Young Indie/Alternative Producer and Mix Engineer. Easy to work with, timely, and collaborative. “Ellis made suggestions throughout, and was patient with feedback and revisions. Ellis could interpret what I said in terms of feel and apply techniques to capture that sound. The mix is professional quality!” - Trevor McMorran of Baba Chaka.
I am a young producer and mix engineer working with primarily indie/alternative rock artists, and singer-songwriters. I've worked with many artists local to me, but being in a smaller city I am looking for more remote work with a wider range of artists.
I started out by recording demos for the various bands I've been a part of, and recording my own music. Wanting to elevate my skills in order to record and mix my own music at a higher level, I started taking audio production lessons with Justin Lapointe of Barnhouse Sound Productions. Through doing those lessons I learnt that I really love audio production and wanted to turn it into a career. I started to record some local bands, and offered mixing services. As I was doing that, I became an intern at Barnhouse Sound Productions, getting to sit in on real recording and mixing sessions. I helped setting up mics and patches, repairing instruments, and got to learn much more about how proper recording and mixing is really done.
I continued to produce, record and mix artists on my own outside my internship, and my skills continued to grow with every new project that I worked on. Through all of this, I've learnt that the most important part of the job is working with people, and trying to foster an environment where everyone feels free to truly express themselves.
Send me a note through the contact button above.
Credits
Interview with Ellis Frank
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: Deactivate is a song I produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by a local band called Baba Chaka. I'm very happy with all the sounds we got, and how they all come together so well in this song. During the production of this song and the whole album that it will be included on, their bass player had to leave the band, so I took up the responsibility of bass guitar for them. I'm very proud of the bass line that I wrote, and my performance of it on the song. One particular highlight for me was a sound effect we created and is featured in the second verse. It was created by just placing my finger on the end of a patch cable plugged into a DI box. It was then heavily distorted and pitch shifted to match the bass line at that point in the song. It adds some progression and excitement to the second verse of the song.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I'm working on producing 4 projects at the moment. Two are in the mixing stage, and two are in the tracking stage. One of them is a modern rock duo recording their first EP. They're recording bass, guitar and vocals themselves and hiring a session drummer who's a friend of mine. 2 are singer-songwriters, and I am playing most of the instruments on those tracks besides the drums. We've hired session drummers for those projects. The last one is another singer-songwriter who did a lot of the song with another producer who moved away, and then she hired me to add some additional instrument, record vocals, and mix and master the song.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: I believe I've seen Andrew Scheps on here. If you have the budget, Andrew Scheps is an extremely accompished and great mixing engineer.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Analog for tracking, digital for mixes. Even the top most accomplished mix engineers need to recall their mixes for revisions. If you are mixing analog, you need to write down the position of every knob on the console (unless you have one of the very fancy consoles with full motorized session recall), and every single parameter on every piece of outboard gear used. If you need to do a revision to the mix, you need to recall all of that. Especially when it comes to remote mixing where you were not involved in the production/recording side of things, mix revisions are a necessity. When it comes to tracking, analog gear is fantastic. If I have the option, I will almost always opt to use a hardware compressor or EQ while tracking (if the source audio needs compression or EQ). You are committing to the sound that the hardware is imparting, and never need to recall it again, because it is printed like that. When it comes to tape, I can see there being value in it, but that being said, I have not worked with tape while recording. As far as I can tell, the benefits of tape come mostly from the workflow and limitations of it. You can't record 20 vocal takes and comp every line if you're recording on a 24 track tape machine. That limitation can lead to capturing performances that are more natural and often more vulnerable. That being said, there's also value in having the ability to record 20 takes to comp from. Sometimes that ultra perfected sound is what a song needs. It's all variable, and depends on the project and your goals. It's all just tools that do different things and make you work in different ways. To me there's no analog vs digital debate, there's just the question of "what tools would help us best accomplish our goals with this project".
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: A good mix.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: An SM57, another SM57, a third SM57, one more SM57 for good measure, and an xlr male to TRS cable because venues never seem to have them, and yet they have XLR returns on their snake, but the monitor sends are TRS outputs.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: My style of mixing is based on listening, analyzing, and then acting. What is the emotional intent of the song, and how can I serve that? On the more technical side, I might hear that there is a certain muddiness or a lack of definition between parts, so I will listen and analyze to figure out what is causing this, then use the tools at my disposal to solve that problem.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I would love to work with Black Country, New Road. They make beautiful indie/progressive chamber rock. They are the sort of group where the production is based on just capturing the group playing together. They have such a connection and energy when they play together.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Levels/Balance is the most important part of a mix, and especially the balance across the whole song. If you are not using volume automation, you are not mixing.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Indie/Alternative Rock
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: For mixing, I typically start with the kick, snare and bass, getting the 3 to work well together, then I'll add all the other elements individually trying to get each new track to work with what's there, as well as adjusting what's already there to get it to work with each new track as it is added. Once I have a static mix (that is a mix that has no automation on it) I will listen to it on several different playback systems (such as car speakers, home stereo, airpods, headphones), taking any notes of changes that need to be made. Once I am happy with the static mix, I will turn it into a dynamic mix, through volume automation, pan automation, and automation of plugin parameters if needed. I will go through and mix each section of the song separately, aiming to highlight what needs to be highlighted in that section, and putting things into a background supportive role if they don't need to be highlighted. Once I'm done with the dynamic mix, I will again listen to it on multiple playback systems, taking notes of any changes that need to be made. Once I'm able to listen to the mix on multiple playback systems without having any notes, then the mix is done. What a lot of beginner mix engineers get wrong is that they don't understand the importance of a mix that changes, sometimes drastically, throughout the whole song. A song is always under constant change, and each section of the song needs to be looked at dissected, and served well.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Nigel Godrich, James Ford, Sergio Maschetzko, Andy Wallace, Steve Albini, Butch Vig
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Most of my work is full production. I produce the project, helping with things like song structure, arrangement, sound choices, and internal disagreements among members of the project. I do the recording engineering, the mix engineering and mastering.
I was the Producer, Recording Engineer, Mixing Engineer in this production
- Mixing EngineerAverage price - $200 per song
5 revisions (50$ per revision after 5), 1-2 weeks turn around time, but could be shorter depending on how busy my schedule is at the time, will negotiate extra price for editing and pitch correction.
- Radiohead
- Pixies
- Modest Mouse
