Mastering Engineer

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

A: No I don't think I know anybody else from the people that are on this plattform. I'm sure there a ton of awesome humans being, but unfortunately I can't recommend people that I don't know or whose work I don't know.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: When I'm getting a perfectly organized package of files for mastering, which rarely happens :D Working on great music and great mixes. Helping artists and producers to bring their ideas to light. Receiving heartwarming feedback from the artists/labels. Working in the environment that I created for myself and working for my own goals and dreams.

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

A: -Can you make a free mastering sample ? "Yes I will definitely do that." -Will you let me know if anything is wrong in the mix ? And I answer, "Yes of course I will. I see that as my duty so that we can get the finest result possible." -I have this new mix, could you run this through your mastering again ? "Right on, let's do it."

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

A: The idea that I can make something sound like it comes from a specific label when the original is nowhere near that sound. Or in a broader sense, the idea that "mastering can fix this".

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Do you want a free mastering sample ? How did you find me and what is your plan? What kind of loudness are we striving for? Are we free to maintain a healthy amount of dynamic in the music? Do you have references or any specific requirements for me. What are the release medium/platforms ?

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

A: Bjork and Trentemöller as two beautiful examples, because despite of the style of the song or track, very often they contain emotions and in mastering it is good to ask, "Can I help bring out the artists intention better?". And that is a great challange which I love a lot. I also simply adore some of their works !!!

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

A: "You are the hero in this story, we are your sidekick, we make you shine the brightest you can!" :)

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

A: A few years ago I mastered the heavy metal project of an electronic music producer, to whom I have looked up to in my early years of music production. The Band is called "Thokkian Vortex", he and his band members have been very happy with what I have done and that meant a lot to me. I also mastered "The Cabarats - The Cat Is Out Of The Bag" (UK // Reggae-Folk) and because those guys are friends' friends and they loved it so much, that project also holds a special place in my heart.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm constantly working on some random things for a media company. Editing audio, specific processing of dj mixes, etc. I'll be going right back to that after this "interview". At the moment, in my little spare time, I'm building acoustic resonators with a friend, for his home studio.

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

A: Helge Schneider, Miles Davis, Dave Grohl,Trentemöller, Ian Shepherd, Andrew Scheps, Sensient, Ben Rama, MNGRM, Nikroma, Kromagon, Chris Graham

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: It's a rented room, with a professional studio setup inside. Architectural changes, acoustic treatment plus high quality tools for my own productions and mastering/audio editing. I'm working 80% in the box and a slight bit in the analog world. My Drawmer 1978 is pure gold to me. Also, and this works surprisingly well, I actually share a Tegeler Audio Manufaktur Crème with my neighbor studio.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I don't think that question makes sense. Analog for a signature sound, if you can have it, and digital for an extremely precise and surgical work. Digital equipment also makes things so much easier in terms of saving and recalling setups. So definitely both !!!

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

A: Make sure to ask/speak about anything that gives you doubts. A lack of communication can cause a less result. And because this is so important, go with somebody that give you a good feeling in terms of the sound and the communication.

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

A: besides my family, which aren't gear ;) ...just any Guitar (+recording equipment), computer with Ableton, Push, my speakers and access to internet...so that I could keep on keeping on

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

A: A bit of a stretch here but I started spinning vinyls and CDs in 1997 and started creating (bad) music in 2000. I got better and better, that's normally how it goes when you seek greatness. In 2007 I started releasing music and playing my solo live projects at club gigs and festivals, all around this fine planet. I started my own label in late 2009 and then needed mastering. I knew I had some skills and I decide to do all the mastering for my label. It worked well and very soon I began to realize that I had real potential, especially through my principle to work in conjunction with the cumstomer (and their ideas) instead of delivering only what I thought was right. Lots of people in this industry learn how to use their gear but when it comes to communication, intuition and tact, lots of engineers lack these things. So I started mastering for my label in early 2010, and early on for others as well, and I have done very very much of it to this day, in fact it became my main occupation. The message spread by word of mouth, I wasn't really good at promoting that business back then. But I was deeply rooted in a scene that appreciated and needed my service.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Very communicative, absoultely professional and focused on the artists intention.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I can't stress this enough, try to learn how compression really works and what it's supposed to do. As for the actual production tip that relates to this: Before you run something through your compressor, make sure you have cleaned your audio from resonances before. That means reducing or cutting parts of the audio material, that are "ringing" or sound annoying or simply don't need to be there (like for example too much low end content in a lead instrument that interferes with your other low elements). You can clean your material before it runs into the compressor by means of equalization. If you don't do that, those "bad" or unnecessary parts can effect how your compressor works. But if you learned how to do compression and what it can achieve, you will realize that you want to compress a clean signal, a signal that won't let your compressor react to some resonances somwhere in the frequency spectrum. Think of it this way, the cleaner the signal before compression, the cleaner it can sound after compression. And apply this to a lot more things in life as: The better the preparation is, the better the outcome can be.

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

A: Techno, Psytrance and things in between, also EDM, GlitchHop, Psybreaks. Also Folk and Rock and HipHop through specific long time clients.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Appropriate communication about a mix, "mixing mistakes" and general things like good file names !!! Also technical EQing (getting rid of resonances) and musical EQing to make a song shine. Another strong skill if required: actually maintaining dynamic range :)

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Absolute focus on the artists, their musical creations and their goals. Mastering has to imply that ! And it also has to imply a focus on communication with the artist and the label, if need be. The optimal master has only been achieved when all sides involved are happy with it. I also understand that mastering is not about me, there's no room for the engineers ego in great mastering ! And there we come back to the optimum - it's about a great result for a client. To me, that principle has to be worth so much more than simply printing my own vision and fingerprint on a song, no matter what. That is utter nonense but it's often done that way. Other than that I bring experience (180 releases mastered until fall 2018 and countless "just for fun"-demos).

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I receive files, they go into pre-editing where file formats are checked, word length, sample rate, peak levels are checked and adjusted if necessary, any dc offset gets removed. Then the different stages of the mastering processing start: technical EQing, peak control, potential coloration, musical EQing, all with mid and side signals separated, which allows me to create a very signature stereo presence and feel in a song. And eventually the limitation takes place. After that severals checks through meters, level meters and analyzers happen. This gets switched off for the export. The files go into the post editing stage where, dependent on where they have to go, get arranged, cut, dithered, etc. Finally the first version or a revision goes back to the client...et voilà.

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

A: Mastering