Indie Mixing Engineer 50+Songs

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Im releasing an album on my solo project. Mixing an album for a Mexico City artist. Making music for a fashion week show and producing a Mexican regional music artist.

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

A: Not as of right now, no.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: You can make a great song on either. A mix of both is the most efficient. A vocal on a good mic and preamps is 80% of the way there. Then its time for digital effects and corrective EQ. Even with a terrible setup, if you write a good song, people will listen to it. In the end what matters is setting expectations.

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

A: Quality control. This I can assure. Your song will sound "radio ready".

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: It keeps me exposed to the culture. I listen to three absolutely different full productions each day. I get to solo the elements, think over the lyrics, visualize the intent. Cultural isolation is the worst thing that can happen to you as an artist. I love that just doing what I do for a living I'm confronted with art all day.

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

A: Is there anyway to get the song to sound like this other song? Is a pretty common question. I try to be direct and set costumer expectations correctly. If I can I'll tell you, If I can't I'll tell you.

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

A: I'd say music is mystified too much. Music should be graded and placed, only though the amount of passion and expression it conveys. Its just that. I'd gladly speak at length about a kick in a Dr. Dre song or a guitar in a Pink Floyd album but what matters is that all these elements come in to lift up the feeling in the song. They become a single minded machine. Its important to look at the whole not the individual aspects of music. What I do is strengthen the context in music. As a producer or engineer, I glue everything into a single piece.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I need to know your expectations. When would you like a finished product? What is your budget? What do want to sound like? What projects or artists inspired your music? Is this song or project part of a bigger release portafolio? How happy are you with the rough mix that resulted from production?...

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

A: Communicate what you want accurately. If you tell me, what you're looking for, your timeframe, budget, and reference music you want to sound like. I'll be completely transparent on how I would get you there, or if something is just not possible with your current song or situation.

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

A: An acoustic guitar, my computer (assuming theres power there), midi keyboard, M49 Neumann Microphone, and 1073 Neve PreAmp. This setup can make anything in the world.

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

A: I've been making music since 2015, had my first band in 2016. We toured Mexico and then split in 2018. I produced and released music that year for my solo project and for friends of mine. By 2019 I was mixing professionally. I finished my bachelors in 2022 and have been full-time making music since.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Punchy, Lush, and alive. I do everything I can to get a banger without killing the natural flow in a performance. Letting the song breathe generates somewhat of a underrated reaction in the listener. You automatically become more involved in a song when it feels human.

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

A: In hip-hop i would love to work with artists like Danny Brown, JPEG MAFIA, Pusha T, Pharrel. Mainly based on flow and lyrics. Would love to have the chance to song-write and produce with someone like Chappell Roan or Olivia Rodrigo as well. On the mixing side, I'm looking forward to mixing Billie Ellish and Sabrina Carpenter one day.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Always simplify. Ear candy is super important, but if you can't get a banger with 8 tracks it won't become one after 100.

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

A: Pop, rock, Hip-hop. I've done reggae albums and reggaeton tracks. I started my career with folk and tradition music. I have a love for country and americana styles too. Also worked on my fair share of advertising music and film scores.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Listening may be the most important thing a producer and audio engineer can do. I listen to highs and lows in a recording or a song. I bring out the great and dig away at the questionable. But I do believe i have a clear advantage in terms of understanding songwriting. When I'm mixing, I try to get the song itself, the composition to shine. If you wrote a song and felt the words, the layers of their meaning should come through. I'm an expert at enhancing these performances.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: When mixing or mastering, i try to focus on the artists and producer vision first. For me, the original intent is absolutely sacred. Once I understand what they were going for, I try to enhance that vision rather than add something that nobody asked for. I approach their work with humility and love. I studies audio engineering and production, so I understand both sides. If a producer or artist wants a more creative or experimental side, I can definitely to that for them. But more often than not, I build upon their work and quality control. In terms of production, I act kind of the same. I listen to a song, talk to the artist and understand not only what the song means, but what the songs means to them. Where it came from, where writing the song took them. I then work on the song with the directive of taking everyone else to that exact same place.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: For Mixing, I'll get a multitrack from a client, organize it into ProTools, and Mix for 3-5 hours. Then send a first version. We'll do 3 to 5 revisions, but theres no limit really. Most clients will walk away with a track within 1-2 days. For mastering the process is similar but much quicker, master tracks are generally done within the same day their sent to me. For production work, if remote, I'll send beats, clients will choose however many they want or like and they'll record vocals on their own. Afterwards they may decide if the want to do post production with me or with someone else. I'll typically discount on mix and master if they decide to work with.me on it. For composition for advertising, film, TV or any audiovisual medium, Its on a per project basis.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Acoustically treated room, ideal form mixing and mastering. 2 different sets of studio monitors. Separate live room and control room modules. PreAmps such as Neve's 1073, and compressors such as Distressor. Microphones, all types of guitars, bass guitars, Keyboards, Vertical Piano, Drums and Amplifiers.

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

A: Jack Antonoff, Kendrick Lamar, Manny Marroquin all inspire me in different ways.

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

A: Production, mixing and mastering. I get hired to supervise the complete process of a song, from the songwriting process all the way to monitoring quality control and loudness.