Mastering Engineer

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Make the music you want. That is the beauty of art. No rules, no right or wrong, only sincere human connections.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I master primarily with analog equipment out of my home mastering suite.

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

A: Tunnel Vision - Simeon Beardsley. Mastering Engineer. I had been wanting to work with Simeon and have been a fan of his music for quite some time. I admire him not only as an artist but also as a human. I relate to his lyrics and the emotions his music conveys. Definitely a checked box on my list of clients to work with.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Hale Center EP

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

A: No.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. Because it’s the best of both worlds and I will use whatever tool is necessary to get the desired result.

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

A: No promises. Just my complete dedication to every project.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Knowing that all that time, money and effort spent to record and mix a song or album is not being undervalued by leaving the final quality control to an algorithm.

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

A: Why do should I work with a mastering engineer? Because I have spent countless hours fine tuning my listening environment so that I can listen critically to your music to make sure it’s the very best that it can be. Because I can offer a fresh, objective and different perspective.

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

A: That’s it’s some type of magic and that professional mastering is expensive.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Do you love your mix? What’s your deadline? Do you have a reference of a commercial release? What do you hope to gain from mastering?

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

A: Don’t be afraid to mix into a limiter and send two versions of your track, one limited labeled “reference” and the second with no limiting.

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

A: I’ve been a freelance audio engineer since 2009 and have always been more competent in mastering.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Non-evasive and transparent. Essentially “do as little, as needed”.

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

A: Radiohead. I have a great deal of respect for their songwriting and use of unorthodox chord progressions and melodies.

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

A: Rock and it’s sub-genres.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: The ability to listen and critique music objectively.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring an insane focus to details and organization skills. I believe I have great communication skills and work well with deadlines and the managing of client expectations. Not to mention hours and hours of listening on Hifi systems and being a fan of music first and foremost.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I tend to boost rather then cut conservatively using mastering EQ plugins or hardware to enhance and bring focus to certain frequencies which I feel serve the song. I will often follow this up with a mastering compressor plugin or hardware to bring out the excitement of a track. Depending on the genre and material, I will sometimes employ a saturation, color plugin or hardware next in the chain to add vibe and character if I feel and hear that the track is missing this. Ultimately I will utilize plugins or hardware or whatever combination of tools in whatever order necessary to enhance and optimize a song to its best possible sound.

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

A: Anyone who is willing to share knowledge without fear of losing clients to competition.

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

A: Mastering