Mastering / Mixing Engineer

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

A: For my final year project, I explored how varying the role of the mastering engineer in a production affected the quality of the final master and also mastering process across digital and physical (cassette, vinyl, CD) formats. I would master 6 songs for the project, track 1 being mixed and mastered by me, 2 being written, recorded, mixed and mastered by me, 3,4,5 being only mastered by me and 6 being written, recorded and mastered by me. All of the track varied in genre. Some feedback colleccted from professional mastering engineers Fergal Davis and Pete Maher suggested track the affect on quality was negligible, the overall mastering process took much longer on for tracks I had mixed however, due to being able to to make quick adjustments to mix. What I'm most proud of about the project however though is the cassette and the CD I made myself and also the vinyls I got made for me and some of the artists. I now know what is feels like to be able to hold music that I worked on in my hands and listen to it, which is awesome!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm currently mixing and the next 3 Innuendo releases and later mastering those too, begining mastering of a soundtrack a friend of mine made.

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

A: I saw Alex Borwick on here, he's the head engineer at Grouse Lodge in Ireland and mixed my band Innuendo's debut EP, he did a fantastic job!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both! However my mastering workflow is largely digital at home for the time being, I use hardware whenever I get the chance to.

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

A: Your songs will sound sicker!

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Making sick songs sound sicker!

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

A: Do you think this song is ready to be mastered? I normally reply, "I really like the overall vibe but it could use some minor tweaks with x and y, but it's almost there." This simple feedback can be considered the first step of the mastering process.

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

A: Mastering just makes the song really loud and compressed... :/

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Is this part of an EP or Album? Do you plan to get vinyls made? Do you have an IRSC code(s) for the track(s)?

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

A: Make sure you have "signed off" on the mix and that there isn't a limiter on the master bus (specifically brickwall limiting).

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

A: A Mac Studio, my Adam audio T7Vs, Disstressor, SM57, my Dean ML.

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

A: I have been mixing and mastering for two years and have just completed my BA in music production (2025). This is the career path I am on.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style aims to enhance what's special about a song while keeping it true to the original mix.

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

A: I would love to work with death metal band Asphyx because they have great songs and riffs and the mastering on their albums has a lot of distracting clipping distortion and I honestly think I can help them with that.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Attenuating peaks with clip gain manually is the cleanest way you can limit a track and increase its loudness without changing the tone.

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

A: I usually work on physcadelic rock, metal and electronic music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: delivering loud, clean and transparent masters.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I will bring a final sheen to your mix, enhancing its impact and loudness while remaining as undetecable as possible. It will just sound better!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I will listen to the track for the first time and make notes on everything that sticks out to me & needs to be addressed. I will then solve these issues, enhancing the track further as I go. I will bring the track to an average loudness to other track within its genre making sure to keep the processing as transparent as possible throughout before sending the master to you the client.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a M3 Macbook Pro running Pro Tools, Adam Audio T7V monitors, lots of plugins from UAD and Brainworx. I also have access to professional studios; Temple Lane and Sun studios in Temple Bar.

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

A: Hennrik Jonsson who mastered Nightmares Made Flesh by Bloodbath. Mark Lewis who mixed and mastered Havok - V.

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

A: I specialise in mastering. I will take your mix andbe the second pair of trained ears to realise its full potential wherever you may be listening to it. Not only will I bring you songs to an appropriate loudness with precision and transparency, I will also fine tune the dynamics and timbre of your track.