking for that sweet spot that a good Mastering specialist gives to their mixes, and with all styles of music you can imagine: from Rap, to Rock; from Pop, to Jazz, Blues or Country, through the particular folklore of different countries, especially Spain and Latin America, especially Flamenco; from voiceovers and music for soundtracks, advertising, podcast, radio, film, television and video games, to Trap, Drill, Reggaeton and all urban music, EDM, electronic music, Dance, Techno, and a long etcetera.