Mix Engineer/ Producer

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Low end managment is always tricky my tip would be to eliminate low end garbage frequencies from all your tracks. Heres how you do it: > Take any standard eq and your going to shelf out everything 40Hz and below on everything but bass lines and kicks (those you have to tweak the lows so you dont take too much out). > Vocals you might be able to go as far as 70Hz and below to start cutting > In addition you can sidechain your main kick to the bassline so that you bassline ducks when the kick hits. (You will want to adjust thresholds and ratios according to how much you want to duck the bass. I good rule of thumb is to duck very slightly maybe .5- .7db). *note: Were trying to make some room for sounds that might be in the same frequiency range. By ducking we make some natural movments and room in the same low end range. By cutting out unnessesary frequency information we eliminate the rumble and extra low end information we dont need.

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

A: HipHop, Dance music

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Troubleshooting

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: A musical journey. Every song has an intention a feeling and my job is to express that thru sound. Mixes should have peaks, valleys, and cresendos to make that mix carry people thru a song.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: >Listen to the song(s) and get a vibe of the project as a whole >Load tracks in DAW and arrange tracks >Usually I start with drums but sometimes a great riff of a piano or sample will get it started >Once I get a good balance and my fx are set and come back to it next day do a final balance and print a 1st mix draft >Ill usually live with it for a day before i send off to client as a 1st draft >Client usually will have some comments we tweak and then we finalize for mastering

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Hedspinn Studio is more of a hybrid setup focused a bit more on mixing and production for both music, film and gearing up to get into the gaming sound design and production world. We have all the in-the-box tools to get a great sound and then we have some options for projects that require that warm tape saturation and analog circuitry. We process Mix Stems thru our 16trk Tape machine taking the audio signal from the digital domain of 0's and 1's and run it thru analog componets for that special sound which is becoming more and more in high demand.

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

A: > Adrian Younge: Incredible musician, sound and artistry in the production, mixing and vibe >DJ Premier: Classic BoomBap Sound and technic, working with him for many years I sharpened my ears for that classic sound. >Dave Pensado: A well of knowledge and one of my favorite Mixers. Excellent online presence and content, great tips and tricks videos.

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

A: Currently my work is consists of mix and production work mostly in the hiphop genre for clients. Also have done some mix work in world music like afro beat for example. Which is very popular in Africa and UK and been getting a bit more popular here in the states as well.

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

A: My left ear and My right ear

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

A: I started working as a full time engineer in 93'