Andy De Rosa on SoundBetter

Established, client focused Mastering Engineer with dedicated focus on Rock, Blues/Blues Rock, Southern Rock, Country Rock/Country, Folk Rock & Americana. I provide a very personal service to my clients, not transactional. I act as their trusted advisor and the final polisher for their art.

I am an established and recognised Mastering Engineer who specialises in niche genres. I have over 4 decades of experience in Rock, Blues, Country and sub-genres.

My expertise is in knowing how these genres need to sound. I have spent decades as a listener and live musician first, then turned into engineering further down the line and started my own mastering company, Wave Mastering LTD based in the UK, providing unparalleled mastering quality to award-winning artists.

I provide consultative mastering services, which means you pay for my dedication and sparring partnership and you will never be treated as just any another transactional service. I will build rapport with you as an artist, and nurture your current and future music mastering needs.

Beside my mastering services, I also provide freelance services where I am able to provide professionally tracked guitars (particularly slide guitars), bass and lap steel for your special productions.

Get in touch today to discuss your current needs. I'll be waiting to hear from you!

Tell me about your project and how I can help, through the 'Contact' button above.

Credits

Languages

English

Endorse Andy De Rosa7 Reviews

by Tamanie Dove
Andy is an absolute pleasure to work with — professional, responsive, and genuinely passionate about the craft. His mix was warm, balanced, and full of life, elevating the song beautifully while respecting its natural dynamics. I truly appreciated his attention to detail and communication throughout the process. Highly recommend him to anyone looking for a top-notch engineer who truly cares about the music!
by Kristen S.
Andy went far above and beyond my expectations mastering my rock single. Not only was the master very high quality, he did a very detailed analysis of my mix before he even started the job and gave me some suggestions and areas to improve my mix. As an artist who does the production and mixing myself, this is invaluable to me! Andy is truly passionate about his craft and he will work with you to achieve your vision and the best results possible, whether you are an independent musician, or a signed label. I am excited to work with Andy on future projects and highly recommend him!
by Kristen S.
Andy went far above and beyond my expectations mastering my rock single. Not only was the master very high quality, he did a very detailed analysis of my mix before he even started the job and gave me some suggestions and areas to improve my mix. As an artist who does the production and mixing myself, this is invaluable to me! Andy is truly passionate about his craft and he will work with you to achieve your vision and the best results possible, whether you are an independent musician, or a signed label. I am excited to work with Andy on future projects and highly recommend him!
by Ruffdog Elliott
Andy has worked on my songs as a Mastering engineer and always does a superb top quality job.
I know my music is in safe hands with Andy, that means a lot, after putting so much work into yhe music, you need someone who can hear your vision, who can understand what you are trying to achieve and deliver the very best, your work deserves no less.
Andy is my go to Mastering Engineer and I highly recommend him if you are looking for professionalism and quality then look no further.
by Macko grimmer
If anyone is looking for a high quality sounding record, look no further. Andy's attention to detail is second to none. He's also as passionate about his field in mixing and engineering as I am about writing songs and performing, which in my opinion is what you should look for when working with anyone involved with your projects. Andy always delivers such an amazing sound, I'm always excited to work with him because I know the outcome is gonna be nothing short of awesome and professional. I highly recommend him.
by Helena Mace
Andy has put his magic touch to many of my tracks with his fantastic instrumentation and slick Mastering skills. He will be on my more to come. I can not recommend him enough
by Paul Jupe
I am so pleased to have Andy working on my songs as a musician and mastering engineer. To work with someone so professional in his work is inspiring.

Interview with Andy De Rosa

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I have recently mastered Helena Mace's latest album (Helena is a award-winning, iTunes topping UK Country artist). This is the third record I have mastered for her. I have also played on 8 out of 10 song on that album. So, I have been a musician and a mastering engineer on what is going to be her best album to date. So, I am definitely vested in this release!
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: New projects are coming in all the time and involve vinyl mastering. That is my utter most enjoyable delivery format to work for.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Besides myself? No ;) (tongue in cheek!)
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both. Could I be totally ITB (in-the-box)? Sure. But once you have analogue gear you won't look back. So a hybrid setup is what serves me and my clients best.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: My job is never done and I never close off a project until it's done.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Working in music full time allows me to be who I was born to be. That will be it!
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: How do I pay you? That's the sign of a satisfied client.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That we can be replaced by AI Mastering. Forget it, it isn't true.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: Mostly about what the project vision is and timescales. Budget matters but that's always the last thing I ask them about.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: If you want a boutique treatment, you have people like me who will serve you well, but we are few. We may cost a little more but you won't ask us for revisions, If you want generalists, go ahead. There are tonnes out there and you will probably spend a lot of time questioning if they really understood you.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: 1) My ex-BBC studios LL-76's transformers 2) my TK-Lizer Baxandall EQ 3) my Victor Custom Workshop Studio Saturator unit 4) my BC1 Compressor, 5) my Gibson LP Standard. The rest can all be replaced.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I have over 40 years experience in Blues-Rock. From an engineering perspective I have been doing it on an off for half of that time. In the last 5 years I have been working full time in engineering and freelancing.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Attentive, respectful and tasty.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I'd love to work with Blackberry Smoke one day. I absolutely love their music and would be a true honour to master their future work.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Sure: nowadays, you don't need to spend a fortune on plugins. Any home producer that has been there and learned their lessons, can get excellent mixes done using stock plugins. All DAWs include workable plugins for free. Learn about what they do and master their full capabilities before reaching out for your wallet!
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Intentionally I operate almost uniquely in Rock, Blues and Country and sub-genres. I have worked with other music genres too, but I cannot claim to be an expert. Hence I leave that to those who get those genres. I stay true to my musical background, that I can claim I know incredibly well. Of course this limits my income, but I truly want to enjoy the work that I do and there's nothing worse than spending a whole day mastering an album of music you detest! Life's too short to be doing tedious work!
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Listening attentively and respecting the artist's vision.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I bring attentiveness and enhancements that bring out the best from the musical piece.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: For me it all starts with attentively listening to their "final mixes", which often turn an eyebrow up or two! I am not referring to mixing skills or who is mixing. I have received better final mixes from self-producing artists and bands than professional mixing engineers. I listen and I embed myself into their production, using my incredibly trained ears to pick anything that I can point them back to and address in the mix. 99% of the time, that elevates the music to its full potential. Sometimes though you know you are at the end of the road, like in situations where the mix cannot be accessed anymore, in which case, you do your best to optimise what they can supply. Once I get the gist of what they are about, I then plan how I will sculpt their sound. My typical approach is to run the mixes through my outboard gear and get them to be infused in all the good harmonics and taming transients through analogue processors. I then apply mastering EQ and enhance the low end, and the high end. The prints are then mounted in the digital domain for final treatment and levels.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: My studio is a hybrid setup. I have several unique analogue outboard pieces that sculpt my signature sound. But equally, I serve my clients with the flexibility and convenience of the digital realm to complete their releases.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: I am truly inspired by a roster of blues-rock, country-rock, Americana artists whose roots lie firmly in the 1970's sound. Modern artists who embrace the sound of a bygone era. That is what inspires me: way before Autotune, project recalls where on your fingertips. Where true artistry shines, it doesn't need to be perfect, it needs to move you.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I mostly work as a mastering engineer. That is my main occupation, but I also double in production and freelancing as a musician on others' music work.