Mixing & Mastering

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Two very musical ears, trained by more than a decade of experience.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: When someone sends me a track to mix, I will work my magic and deliver a first draft (v1) rough master, meaning I use some stuff on the master bus to maximize the loudness, just for a first listen. After some feedback, I'll make tweaks and maybe send another rough master for confirmation. When it's ready, I will render a premaster (all master bus FX turned off) and take a break, maybe go for a walk, listen to different music, etc... I come back with fresh ears and have a mastering session in a fresh project, where I carefully EQ, saturate, compress, and limit the final mix. At this point the track is usually finished and everyone is happy, but I always welcome last-minute tweaks for one last revision once I've mastered it.

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

A: Beardyman. The man is light-years ahead of everyone. He has configured and programmed and otherwise set up the necessary technology to be able to instantly produce insanely diverse live music that just always sounds good.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Your next hit! ;)

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. Digital scales better, but analog has desirable tonal qualities... a nice hybrid system is the ideal.

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

A: I was originally studying Computer Science, but after exploring the industry for a few years, I lost all interest in the cubicle world. As a distraction, I found myself constantly adding to and organizing my music collection, essentially studying it more than code. I joined an a cappella group as the vocal percussionist (beatboxer) and my creativity flourished. I discovered the city's dance club scene and got into the art of deejaying - playing music and mixing it live, utilizing various tools and techniques for a smooth transition between songs. It was everything I ever wanted music to be. I even managed to play a few bar gigs as a dubstep DJ in 2009. It wasn't long before I was itching to create things as energetic as the stuff I was hearing and playing in the clubs. I acquired the necessary software, but my only gear was a cheap laptop and some headphones. Unfortunately things inevitably came crashing down; I had come to rely too much on my first credit card. My only choice was to move back home and fix my money management problems. Slow internet meant my only source of new music was my own imagination... Fast forward to now: I'm debt-free, I have faster internet and I do what I love - make music daily.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Quirky. Catchy. Glitchy. ;)

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

A: I mix a lot of hip-hop tracks. They seem to be in high demand, and I have excellent hip-hop intuition. It just happens naturally. Other than that, I personally play with a lot of high energy dance music... I love breakbeats, and I like it fast!

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I wear a lot of hats, but "Mixing Engineer" seems to be the one that everyone favors most. I'm good at blending things. Sometimes I add sprinkles. ;)

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Well... I'm not gonna lie - it's not impressive. There's a simple Yamaha PSR-225GM keyboard for MIDI. I'm using a Kenwood stereo receiver as an amp, with some decent Bose speakers and sub. And right now I just use the line out on my Dell laptop. I actually take my laptop into a different room and use my old computer speakers as a reference point to check all my mixes. It's not professional grade... yet I still manage to crank out mixes that sound professional.

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

A: I have several clients that send me various styles of hip-hop tracks to mix for them... usually a beat and one or two vocal tracks that they recorded and comp'd themselves. I take care of the balance and flow until the mix is fully blended and sounds good from start to finish.