LA Based Mix Engineer/Magician

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

A: Q: What kind of music do you work on? A: I'll work on any genre, but my forte is pop/rock/country. Q: What type of files do you need? A: If you're working in Pro Tools, send me the session. If not, send me individual wav files of each track starting at 0. Also, if there's any effects that you feel I cannot reproduce in my studio, please print them to a track as well and send me a dry and wet version of that track. Q: Is there any way you could do a test mix on one of my songs so I can hear what you can do? A: Of course I can. Send me everything just like we would be booking a full blown session and I'll get you a rough mix of part of one of your songs. Keep in mind, it won't be fully fine tuned, but you'll hear the direction i'm heading and how good it can sound!

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

A: I was working at Interscope and thought I was walking into another day of Assisting and running Pro-Tools for the engineer. We were about a week away from finishing up the Backstreet Boys "In A World Like This." I got a phone call from the front desk that the engineer wasn't going to make it in today and three of the "boys" were supposed to be tracking vocals today for two of their songs. After collecting myself... I walked back into the studio and ran the session that day on my own. I hadn't actually run a full blown tracking session like that since college... and thank god it was only a vocal session, but we made it and they were really happy with the results.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Right now, I just finished up two mixes for an Americana singer/songwriter who goes by the name McHale Music. His record is going to be out in the spring this year. As soon as I finish up this survey I'm going to start on a mainstream pop mix for a song called "Daydreams" by an artist named Simone out of LA.

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

A: Absolutely. One of my best friends in the world is a session guitarist on here while he is touring. Chris Loocke... look him up! If you need guitar, he's your guy. Also... another good friend Nick DiLorenzo is a Mastering Engineer on here as well. Dude absolutely knows what he is doing! If my clients have the budget for him, I will always send them his way. It isn't cheap, but it sounds amazing!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. Analog is beautiful. It sounds amazing, it's warm and fuzzy. Digital is cold and very judgemental. That being said... have you ever tried to recall a mix session on a 96 channel console with a notebook full of recall sheets. I'd rather just open up my pro tools session and get back to mixing.

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

A: I promise that when we are done mixing your song... it is as good (if not better) than you ever thought it could be.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love the fact that every time I get a new batch of songs, it's a new window into someones life. That person poured their heart and soul into this 3 minute recording and they're trusting me to take care of it. To me... that's the biggest compliment you could ever give me.

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

A: A lot of artists I talk to assume that they can have the same person produce, engineer, edit, mix, and master their record and it will come out sounding incredible. I can pretty much guarantee you that I could count, on one hand, the number of songs that have been commercially released since the 70's that were all done by one person. It just doesn't happen. Trust me. I was sitting there for many of the sessions... there were teams of people working on each track. Even each part of the track. No one goes at this alone anymore and becomes successful. We all have to work together!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: 1) In your mind, who do you think you sound like? 2) Who do you want to sound like? (These are usually different answers) 3) What do you expect from me? What are you looking for as a result of this project? 4) Where can I hear you play live? (Even on youtube...) 5) What is your budget? (I'll work with almost any budget... within reason)

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

A: Ask questions. Ask ALL THE QUESTIONS!!! So many producers put up a really nice front and it all looks good, but when you get halfway through the project, the narrative changes. Learn as much as you can about the people you are trusting with your music. Listen to as many people's work as possible and find out who they are as a person. If you jive, your music will too!

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

A: Piece of cake. My mac, Pro Tools, a pair of Beyer Dynamic headphones, my UA Apollo and my Serpent Bus Compressor. Bam... mobile mixing rig. :)

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

A: Graduating college in Boston I left my internship and moved to Nashville. There, I spent five years working at the legendary Blackbird Studios watching and learning from some of the industries best engineers and producers. After relocating to Los Angeles and taking a job as a staff engineer at Interscope Records, I really got drug through the trenches. The next four years consisted of over night sessions where sleep was a luxury, and often it was an hour or two in my car. Gradually, I started going more freelance and have been doing so for the past four years. All in all, i've been mixing for 12 years and it has been an incredible ride!

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Easy to work with, Professional, Magical, Awesome

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

A: I would really love to work with Greg Wells. He has such a magical understanding of how two speakers will react to the signal you pump into them. Watching him work on the mix for "The Greatest Showman" was something special. Oh, if I could just be a fly on the wall for his sessions....

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Always try everything. My biggest pet peeve is engineers who shoot down ideas without giving them a shot first. No, you may not end up putting a muted trumpet on your death metal record, but it could definitely lead to another idea that does fit and winds up being really cool! (True story... i swear)

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is absolutely my ability to work with people. I'm not going to get frustrated over revisions, track count, etc... I understand that these songs are "your babies" and I'll take just as good of care of them as you would. I'll help make this the best damn baby the world has ever seen!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: So many mix engineers get caught up in "their sound" and defining what that means. I don't have a sound. My job is to make the artist (and the song) sound amazing. Whatever that means. The mixes for Taylor took a whole different mindset and process than mixing for Kendrick Lamar. It's not about me. I bring experience and an understanding of how to make sound work. I'm just the paintbrush for the artist to use while they're creating their masterpiece on the sonic canvas.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I generally have the same process for each song I mix. Once the session is loaded into Pro-Tools and labeled properly I listen through the entire song at least 2 or 3 times and take notes (yes... pen and paper) and I highlight things that stick out to me the first few times hearing it. These are my "hook's" or "earworms" that I try to preserve and feature through the song. Then it's a matter of finding each element it's own space sonically around those key elements. After 3-4 hours of work on the tune I have a pretty good handle on the mix and start printing automation passes on each track. Once the automation is complete, I print a V1 and send it back to the client for revisions.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a 2017 imac running Pro Tools 12HD, Ableton Live, and a ton of plugins/instruments/fx. Universal Audio interface allowing me to track at home through some fantastic mic pre's when the need arises. I have a beautiful sounding pair of Focal Shape Twin's as my main monitors paired with my trusty Yamaha HS50's for reference. Outboard gear these days is dwindling as the plugins get more detailed. I have a 500 series rack with a handful of various compressors and eq's. My precious Serpent Audio Bus Compressor lives in there and she is my "special sauce."

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

A: Chris Lorde Alge, Greg Wells, Andrew Schoeps, Bob Clearmountain, Jack Joseph Puig, Rick King, and just about any artist who has the balls to put their soul out there for the world to hear!

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

A: Almost all of my work these days comes from Mixing and Mastering. Every once in awhile I have a hand in producing a song with an artist, but it's probably an 80/20 split.

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

A: I usually find myself working on Pop or Country music. I'm pretty sure most of that has to do with spending the first part of my career in Nashville before relocating to the west coast. That being said, I have worked on all kinds of projects ranging from EDM all the way over to Hard Rock and Metal.