Jules de Gasperis

Producer | Mixing engineer

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9 Reviews
Jules de Gasperis on SoundBetter

Jules is a record producer and mixing engineer from Paris, France. He specializes in modern indie pop/rock productions. After having managed a mid-size recording studio in the heart of Paris for more than 5 years (Studio Stakato), Jules has relocated to Highland Park in Los Angeles, and is now operating from his brand new project studio.

Born and raised by a musician dad, Jules grew up in a recording studio, surrounded by music, where he learned to play several instruments and got to meet many talented artists.

After he became a professional in the music industry, he evolved from being a touring musician for successful bands in Europe (The Teenagers, Second Sex, Au Bonheur des Dames..), to a trained recording and mixing engineer.
Having done both he claims that his strongest skill is understanding the music in all different aspects, "from the very first sparks of creation to the technicality of the finished product".

Back in Paris Jules was managing his own recording studio (studio Stakato), and he recently moved to Los Angeles to expand his activities and meet American musicians, who always inspired him. Among Jules' favorite mixers are Tchad Blake, Rich Costey, Nigel Godrich and Andy Wallace.

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9 Reviews

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  1. Review by LLANE-A
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    Jules is a professional Audio Engineer that totally can take your music to the next level. He's the most friendly engineer I've met in the industry and I believe you will feel the same after working with him! Highly recommended!

  2. Review by Gil Bergerac
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    by Gil Bergerac

    I worked 5 days with Jules for mixing 3 songs in Paris (France) of my last album "The bright light". It was a real pleasure to meet an intelligent engineer who understood the project very quickly. He is always motivated and don't hesitate to propose many solutions at any moment. His ears are in good health and i wish him a long way with his faders.

  3. Review by ANNA
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    by ANNA

    Jules is very intuitive, & a LISTENER. He immediately understood our music&the sound we were going for&had great ideas on how to enhance the songs. I was really blown away by how knowledgeable he is. He brings out the best in your songs, and makes it easy&fun! Great communication through the whole process&open to any ideas//concerns I had.

  4. Review by Erica von Trapp
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    by Erica von Trapp

    Jules is not only extraordinarily savvy in his technical knowledge of mixing but his musicality is what truly sets him apart! He is passionate about sound and music, and has a breadth of good taste that applies impeccably to modern music. He listened to my ideas and enhanced them. Plenty of great ideas, I won't be mixing with anyone else.

  5. Review by Gavin Leeper
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    by Gavin Leeper

    I worked with Jules on my EP and am extremely happy with the results. He quickly interpreted my targets and influences, despite them being out of his usual range and delivered something that really matched what I was looking for. He brings an awesome balance of efficiency, receptiveness, and musicality that makes him great to work with.

  6. Review by Audrey V
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    by Audrey V

    I worked with Jules on a complete album during one year in Paris. It was a great experience. He is a top musician and composer, very patient, and he has a real sense of adaptability. His advice and relevant ideas were key to the success of my project and he created a perfect harmony in it with a suitable and amazing high quality mix.

  7. Review by Rita R.
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    Great experience of mixing with Jules! He precisely gets what you need for a song, asking the right questions at the right moment. Jules cares about what you feel and what you mean. He's as creative as professionnal and simply reveals the beauty of a song: once it has been mixed by Jules, you hear little thing and re-discover your own piece of work

  8. Review by Benjamin Bernard
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    by Benjamin Bernard

    Jules is a very versatile resourceful professional, who has got an innate talent for producing and mixing. He's got an amazing ear and impeccable taste, on top of being a delightful person. He's open minded and technically quite impressive too. He is an amazing person to spend long mixing hours with! I'm really happy i trusted him with my record.

  9. Review by Dani
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    by Dani

    Jules is awesome. His stronger point is that he is also a composer, musician, singer and that he immediately gets the essence of the song. It is such a pleasure to dig and talk music with him to make sure we go in the right direction. He works really fast and well, the mixes sound great, and he knows his tools perfectly. He's got a excellent ear !

Interview with Jules de Gasperis

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

  2. A: I entered a remix contest that was launched by Telefunken a while ago for US band 'The Brew'. The song is called 'What I Want', and they gave access to all the tracks in order to showcase and promote their different microphones that were used during the session. I'm really proud of my mix (hear it here: http://julesdegasperis.com/music/the-brew-what-i-want/), so I sent it to Chris Plante from The Brew, who replied to me and said it was the best remix that he ever heard of this track.

