Mixing and Mastering Engineer

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

A: I think the most common question I get asked is how soon could I have a project completed. In a busy and competitive market most clients don't want to wait too longer after they've finished their composition to be able to release it. I haven't had a deadline yet that I wasn't able to meet.

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

A: I've been doing this for two decades now.

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

A: I'd highly recommend Dissa K. to anyone who needs a composer, his work is amazing.

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

A: This is a hard one, as a very analogue focused engineer just five pieces of equipment is restrictive but I guess I'd have to take a Macbook Pro, Pro Tools, Universal Audio Apollo packed with great emulations, PMC monitors and a Studer J37. Not the perfect studio but with this selection of gear you could make everything sound beautiful.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I like taking a recording, whether it's from a session in a world class recording studio or a rough live cut, and turning it into a finished track.

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

A: Bill Putnam Sr, Tony Maserati and Jack Joseph Puig have all had a major impact on how I think about sound and mixing.

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

A: One of the projects that I'm most proud of was mixing a live recording for a British band called Cohesion. The recording was limited, just a hand full of stems taken straight out of the live board and I was tasked with taking these rough recordings and turning them into a finished product. In the end the band was extremely happy with the result, commenting that the tracks sounded better than their studio recordings. This was a proud moment for me, I love it when you can help a band or musician achieve the final sound they're looking for.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: At the moment I'm working on mastering a collection of recordings for an ambient musician. The original recordings were never professionally mixed and the stems have since been lost so I'm working to bring a richer, more even tone to the tracks.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I prefer to work in analogue formats as much as possible. There's a warmth and character that you get from analogue that's just so hard to find in digital media. These days we spend so long trying to recapture that quality and tone that I'd rather just work straight with the original. Don't get me wrong, digital has it's value but I always choose analogue if I can.

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

A: To work with them so that they can achieve their desired sound. A mix is about helping the musician get to where they want to be, not about stamping your sound on something.

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

A: People sometimes think that mixing is easy. There are so many presets and quick fixes you can use now that sometimes you'll find that people think anyone can do this but that's just not true. Sure anyone can balance faders, throw on some plug-ins and open up presets but that doesn't get you a good mix. Truly great mix engineers know how to take what's there and make it shine or help repair something that's not good enough and this takes talent and experience.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What sort of sound are they looking for? Did they have any particular artist or track that inspired their recordings.

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

A: Make sure you know what you're looking for and then just ask for it. It's best that everybody be clear on where you're trying to go from the beginning.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Warm, rich and dynamic.

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

A: I'd love to work with Olafur Arnalds. I think Olafur composes such beautifully delicate music and I'd love to work on one of his records.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I think my strongest skill is my ability to work quickly and still achieve a great result. I can work quickly without sacrificing tonal quality.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I always try and bring a rich tone to a song. Each track is different but a rich, natural and warm tone is always a great thing to bring to a song.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Typically when I start a mix I'll throw up the faders and just get a general feel for the track. Then I'll start working on pulling things down into groups so I can begin to balance out the song. Then I'll dive into all the little details that really set a mix apart. I try and work quickly, never lingering too long on one thing. I try and make a solid decision and work from there.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio is a blend between analogue and digital, with pieces selected from some of the worlds top brands such as Pro Tools, Neve, SSL, Universal Audio and Mansley Labs but it's always evolving to make sure I have the right equipment for any project.

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

A: The most common work that I've done for clients in the parts has been mixing tracks recorded by other engineers. I've especially found myself mixing live recordings. I love taking a musicians live performances and giving them a well balanced final mix.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I love to use compression, used delicately it's the most musical tool a mix engineer has at their disposal. One of my favourite things to do is break down frequency bands and compress them separately, it works so much better than just putting a multi-band compressor on a channel. You can really delve into much richer tones when you chain different equipment together and it works brilliantly on drums and bass guitars.

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

A: More often than not I've found myself working on classical and instrumental music but I've worked on a variety of other styles like soulful singer songwriters and rock.