Mixing, Mastering

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

A: A live jazz album. I'm the primary post production engineer. It was recorded live in a Rubik's cube of a room with a single stereo mic but despite that I have been able to use cutting edge audio software and technology to massively improve the sound a lot more than I originally thought possible.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A live jazz album. It's going to be quite cool.

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

A: Nope. I'm new here.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital. There are two cases where I'd give analog the win, it's more fun to work with, and if you're going for a very specific sound that a piece of analog gear creates then you should use the real gear because no digital re creation is perfect. In every other category digital wins. Versatility, attention to detail, maximum size of project, precision, variety of effects and sounds, reliability, cost, accuracy, time efficiency, etc. However, what matters most is the engineer behind the gear. A skilled engineer can get fantastic results on either. Choose your engineer based on their skills not their gear.

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

A: I will not sacrifice quality. I will rebel against the trend of sacrificing craftsmanship and quality in the name of expedience.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Music is pretty awesome and sculpting it to perfection with nerdy tools is very rewarding.

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

A: Hopefully I'm about to find out.

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

A: Analog sound. It's a buzzword used mostly for marketing purposes. From what I've gathered it usually refers to a low frequency bias mix or "warm sound" with a good amount of saturation. Digital can easily do that too. Analog gear can also make a very cold and analytical sounding mix which people usually associate with digital. It all depends on how the engineer crafts the sound.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is your vision for your music? How do you want the listener to feel? Are there any specific effects you want? What pre existing songs are you drawing inspiration from?

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

A: Be decisive, know what you want, and don't be afraid to ask questions.

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

A: Generator for electricity, computer, headphones, interface, quality stereo condenser mic. With a computer I have access to all the plugins and effects I'll ever need so it's kind of a loophole.

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

A: Started out running sound for a church, I have some sporadic local audio work, and am currently the top student at an audio engineering school. I'm attempting to get an audio career off the ground so I don't have to continue working dead end jobs. I started my audio journey about two years ago.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: By default I aim for a natural, full, clear, larger than life sound, however, I mix and master different genres differently. Heavy metal should sound quite different than smooth jazz for example. I can also change my style according to your preferences.

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

A: Dream Theater. They're my favorite band but I've never been too impressed with the audio engineering. There's more untapped potential in there. Although their newest album Parasomnia was done quite well.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Be very careful who you take advice from. There are a lot of confident morons and snake oil salesman out there. Dan Worrall is good. Also Pro Tools is mediocre, Reaper is king.

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

A: Rock, jazz, metal.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My ear. I can pick up on very fine details and fix very subtle problems.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Great tools and a discerning ear.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Listen to some reference tracks to calibrate my ear, edit for a while, take a break to reset my ear, repeat until it's ready for revisions from the artist.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Humble beginnings, laptop, headphones, and great software with occasional access to real studios. However, the engineer is far more important than gear itself.

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

A: My excellent teachers from audio school and various songs that are engineered wonderfully.

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

A: I'm just starting out my career so I don't have a most common type of work.