Producer, Recording, Mixing and Mastering engineer with an Associates degree in Commercial Music: Sound Engineering
Im offering any of my services, from production, all the way to mastering! I specialize in heavy music, but can work in just about any genre! I have worked with many local bands as well as being part of Nail the Mix, where i have reached the Top 20 in the monthly mix competitions 3 times. I can guarantee you will be happy with your final product working with me!
Tell me about your project and how I can help, through the 'Contact' button above.
Interview with Dalton Zernial
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I would say the current project for Michael Nolasco is my favorite, just because i feel I've grown as an engineer and its probably the best mixing and mastering I've done so far!
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Im currently Mixing and Mastering an EP for Michael Nolasco, as well as Mastering a full length album for a band from San Antonio, Texas!
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Im new here so I don't know!
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: I work in digital because I can't afford to work analog. But if I had a choice, and unlimited resources, I'd pick analog because nothing digital can recreate the sound you get out of analog!
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: I promise that you will be happy with the final product, or i will revise it until you are!
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I love dealing with music, it doesn't matter what genre it is. I just love music
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: How much do you charge? I answer with my current rate for the service they are asking about!
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That its easy. a lot of people think sound engineering is easy, but it takes a lot of hard work, practice, and time out of your life!
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What kind of sound are you going for? Whats your Budget? What bands influenced you? How large is the project?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Engineers are always evolving their sound, if you don't like their previous work, that doesn't mean they wouldn't do a great job working on your project!
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: My Clarett, My Laptop, a Neve 1073, an Empirical Labs Distressor, and an Audio Technica 4033,
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I have been doing this for about 3 years now. It started when i went to college to study commercial music performance. Then I found a love for audio engineering
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I try to bring a good balance of hyper-polished, but slamming heavy mixes/masters. Im not afraid to throw a little bit of saturation to dirty up a vocal track if needed.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I would love to work with After the Burial. I love their music and they are a very talented band!
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Don't worry about making everything absolutely perfect, if it sounds good, go with it, even if it may be technically wrong. Some of the coolest productions I've heard were done in TECHNICALLY wrong ways.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: I typically work on Metal, or heavy rock. but I'm also versed in radio-rock, Pop, and Hip hop as well! I also feel that if you put a production in front of me to mix, I will deliver a good final mix, no matter the genre
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: I would say my strongest skill is in Drum and Guitar mixing, those are usually the parts I'm done with fastest.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I bring extreme attention to detail, quick workflow, and well trained ears!
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: I usually import the tracks into Pro Tools or Cubase (depending on song type, track count, and what plugins i will be using for mixing/mastering) then get to work! Ill usually put down a rough mix in about 4 hours and send it to the client to get feedback, which i use to make final revisions.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I work off of a fully mobile setup that consists of a Macbook Pro, Focusrite Clarett 8PreX interface, and Adam Audio F7 studio monitors
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: David Bendeth, Josh Wilbur, Will Putney, Chris Lord-Alge, Michael Brauer, Serban Ghenea
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I typically Mix and Master songs, EPs, or Full Length albums for my clients, but I'm also willing to produce artists and engineer their recordings
I was the Mixing and Mastering Engineer in this production
- Mixing EngineerAverage price - $300 per song
- Mastering EngineerAverage price - $50 per song
- Recording StudioContact for pricing
- ProducerAverage price - $200 per song
- Vocal TuningAverage price - $40 per track
- Vocal compingAverage price - $40 per track
I require a 40% non-refundable deposit before starting any work. This deposit will count toward your final bill. I allow up to 5 mixing revisions and 3 mastering revisions.
- Adam Audio Studio Monitors
- Focusrite Clarett Interface
- Pro Tools 12
- Cubase Pro 9