Christian Duka on SoundBetter

Recording/mixing engineer specialised on cinematic, sound design-oriented and experimental music productions. Lecturer of Electronic Music and Sound Design at SAE Institute, London. Specialised in spatial audio, Sound Designer for AR/VR experience developers. Experimental Music and Sound Artist.

My name is Christian Duka and I am a multi-skilled sound engineer/music producer, sound designer and music artist. Currently based in London, my work focuses on mixing/mastering engineering, sound design/art, curation and art direction.

I take on board music production projects characterised by a strong artistic personality, entailing a certain degree of experimentalism and forward-looking vision - I am especially interested in cross-over of seemingly opposite genres.

My strength is the ability to understand the essential musical personalities of my clients and the capacity to translate them in the productions through creative sound design, mixing and mastering.

My work as a sound designer/music artist focuses on translating concepts and emotions in sonic form. Clients in this field span from VR/VR experience developers to film producers, game developers and brands. My strength comes from 7 years of experience in sound paired with research on the translation of emotional/psychological traits into music/sound.

Lately, I have specialised in spatial, 3D audio practices at MONOM, Berlin and Aures, London - two of the three permanent 3D sound system existing in Europe. This allows me to offer additional services such as binaural spatialisation of monophonic content (contact for pricing)

I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.

Credits

9 Reviews

Endorse Christian Duka

by Bert M.
Verified
We hired Christian for a couple test mixes and not only did he return some pretty fantastic mixes but he was so easy to work with. I will not hesitate to hire him again.
by Maria T.
Verified
Christian is very responsible, professional and talented artist / engineer to work with. It was pleasure to work with him because he understands all the demands well plus I received more creative ideas through his mixing and mastering job! The results are incredible. I got inspired by working with Christian. He is absolutely a talented musician!
by Chloe Kay
Verified
Christian has been an absolute pleasure to work with. He is excellent at what he does, communicating really well along the way to ensure a great final product. 100% recommend him to work with!
by Franky Redente
I had the pleasure of working with Christian on many projects, from audio software applications, music productions and performances, recordings, mixing and mastering sessions. He is a multi talented-professional, always understanding what you're trying to accomplish artistically and technically. Christian's professional and artistic standards are set very high, and you can expect that level of quality every time you work with him.
by Miguel C.
Christian did an amazing job mixing my album. It was a very difficult and challenging project, in which each song had hundreds of individual layers and he still managed to deliver an outstanding mix.
If you make experimental or forward-looking music, he's the one you want to work with. Forget about Grammy-award engineers who will charge you 4 figures, they won't take the time and dedication to work on your project as Christian will and they won't understand your music as Christian will.
Highly recommended.
by Jay Scott
Chris has been my go-to producer and engineer for over 3 years. I would not consider using any other audio professional when quality is paramount. His intuition on projects has always taken them to their fullest potential and beyond. His energy and passion is truely infectious. I would wholly recommend using Chris for your next project!
by Batuhan
If you are looking for a sound designer with not only passion but also quick understanding of what you truly want, Christian is the guy. There has been some moments when I thought Christian read my mind as he would create exactly what I thought the sound would be for my AR/VR works. He is a very hard working and reliable person who always meets the deadline,even if he is given short amount of time
by Lee Adams
Christian is highly skilled and experienced as a sound engineer and electronic artist, he is very professional, reliable and creative in his approach, I can't recommend him highly enough
by Gabriele D.
Dopest Artist and Engineer in London!
Professional and versatile also with the craziest customer’s ideas!
Best man that you can invest in your music with.

Interview with Christian Duka

Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Digital technologies nowadays can easily recreate the sound of analogue machines, they are extremely more convenient in terms of budget and time consumption without making compromises on quality. Nonetheless I believe there is no objective answer to this question. Anyone born in the 80s or that has been exposed to analogue machines will find himself more comfortable with them, the same works with anyone which has been using digital technologies since the early beginnings. If a producer knows what she/he wants she/he will achieve what she/he needs with whatever tool she/he has (providing it is of professional quality). At the same time some tools are better than others for specific purposes, so to me the answer is BOTH. A smart combination of analogue and digital processors will bring forth the best of both worlds.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I am mixing a trap album, working on releasing 4 records with my electronic music project, working with a Virtual Reality and an Augmented Reality company as a sound designer, teaching electronic music production and eventually sleep
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Only one? hhhmm... if a instrument sounds bad, make it sound even worse! The more work you put into making the sound uglier, the more it becomes PERSONAL and acquires IDENTITY, therefore becoming INTERESTING.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: I usually work on electronic music but I have experience with classical music, grime, hip hop, metal, ambient, jazz, pop and experimental music
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Understanding the vision of the artists and conveying that across music.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Personality and Identity. My work is all about giving voice to the specific artistic nuances of the music makers, to make their pieces recognisable as such. I also bring quality, clarity and a feeling of immersion in the sound, to make the listening experience as active as possible.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: When it comes to mixing, I usually I start my sessions ITB (in the box) using ultra-precise digital processors to clean the mix and create definition. I then move into the analogue realm to add colour to the individual elements and craft the 3rd dimension of sound using effects. The value of my work really is the complementary use of digital and analogue processing. I pay a great deal of attention to the stereo-field - the aim is to make the mix sound as wide as possible still being mono-compatible. I am also very careful in treating dynamics - to achieve this I use a great number of subtle compression together with parallel compression to bring forward the "body" of the sound. Speaking of Mastering my work is about maximising the good qualities of the mix and carefully taming possible elements of disturbance. I prefer to use digital processors for their precision except for one stage of compression and EQs to give a subtle amount of colour. When requested I pass the mix through analogue consoles to include their specific timbri characteristics.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: My studio setup is a hybrid of analogue and digital technologies. I started my career championing digital processors as today they can very closely recreate the typical analogue sounds - nonetheless I still sum the various audio signals through the desk that most suits the project. Thanks to my occupation at SAE London I have access to the following desks: SSL Duality, SSL G+, Neve VR, AMS Neve Gemini. I also have access to a variety of compressors and analogue EQ built in the studios, as well as fx units such as the legendary lexicon 480L and many more.