I dream of Pro Tools

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

A: "Why Mix Murphy??" My manager calls me Mix Murphy because when I was born, I had less than a 20% chance of living. The nurses at the hospital nicknamed me Murphy because of Murphy's Law- everything that could go wrong was going wrong. But my parents believed and bet on that 20%. And here I am! Moral of the story: we're going to make it through this. And same goes for your song!!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: In 2020, it doesn't matter as long as the artist and producer's vision is fulfilled. I love the recall and sonic creativity with digital. Plugins have gone a long way in the past 4-5 years in creating those analog textures ITB. I do love a FaIrchild compressor and Chandler Curve Bender as outboard pieces when I have it available. I do admit that mixing on a large format console is fun like on a well maintained SSL Duality or E series console!

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love collaborating and helping each artist find their own sonic signature

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

A: I would take my Mac, monitors, ilok and tube traps!

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

A: My career path was different as I started very early on with music production and recording at 14. Around my later teens, I was committed to becoming a music professional. Then, I focused on mixing as my main career. I've been mixing records for over a decade.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style isn't a specific style as I try to be a chameleon of sorts. I can shift my mixing style to suit other genres and producers. It's about the music first and connecting emotionally to the song. Finding where that emotion is!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Listen then decide what to do. Most of the time, people are just throwing a lot of plugins on a track without a purpose. There should be understanding on why you're adding or taking away,

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

A: Pop music and all forms of it including hip hop. I love these genres because of the various production elements and challenges that every mixes bring.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Focus, I'm extremely laser focused when I'm mixing. It takes a lot of work to get the song to it's fullest potential. This is where I'm focusing the most time on.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Emotions and hopefully the song will connect with the listeners more. I'm known for my vocal effects and low end enhancement which is extremely important in the days of subsonic basses. I focus on the main elements and hype those up as much as possible. You want to bring clarity to the message of the track!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My typical work process is prepping the session usually the day before. I want to clean up the session, RX any extra background noise, hiss and otherwise none musical elements. I've color coded the session, labelled and named all of the tracks. The next day I'm mixing from noon onwards. This is where the process starts for me as I can be creative and focused on what will make the song even better!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio setup is fairly simple and fully ITB. I care about my monitoring situation the most and that's where a lot of the studio investments go into. I have Ocean Way Pro2As which are similar to the designs at studios like Record One and United where Allen Sides designed them.I also have ASC Studio Traps around my monitors to make an Attack Wall for my acoustics. I use a Faderport for automation and a Softube Console for the SSL emulation. I have a TC Electronic Clarity M for input visuals in the phasescope mode and the TC verb for some outboard processing. I'm running PT 2020 on a maxed out Mac Mini.

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

A: Top tier mixing engineers such as Serban Ghanea, Manny Marroquin, Tchad Blake, Tom Elmhirst and Jaycen Joshua are inspiring because of their work ethic, consistency over decades and passion for their craft. A lot of those mixers have their own sonic signature and that to me, is the most important element.

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

A: The most common work I do for clients is emotional connection to the listeners. There are ways in which we can make the best mix possible sonically, but emotionally is where the song feels right! I'll also add some additional production elements usually drum samples to enhance certain sections of a song like the chorus for example. These are all case by case basis. I'm always putting 100% and my heart into every mix as it's an extension of yourself!