Greg Abate - Neon Audio - Illuminate Emotion in the Mix - New Zealand

SOUND LIKE YOUR BEST SELF, NOT LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. I maximize the emotional impact of the song, from sneering punk attitude to slick jazz instrumental, or a heartfelt ballad. Whatever the feeling, I elevate it and highlight the uniqueness of the artist.

I am Greg Abate and Neon Audio is my studio. I have over a decade of experience as an audio engineer and love bringing songs to life through mixing and mastering. I typically work in rock, folk, alt country, and jazz music and I excel at bringing greater depth and realism to recordings, enhancing the emotion in the performance.

I use a powerful hybrid workstation of analog and digital processing to deliver analog depth, width, and dimension while maintaining modern clarity and work efficiency.

The gear of course is secondary to my experience and ears. The most important skill I've developed is how to listen, both to the music and my clients. I love collaborating with artists to reach their vision. I often bring a lot of ideas to the table, and the feedback and input of my clients spurs better ideas. Together we achieve something that we couldn't do alone.

I am very proud to have collected over 100 five star reviews and the feedback from my clients speaks for itself.

Please get in touch, as I would love to chat about your music and any upcoming projects!

Would love to hear from you. Click the contact button above to get in touch.

Credits

Discogs verified credits for Greg Abate (2)

Lowland Hum
Emily Bezar
Magnolia Collective
Nicolay With The Hot At Nights
Shiloh Hill
American Aquarium
Travis Shallow, Travis Shallow & The Deep End
Swelo
T. Gold
Blue Cactus (2)
Blue Cactus (2)
Blue Cactus (2)
Blue Cactus (2)
The Pinkerton Raid

120 Reviews - 25 Repeat Clients

Endorse Greg Abate - Neon Audio

by Trevor G.
Verified
I wish I could give more than 5 stars! Greg beautifully mixed and mastered by song and easily brought it from a 5 to a 10. I would highly recommend Greg and I hope to work with him on even more projects.
by Scott D. Stolz, CAS
Verified
One word: Invaluable. I must say that Greg was such a critical part of finishing a song I had been working on. As both the artist and also a Mixer myself, I felt that I was getting too close to the song and was losing perspective. My own mix was sounding very good, but it was missing that something, which Greg was able to interpret and take the song to the next level.

Greg really cares about getting the song to a place where you are happy, and he follows through…
by Adi B.
Verified
Greg was very attentive and patient, provided several versions according to our requests. Quick responses and very pleasant to work with, I would definitely work with him again.
by James L.
Verified
This is my second time working with great and he did a great job once again! He mixed 4 new tracks for me and mastered a six song EP. I especially like his vocal mixing. As advertised, he really elevates the emotion of the music to new heights. He is very professional and patient as well. Highly recommend!
by Michael B.
Verified
Greg does great work, is extremely responsive, and very quick. He helped me rescue a drum track recorded under less than ideal conditions and turned it into something that really made my mix work.
by David L.
Verified
This was our first tune with Greg. We had the song mixed by another engineer and were not very happy. We were skeptical if another engineer could do a better job...Greg exceeded our expectations. Very knowledgeable, patient with collaborative. You will see quickly that he takes pride in his work and loves what he does.

