Metal Mixing / Mastering

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

A: In my previous band, and my first mixing project. It was a 3 song EP, and it was kinda a deep dive for me, because it was my first serious project. As feedback it turned out really good, and I'm proud of that because it was kinda mixing 3 songs at once, and I learned a ton out of that.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working with a friend of mine with his solo project (Mixing/mastering), and I also work on my project as well, a metalcore band, where I will do the mixing part as well as play in it.

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

A: This question is not really suited to me sadly, because I'm new to SoundBetter.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: A golden middleroad. I love digital because of the flexibility ease of access, and I work on mostly digital stuff anyways. However, the sound of analog is undeniable, and I like it also, so I try to sprinkle that in here and there with emulations, because I don't have any hardware stuff.

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

A: Even though it's up to version V5, and I don't have big status symbols, I will make sure it won't exceed above 5, and focus extra carefully on communication, and ultimately what the client wants out of it.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: As a musician I noticed a lot of similarities in creativity in mixing, especially in like automations, post production stuff. These things make certain parts of the song pop out more, or others less, and I love that kind of thinking.

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

A: How fast can I make a version? I would say 2-5 days to version 1, but sometimes life happens, and depends on the project also.

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

A: I can't make anything sound great and amazing. In mixing there is so much you can do. You can make thousand edits, polishing, but a bad recording's flaws will always be there no matter what.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Anything that could help in my workflow, for example clarifying something at a revision so I can pinpoint what is needed to be modified exactly, or at the beginning about the song, what's the tempo, what genre etc.

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

A: We do mistakes sometimes too, we are human just like you. Proper communication from both parties is advised for the desired end-result.

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

A: Acoustic guitar for the nights, some long range radio transmitter to send messages, some power supply for the transmitter, Solar panels for rechargability, and a laptop.

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

A: I'm in the music industry for 6 years, but I started mixing about 2 years ago. I've had multiple occasions where the communication with the engineer wasn't really that good with my band, and the end result wasn't that good because of it, so I made a decision to take it upon myself, and I love it ever since.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I'm all for clarity, and making things pop out where they should be, and make aggressive moves where it's needed.

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

A: Christoph Wieczorek from Sawdust Recording/Annisokay. The fact that he is leading a successful metalcore band and does mixing/mastering on the side is really inspiring to me!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Never say "the mix will fix it later"! Mixing process can elevate a great song to amazing, but with bad recordings mixing can do so much. So make sure to get killer recording takes!

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

A: I usually work on Metal/Rock projects, anything that has guitar, acoustic instruments, but I'm not unfamiliar with some electronic music too.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Patience and communication! Also my works tend to be clearer in the midrange area, that's because of my setup.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I try not to add to many things besides making the best possible sound of the track unless specifically asked to, because ultimately is not my song. If I hear an opportunity I put my thing here and there, but I revise with the client to leave it in there or not.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I'll communicate down what is the vision and goal of the track, then I'll do some necessary editing before mixing, and then I start mixing. I send a version after a whole picture is done.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I use a pair of Focal Audio Alpha evo 50 studio monitors, and for headphones Audio Technica ATH-M40x. I also have some acoustic treatment, to maximize my mixing process. Occasionally, I do some mixing on a low cost Skullcandy headphones, so I can make sure it translates to every device, since a lot of people listens to music on a pair of Airpods.

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

A: I take huge inspiration from Sean Long(While She Sleeps) due to his amazing guitar skills and out of the box thinking, but for production I have to say Joey Sturgis and Buster Odeholm, they were a huge help to jumpstart my mixing career.

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

A: I generally mix raw tracks that either I recorded with the client locally, or they did, and just sent me the tracks. I also do editing tracks, such as guitars, vocals, drums, etc.