No longer working

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

A: The Little Simz album 'Grey Area' was made really quickly, in less than a month, and went from being what we considered as a nice collection of some really good songs to a really successful album that a large audience connected with. I was the engineer on that project and was there from the first demo tracking to the final mix.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working on a band project where a lot of the parts were recorded separately in people's houses over the course of lockdown. It's been an interesting challenge to bring it all together but I think we've done some amazing work and it's sounding really great.

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

A: I'm quite new to the platform I'm afraid so I haven't networked a lot yet, but I'm looking forward to making some new connections.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: If I had to pick one I'd say digital simply because of ease and speed of work and how that impacts creativity. Working entirely in the analogue realm can be exhausting and time consuming, not leaving enough space or energy for reaching people's full creative potential in my opinion. Having said that, I don't think I could live without a few analogue things.

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

A: I'm not going to fight you on anything or ever say no to trying anything. You're the boss and we'll try any way of doing things that you like. I may disagree with things time to time, it's only natural, but I love being proven wrong as it's the only way to learn and get better.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Probably when we figure out what the main vibe or shape of the track is, the first time we get a sense of it's final form. It's a key moment that you just feel happen sometimes and it's really satisfying because usually it's an affirmation that we've done our job well.

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

A: Well the most frequent questions are probably requests for mix revisions, which I always answer promptly with a 'can do, no problem'.

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

A: Perhaps that the key to turning a demo song into a successful recording, commercially or artistically, is giving it a really big shiny production. Firstly, not every great song needs to sound epic to become a great track, and secondly, if the song its best version of itself then there's nothing the production can do to save it.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I would probably try to find out what our common ideals are; stylistically, in terms of how we work, for what purposes we're making the music, etc. I find the most important thing when working for or with someone is to have a shared understanding of what we're aiming to achieve on all fronts.

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

A: My advice would be to either try and work out exactly what you want to end up with, or be flexible enough to be open to arriving at something unexpected. Communication can be frustrating sometimes if you aren't able to properly express what you'd like if you are after something very specific, and the thing I want most is for the client I'm working with to be satisfied with the result.

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

A: Well, with a Macbook Pro, a UAD Apollo, an AKG C414-B-ULS, some DT770s, and a pair of NS10s (with a quad amp), I could probably work forever.

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

A: I first got a job as an assistant engineer at a studio in London just over six years ago, and about a year after that I began professionally engineering in that environment. Before that, I earned a bachelors degree in music from Royal Holloway University of London.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I'd say my style of working is a juxtaposing mix of having fun but still being very serious about it. I think it's really important to enjoy the stuff you're working on and even be silly at times, creativity comes far more easily when you're relaxed, but at the same time work as though you intend to get a great finished result.

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

A: There are quite a few but I wouldn't want to jinx it by naming them here! I'd love to work with someone like Hayden Thorpe from Wild Beasts, his voice is absolutely incredible.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Instead of using lots of big long reverbs on things, often I'll use a different effect to give a phsyco-acoustic impression of a big space, an aural illusion if you will. This might be a tempo synced delay, creative adjustment of pre-delay on a smaller reverb, distorting a room sound to make it sound big, or even subtly adding a reverb to a similar sound somewhere else in the mix.

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

A: I usually work on music that's been played on real instruments or seems like it could have been played live in a room somehow. That's not to say that I don't also work on electronic material, but whatever it is usually has some foothold in the acoustic/physical realm.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I would say one of my strongest skills is using Pro Tools to edit and rejuvenate recorded material that's fallen short of its mark. Often when you capture a musical source, the short-comings of various real-world constraints mean that its quality diminishes compared to how you imagined it sonically. Over the years I've learnt many tricks and techniques that can breathe the life back into the music in these instances.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: A good production frames and represents the song as best as it can. A big part of this for me is perfectionist approach to engineering and mixing with the aim of making an excellent recording, but the most important thing is making sure that everything done is adhering to the emotional tone of the music.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Usually I will listen to a demo and try to imagine a production around it. I find if I have an idea of where things can go, then I have a sort of blueprint that I can use to start building things right away. I like to work fast, so once I have a vague plan, I aim to get it all down quickly so that there's an energy and momentum in the process.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a home studio setup in a small sound treated space in my flat in London. Here I've got my NS10s, all my instruments, guitar amps, preamps, synths, and microphone that I use to work on music.

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

A: I love the work of people like Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. He's an artist, a producer, an engineer, and a collaborator, happy to take any role to work with people and get the job done.

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

A: Most commonly I would say I produce, that is to take a song where it needs to go to be a finished recording. This often involves a bit of everything; engineering, playing, re-structuring, mixing, etc.