James Grover (YCONN)

Mix/Mastering+Writer/Producer

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7 Reviews (1 Verified)
James Grover (YCONN) on SoundBetter

Hey I'm James. I'll work very hard to bring out all the hit-potential in your song... that's my specialty! I've mixed and/or mastered 8000+ songs across all commercial genres, plus done vocal production for David Guetta, Little mix and more, and my own songs have 20mil+ streams. No matter what your project needs, I can deliver great results!

MIXING:
I have trained with Manny Marroquin (world's no.2 mix engineer) and I’ve mixed literally thousands of songs (I worked for a music-library for years, doing 3-5 songs a day). I'm still chasing my first credit on a major hit or huge artist, so my rates are currently half of what they should be... rest assured that the quality I can offer these days is the same as engineers charging 2-3 times more than me.

MASTERING:
I've been professionally mastering since 2015 (when after many years of practice I began to equal the quality of other engineers charging 3x my rate). In the last year I’ve mastered records by some of the biggest upcoming UK bands, including Marsicans, Allusondrugs, Talkboy, and many more.

VOCAL PRODUCTION:
For the last 3 years I have been gaining vocal producer credits with established dance artists like Galantis, PS1, PBH & Jack, Thomas Gold etc, and with hundreds of millions of streams across my recent work. I can edit and mix your vocal stems to sound world class.

PRODUCTION:
I mostly produce pop-dance, though am very capable with most mainstream genres also. I've signed tracks to many established dance labels and worked on collabs with major artists etc.

TOPLINING:
As a topliner I've written around 400 songs and am regularly pitching songs to the biggest artists in the world.

Contact me through the green button above and let's get to work.

7 Reviews

Endorse James Grover (YCONN)
  1. Review by Rugrat Nami
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    check_circleVerified (Client)

    Super quick with communication despite the time difference and knew exactly what he needed. Hassle free.

  2. Review by Corbin A.
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    check_circleVerified

    My track is better than I ever thought it would be possible! James is the guy! Very patient and talented! He really takes time working on your track

  3. Review by Taylor Reid
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    by Taylor Reid

    I highly recommend James for any of you audio mixing needs ! He is one of the most highly skilled people i have worked with in the music industry and he has a fantastic ear. He is also super efficient/timely , which is hard to find in this industry. He took a couple of my tracks to the next level with his mixing ! He both takes initiative and is takes direction perfectly when things need a bit of tweaking

  4. Review by Ed Olhausen
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    by Ed Olhausen

    Here's a copy of the email I've just sent to James today...
    "You've done a cracking job with these songs. We wouldn't change a thing with these latest mixes/master files.
    It's been an absolute pleasure working with you and we look forward to working on a new set of songs in due course."

  5. Review by Jenny O.
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    James is a very skilled producer and mixing engineer with great experience when it comes to song writing. I have worked with James on a number of songs and he really takes the time to get to know the song: lyrics, melody, arrangements and giving advice on changes that can improve the result of the finished song. I can highly recommend him!

  6. Review by Johan R.
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    James is a very skilled producer and super easy to work with. He's got a great ear and always delivers top class mixes.

    Highly recommended!

  7. Review by Shayne E.
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    Time & time again, James has delivered on projects we've collaborated on. Each & every time, James has amazed & surpassed my expectations. To say I've been happy with the results, thanks to James, would be an understatement! You won't regret hiring James!

Interview with James Grover (YCONN)

  1. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  2. A: Digital because it lets me keep my prices low - I have £3k in software which would cost £300k if I had to do the same thing with all analog. Many of the top pros in the world are all-digital users, there's no downside anymore as the sound quality is proveably indistinguishable (it's a myth perpetuated by the people that have invested lots of money into analog gear in order to justify what they spent and so they can keep their high prices). Analog gear is very nice to have and fun to use, especially while recording the song. But it's 100% not necessary to get a world class result.

  3. Q: How would you describe your style?

  4. A: My style is to make things sound as radio-ready as possible. If you don't want to sound as commercial as possible, I'm not the right collaborator for you.

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

  6. A: Mastering isn't just making it louder. The most important part is small tweaks to the overall EQ to get the most balanced sound possible, which means it will sound as good as possible on any speakers. Mastering is a scientific process, not an artistic one.

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

  8. A: My advice is to ignore everyone's big name "credits" -- listen only to the quality of their previous work, and how that compares to others in the same price range. In this industry everyone has "major credits" but most are meaningless. If it says they've "worked with" Beyonce, it often means they made coffee once for Beyonce and sat in a studio with her as an assistant. Anyone who's REALLY worked with Beyonce will have a specific credit on what song they worked on and what their exact role was. Eg. if you're hiring a mix/mastering engineer, then any major credit they have that isn't specifically for mixing/mastering is irrelevant to what they can do for you. Also, ask what their specialites and weaknesses are before hiring them. For example, not many producers can mix or master to the top standard, and not many mix/mastering engineers can produce to the top standard, since these are all very different and mostly unrelated skills. So if you need a 10/10 world class result, you should be hiring these people separately. I'd rate my mastering skill as 10/10, mixing skill as 9/10 and production skill as 7.5/10 on a world class scale.

  9. Q: Can you share one music production tip?

  10. A: If the song doesn't sound good with just a piano and vocals, then it's probably not a good song and you should write another instead.

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

  12. A: Electronic pop, acoustic pop, dance and indie rock

  13. Q: What's your strongest skill?

  14. A: Hearing what's wrong and knowing how to fix it.

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Henry Dell - Follow Me

I was the Mix+Mastering Engineer + Additional Producer in this production

Terms Of Service

Up to 3 revisions. Turn-around normally within 7-10 days (depend on vocalists) for the first mix of a full production, 72 hrs for a mix, 48 hrs for mastering.

Gear Highlights
  • Pro Tools (all in the box these days)
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