Mixing and mastering engineer

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

A: I'm new here, so nope not yet!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital for almost everything but saturation. Digital allows us to be more precise, more exacting and more interesting, but digital saturation still (largely) sounds very clinical, too repetitious on the ears, meaning it can sound boring more quickly. That's why I use analog distortion in my signal chains wherever appropriate: the addition of smeared upper harmonics is so delicious!

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

A: That everything that comes through my door sounds significantly better when it goes back out.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Everything that comes through my door sounds better when it goes back out: I'm literally improving the quality of the music in the world, bit by bit.

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

A: They honestly don't ask much: I am good enough at what I do that they rarely ask questions.

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

A: That I was born knowing this stuff!!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is it you want from my work? What do you want the end result to make you feel?

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

A: Know what you want, have a reference in mind, be bold, trust the artist in yourself, be decisive.

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

A: My Genelec monitors, my laptop, my Universal Audio interface, my telecaster with hot rails in it and my Rode NT1.

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

A: Went to university to study classical music with 0 training and 0 instrumental skill beyond teenagery guitar work, because I was deeply interested in how music worked (still am), and as way to rebel against my punk rock mum and hells angel dad. Finished uni, had no access to string quartets anymore so taught myself how to use Ableton. Started a record label, got good at electronic music, took a few breaks to care for my dad before he passed away, and now I'm trying to make a go of going full-time, between this and being given an award to record my debut album!

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Esoteric but make it commercial.

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

A: Lanark Artefax just because that sound design is IMPECCABLE.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Train your ears!

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

A: Experimental electronic dance music, but I've also worked with ethereal electronic pop, doom metal, black metal, noise, ambient, and dub too.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Musical sensitivity culled from years of classical music training, running a record label, music theory and analysis at postgraduate level, and a lot of trial and error.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: A sensitivity and a taste for maximalism.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Analysis, planning, execution, checking with client, revise as necessary. For mixing it's usually: levels, effects, balancing the tonality for musical contouring, panning/spatialization, compression where needed, EQ. Mastering is more: corrective EQ, tonal EQ, saturation, more corrective EQ, compression, clipping, limiting, generally as much or as little as needed on all fronts.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Small but sound treated home studio, Genelec 8020D monitors plus an array of headphones for checking playback. My outboard gear is largely geared towards production, but I have a massive array of pedal FX.

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

A: I love goth music, experimental mental, contemporary classical music, drone: the weird and the eerie.

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

A: Mostly mixing and mastering work, some editing and sound design where necessary too.