I highly recommend him and will use him again.
by Neil Sethi
Verified
Greg is a fantastic mix/mastering engineer. He was able to take our song and elevate it sonically with precise processing and dynamics that took it to the next level. He was super easy to work with and responsive, and despite slowness on my part to correspond, he was always quick to get back to any feedback. Highly recommend!
by Justin C.
Verified
Only good things to say about Greg! Communication was always on time. We had a project and he had great input. Best of luck Greg!
by Rachel F.
Verified
Always dependable on time and a slick end result. Highly recommended.
by Jakoby Walker
Verified
This guy has a great ear, he knows how to feel the music. I had a lot of ideas and changes I made to verses and the song’s arrangement. He adjusted with no complaints, he was as excited for the outcome as I was. I would recommend!
by Joshua S.
Verified
This was my 7th song that Greg helped me to polish. He did a great job mixing several versions of a piano ballad that all have a unique sound. I really appreciate his patience and perseverance in working with me as this project took a bit longer than I expected. I look forward to being able to work with him again on a future project.
by Kyle T.
Verified
Super fast, professional and receptive to feedback as usual! Greg crushed it
by Peter W.
Verified
Greg did a great job. He mixed an album's worth of songs for me and mix/mastered another. As someone wrote before he is excellent with vocals, but I'll add he is a wizard with guitars too. His prices are very good and he's generous with his time. He provided clear explanations when necessary and was patient when I had to make numerous adjustments. I highly recommend him.
by Joshua S.
Verified
Greg did another great job with some additional editing for a piano ballad I am working on. He has a very trained ear for determining natural sound and has really helped me make my song sound more authentic. I really like working with Greg and look forward to more work on this project and others to come.
by Jenysia M.
Verified
Greg was great to work with! I really appreciated his quick response time and his attention to detail in in listening and explaining. He was super helpful and the process was smooth and educational for me as well, thanks to him!
by Mark H.
Verified
Greg is awesome. He has a great ear and our songs come back sounding more clear, precise, and intentional. He's easy to work with, fast, and provides helpful feedback. We will definitely use him again.
by Kyle T.
Verified
Greg crushed it! He brought some fresh ideas to the table while still preserving the intention of the original mix and got everything done quick and easy
by Alex S.
Verified
Greg was brilliant. He was patient, gave great advice while we were sorting out the mixes and the final mastered tracks sounded great. Would recommend without hesitation!
by Nelson L.
Verified
Greg was a pleasure to work with. This was my first time ever getting a song mixed and I enjoyed Greg's attention to detail and cooperativeness extremely awesome!
by Joshua S.
Verified
Greg did some additional vocal track editing for me that was exactly perfect. Soon I look forward to sending him all of the finished tracks for mixing and mastering.

Interview with Greg Abate - Neon Audio

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: When looking to hire a mix engineer, find someone that you would enjoy collaborating with. Part of this mean that you respect their previous work, but you also have to get a welcoming vibe from communicating with them and be excited to share ideas with them. Even though everything is already recorded, I think the mixing process can still be a phase for collaboration.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I'm a lifelong musician. I taught myself guitar and piano and studied saxophone, drums, and music theory in formal settings. I've been in and around recording studios over 15 years, and have been working freelance full time in music production for over 10 years now.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I'm a big David Bowie fan and so perhaps in some alternate reality I can work with him. Of course his songs are great, but his approach to recording and songwriting is also very interesting to me. He really valued collaboration and spontaneity. He would gather talented people together and experiment to discover something new. I think he was very much aware that an artist, and especially a musician, will create very differently when working with others than when working alone. And the result is often more than the sum of its parts.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Mixing is what I most commonly do, though I also do a lot of mastering work. My studio is built for all the production requirements after recording. Although I don't do much recording these days, I have a lot of recording experience in my career and frequently offer tips and advice for clients that want to improve their recordings.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: My style tends to be an open and smooth sound that is natural, or perhaps a bit beyond natural (supernatural?). I love to get crazy with effects when it's called for and sometimes a song needs a more aggressive sound, but even in these cases, I always maintain dynamics so that the song can live and breath with the groove.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Here's a quick vocal recording tip that I often tell people: angle your mic slightly down so that it's pointing at the neck or chest. This helps to reduce "ess" sounds and plosives as the sound waves hit the capsule at an angle. It also catches some chest resonance and can deepen the tone of the vocal sound. If you're in a nice sounding room and want a more airy sound, you can also try tilting the mic upwards to point at the forehead. This will capture more "air" of the room, if it's a larger room.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Most typically I work in indie rock, folk, country, and jazz. But I've worked in every genre through my career and I enjoy working on all kinds of music.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: My promise is that I will do everything I can to make you fall in love with your music. The recording phase can be long and I'm familiar with the feeling of being tired of a song once you get to mixing. I love to inject surprises in my mixes, not just for the listeners, but for the artist themselves to remind them what they love about the song.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: I've spent years developing my hearing, both in an analytical and emotional sense. I can pick out precisely what what frequencies need to be reined in and I can also evaluate vocal takes to find the one that will most connect with listeners.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I like to say that I "illuminate emotion" in the mix. What this means is that I enhance the performances that are in the recording and I do this in an organic and natural way. Vocalists and musicians can expect to hear the feeling and emotion in their performances heightened.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: Wether mixing or mastering, I always try to put myself in the place of the audience and how they will hear the song. This sets my focus on what's best for the song. When my head is bobbing and I'm losing myself in the music, I know I'm on the right track.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both! Why not?
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I like to use a lot of analog gear because analog lends a depth and dimension you just can't get any other way. Plus I have more fun with analog, which keeps me inspired and creative.