Mixing and Music Production

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

A: That I pay attention to every little detail, I will guide them and work collaboratively to make their song shine.

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

A: Listen to as many of their samples you can find. Bring the best quality recording possible.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Which artists do they aim to sound alike either as a whole or specifically for each instrument.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: It enables me create something unique every day and I get a lot of satisfaction when people get enthusiastic while listening to my work.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: When creating a loop song from a progression that you want to achieve a nice and creative build-up, add as many instruments/sounds you need in a 2/4 bar progression and loop that for 3 minutes or so. Then start subtracting instruments during verses while reserving some for pre-chorus or other important sections. Keep in mind choruses can be arranged differently each time.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I listen to the recorded track a few times and try to understand what is the edge of the song and what requires more particular attention. Then I do all the necessary editing, noise clean-up and fixing timing issues. I’ll start mixing the drums, bass, lead vocals (or instrument), guitars, keyboards, FX (instruments of less important role in the track). My favourite tool to start mixing is EQ as I use it to reserve room for each instrument to be heard in the mix. I will listen to the track from different perspectives including laptop speakers, car stereo etc. Once I finish the first mix I’d like to have a list of comments from my client with the good and bad elements. After discussing those, we work together until the end result is close enough to perfection!

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

A: Mac, audio interface, guitar, bass and monitors.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Hardware: Macbook Pro, Apollo Twin, Twin Finity 710, Focal SM6, Kemper Rack, Bayer Dynamic DT 770 Pro. Software/Plugins: Pro tools 12, Universal Audio, Waves, Fabfilter, Native Instruments, Plugin Aliance

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

A: A song I originally wrote - and recorded & produced with my band, took 1st place in a regional songwriting contest with a 10K euro prize.

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

A: Rock, pop-rock, hard rock, alternative, indie and singer-songwriter.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Patience and ability to choose from a wide range of similar instruments, the sound to make a song stand out.

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

A: Within Temptation. I get a lot of inspiration from their great guitar riffs, unique vocal melodies, epic arrangements, rich productions and their solid sound.

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

A: Breaking Benjamin, Within Temptation, Evanescence, Three Days Grace, 30 Seconds to Mars, Adele, Christina Perry, The Killers, Paramore, Asking Alexandria, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Metallica, Dream Theater.

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

A: I arrange, produce, mix and master their tracks.