Mixing Engineer

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Giving the artist something the did not expect - but still love. I aim to sound better than real life. I try to take the songs I work on, to a level that you the artist never dreamed of. The best complement I has yet received: "Wow, I had already given up on that song - now I love it".

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Working with passionate people making music.

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

A: These days everybody are pretty much in on what a good mixer can do for a song. Still I have produced an A/B listening demo on my site www.peterjuulkristensen.com. Find it in the "Industry Login" section.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: If there's no rough mix or I haven't been able to hear the song? 1) Genre 2) Track count 3) Deadline.

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

A: Give very precise information about the project. That's my chance to give you the most competitive price. I practice unlimited revisions, so I know you will be happy about the mix, so my goal is to also make you happy about the price, and that's easier if I have detailed information about the song.

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

A: A pair of NS-10s, a Protools rig just like the one I have now and a way to download and upload mixes for artists around the globe :-)

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

A: Started in smaller studios in Denmark. Worked in local broadcasting. Got accepted into The Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen. Became Tonmeister in 2001. Worked two years in Los Angeles at Westlake Audio. 10 years at the National Danish Broadcasting. Now independent with my own studio. Mixing in 20+ years.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Sure. Put in the main instrument, (often a vocal) in the mix very soon when mixing. I often start with kick, bass and vocal. Then go from there. The vocal is half the song – so when mixing, I try to spend half the time I spend on the vocal. Sounds logical right?

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

A: Al kinds. Often I use techniques used in one genre to other music types. My portfolio include both classical, filmscores and pop/rock music.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: "Radio-friendlyness". I make it a priority to not bore the listener. I try to always keeping the audience engaged. This down to almost any decision during the mix.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I receive a song via and ftp server or a download link. Sometimes I re-record and/or program a couple of instruments if needed. Then I mix.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio is located in the outskirts of Copenhagen with 15 min to the center but only 5 min to the airport. The control room was built from the ground up in 2010 with the intention of of being just that: A control room. Acoustic's was designed by Jan Voetmann and I could not be more happy with the sound of it. It's build around a very powerful ProTools setup and I love the fact that I cannot blame the missing gear for a inadequate mixes.I simply have all I need for a great mix and it's all up to me. The studio has a 5.1 monitoring setup (mainly for film-score mixing) and the studio as a whole is my dream come try for music production.

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

A: Mixing music.