Mixing & Mastering Engineer

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: A conversation first — always. I want to understand the vision, the references, and what success looks like for this specific project. Then consolidated tracks in, calibrated template loaded — what I call Dessert Logic, getting the unglamorous work done first so the creative work has a clean foundation — and the mix built from the ground up with the song as the guide. A reference delivered within the agreed timeline, two rounds of revisions, final delivery. Clean, collaborative, no surprises.

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

A: The El Mule album 'Sound of a Ruined Heart' was a deeply satisfying project — Americana and alt-country at its most honest, in the tradition of John Prine and Jason Isbell. The challenge was preserving the raw, lived-in quality of Trevor's songwriting while giving the record the space and dimension it deserved sonically. That balance — organic but fully realised — is the kind of work I find most meaningful.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Right now I'm getting ready to mix a live record for a Canadian Americana band. I really enjoy mixing live recordings for the captured magic as well as the challenges that always pop up.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both — and that's not a diplomatic non-answer. The SSL console, the bus compressor, the hardware chain — that's where the warmth and dimension live. The DAW is where the precision, recall, and flexibility live. The hybrid workflow exists because the best of both is better.

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

A: That I will listen to your music before I touch a fader. That every decision I make will be in service of the song, not my ego or a trend. That I'll communicate clearly throughout, deliver what I said I would, and hand back a record you're proud to release. And that your project will be treated with the same care I'd want for my own.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The moment a mix clicks — when all the elements find their place and the record suddenly sounds like what the artist always heard in their head but couldn't quite reach. After thirty years that moment still doesn't get old. It's the reason I built this studio.

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

A: 'How many revisions do I get?' — Two, and they're included. 'How long will it take?' — 3 to 5 business days per mix from the time stems are received. 'Can you make it sound like [reference track]?' — I can chase the emotional and sonic territory of a reference, but the goal is always for your record to sound like the best version of itself, not a copy of someone else's.

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

A: That mixing is a technical process and mastering is a loudness contest. Mixing is an emotional one — every decision is in service of how the record makes someone feel. And mastering is about translation and cohesion, not volume. Loud is easy. Making something feel right everywhere it plays — that's the work.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What does this record need to feel like? What are your reference tracks — not necessarily for sonics, but for the emotional territory you're aiming for? Where do you see this going — streaming, sync, live, all of the above? And: what would make you feel like this project was a success? Those four questions tell me almost everything I need to know before I hear a single track.

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

A: Listen to their work before anything else. Credits and credentials matter, but your ears are the only judge that counts. Then have a conversation — any engineer worth hiring should want to understand your project before they quote it. If they send a price without asking a single question, keep looking. The right engineer treats your record like it matters. Because it does.

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

A: SSL 900+ console. SSL bus compressor. A pair of NS10s. A well-stocked plugin bundle with a good EQ and compressor suite. And a DAW that doesn't crash. In that order. The console and the bus compressor are non-negotiable — everything else can be argued over.

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

A: I've been a professional musician for over thirty years — touring and recording across 26 countries with George Canyon, MIR, Ashley MacIsaac, Lennie Gallant, and many others. Recording studios were part of my life from the beginning, and over time the engineering side became as natural as the performance side. WavHaus is the culmination of that — a studio built by someone who has lived on both sides of the glass for three decades.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Warm, transparent, and emotionally honest. I'm not chasing trends and I'm not interested in mixes that announce themselves. The goal is always for the listener to feel the record first and notice the production last — if at all. Analog warmth where the song calls for it, modern clarity where the market demands it. The song leads every decision.

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

A: Jason Isbell. His records exist in that rare space where production serves the song so completely that you stop hearing it as production. The writing is honest, the performances are lived-in, and the sonics — particularly on the Dave Cobb records — are warm and dimensional without ever feeling laboured. That's exactly the territory WavHaus is built for.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Listen to your mix on the worst speakers you have before you decide it's finished. Not as a final check — as a working tool. If the emotion and the balance hold up on a small Bluetooth speaker, you've built something that will translate. If they don't, you know exactly where to focus. The best mix engineers I've ever watched work are often switching playback systems. There's a reason for that.

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

A: Country, roots, rock, pop, folk, alt-country, and Americana primarily — though the common thread across all of it is song-driven music where performance and emotion matter more than production novelty. Credits include George Canyon, KINLEY (ECMA nominated), Asif Illyas (ECMA Award — World Recording of the Year), El Mule, MIR, and others.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Translation. A mix that sounds great on studio monitors means nothing if it falls apart in a car, on earbuds, or through a laptop speaker. After thirty years of listening across every kind of playback environment, building mixes that hold up everywhere — without losing the warmth and depth that makes them compelling in the first place — is what I do best.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Thirty years of listening from both sides of the glass. I've performed on hundreds of professional recordings — I know what a great performance feels like from the inside. That perspective shapes every mix decision: what to preserve, what to pull back, where the emotion lives and how to protect it. Technical precision is the tool. The song is always the point.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: WavHaus is built around an SSL 900+ hybrid analog/digital console — the same legendary signal flow behind decades of iconic records. Real hardware EQs, compressors, and the SSL bus compressor anchor the analog chain. Full digital recall throughout. A calibrated monitoring environment designed for translation across every playback system.

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

A: As a listener: Daniel Lanois for his ability to make records that feel like a place. Glyn Johns for his instinct to serve the room. Dave Cobb and Peter Gabriel for records that never sound dated. As a musician: every drummer who plays for the song first and themselves second.

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

A: Full mixing and mastering of original recordings across country, roots, rock, pop, folk, and Americana. Most clients come to me at the final stage of a project — the recording is done, the performances are captured, and the work now is to honour what's there and make it competitive. That's where I live.