Mixing, mastering

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'd have to kill you if I told you.

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

A: Only just joined!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Sorry but both. Some things just sound better through analogue, some things need the surgical clarity of digital.

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

A: Satisfaction or your money back.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Working for myself and listening to music all day.

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

A: Can you fix my mix at mastering?

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

A: ...that the mix can be fixed at the mastering stage!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Do you like dogs?

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

A: Shop around, ask questions.

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

A: A Neumann mic, Universal Audio mic pre, prism audio interface, Manley Massive Passive EQ and Maselec compressor...is the computer included??

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

A: Luckily I look younger than my face reveals! About 20 years from musician, to recording engineer, to mix engineer to mastering engineer!

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

A: Mix engineer on Dark Sky's Imagin album. Mainly because the boys are mini geniuses. It was a real eye-opener to work with writers that pay SO much attention to the smallest detail.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Clean and powerful!

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

A: I've worked with Dark Sky, so happy there. Otherwise Aphex Twin.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Buy some Sennheiser HD650s so you can hear what's going on in the low end (or use a frequency analyser to shave off unwanted sub bass that sucks volume out of your track).

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

A: As a mastering engineer, literally all forms of music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: A good ear.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Depth, clarity, excitement, volume.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Mix, review, master, review. That's it. To work concisely is to work intuitively.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Mixing is done all 'in the box'. It then goes out via Prism converters into the analogue domain in through pristinely clean Maselec eqs and comps and if a little flavour is needed then is passes through a Manley valve eq and vari mu compressor, back through the prism and into the digital domain. Monitoring is done via PMC IB1S powered by Bryston amps. Lovely.

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

A: Paul Epworth is a bit of a hero of mine. From his remixing days as 'Phones' through to his current projects, the guy is a genius. There are no real rock n roll mastering engineers. I hope to change that!

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

A: I get asked to do a lot of mixing these days. I guess it's because I can also supply the mastering and add that beautiful analogue touch. A mastering engineer that knows how to mix is ideal because the mix will be optimised knowing what is needed at the mastering stage.