  3. Q: What are you working on at the moment?

  4. A: Right now I'm finishing the mixes for the 1st EP of French artist 'Dani Terreur'. The first single has just been released, it's called 'A Bout De Souffle'. (translating into 'Breathless')

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

  6. A: Nope, I just discovered the site!

  7. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  8. A: Analog AND digital. Both worlds have their strengths, and I think people who strongly advocate for one side only tend to be a little sour and provocative. I want to stay open, so if a great digital plugin comes out tomorrow and beats the best analog gear I'd be happy to get it, but also I love the "hands-on" aspect and sonic quality of classic analog gear.

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

  10. A: It's gonna sound good!

  11. Q: What do you like most about your job?

  12. A: Looking at a screen for 8 hours nonstop and not seeing the daylight ..

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

  14. A: Questions about price: how much does it cost. Questions about time: how much will it take. My approach is to have an average cost per day of work (and not per song), because I think it's better to have a deadline for everyone (it always takes more time than expected!).

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

  16. A: The biggest misconception about mixing is thinking that you can NOT decide ahead when you are producing, and leave that for the last part of the process.

  17. Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

  18. A: It really depends, I generally want to talk to them over the phone or in real, because once again I'm trying to feel a real connection and share a musical background, an artistic vision with them. I am not doing this because I want to have a collection of twelve Porsches, I am doing this job because making music is a passion, so if we're about to sit for hours and hours in a small recording studio together, I really want to connect with them. I generally get along very well with my clients.

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

  20. A: I would say: please make sure that you hire someone you feel really connected with. Listen to what they do, listen to their taste, to the mixes they made thoroughly. Don't be fooled by selling arguments. It's all about sound and a human connection. I am confident that my work will appeal to those who share a musical ground with me.

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

  22. A: - A good microphone (price doesn't matter, could be a Shure SM57) - A small audio interface - A computer or recording device - My guitar - My ears

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

  24. A: I started earning a living in the music being a professional touring musician in Europe, at the same time attending business school (from my late teens), and later on I started being more and more interested in the sound and the recording/mixing process itself. Being kind of a geek, I learned pretty quickly and soon enough I was able to conduct full recording and mixing sessions. I learned the ropes directly working with bands and artists, rather than attending a "sound engineer school". For 4 years or so, I took over my dad's recording studio back in Paris and managed it to gain a new clientele. Now I just relocated to Los Angeles to follow my wife, and I'm hoping to expand my activities here.

  25. Q: How would you describe your style?

  26. A: My style could be described as follows: clear, powerful yet moody. I admire the masters of classic rock mixes such as Andy Wallace, and claim to be from their school in terms of knowledge about what you do (rock-solid phase, understanding of the basics such as EQ an compression) - but I'm a dreamer and I want to always instil a touch of other-worldly producing to the tracks I work on.

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

  28. A: I would like to learn from one of my favorite mixing engineer: Rich Costey. Because so many albums that were mixed by him touched me a lot and I feel his mixes are among the most musical and powerful that I ever heard.

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

  30. A: Sure, To enhance the presence of a lead vocal track in a classic rock song where 2 guitars are panned hard left & right, I I often play with Waves Center plugin to do a touch of M/S processing on the guitar sub-track: I usually remove 1 or 2 dbs of "center" information on that track, and that's enough to help the vocal track cut through much better.

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

  32. A: The genres I usually work on include: indie rock / indie pop / classic rock / electronic music / pop / & French variety music.

  33. Q: What's your strongest skill?

  34. A: I would say that my strongest skill is understanding the music in all different aspects. Being a multi-instrumentist and composer myself (drums, guitars, keyboards...), I relate a lot with the artists I work with and try to have this "transversal" vision. Communication is generally a forte.

  35. Q: What do you bring to a song?

  36. A: What I try to bring to a song is the following: better clarity and understandability to the sounds composing it, more emotion and intensity in the different parts of the song, and a touch of producing when needed because I'm personally not a fan of 100% dry mixes (it's all a matter of taste after all!)

  37. Q: What's your typical work process?

  38. A: When tracking and arranging, I typically want to put the artist in the best possible conditions to get the best performance out of them. Great adaptability and sensitivity is required. For instance, some singers may need a lot of coaching and advising to give them confidence, or want you to be honest and direct, whereas some other singers must be left alone in their artistic space until they give their best - then comes the feedback. When mixing, I usually want to start a mix session with NO MORE editing or arranging decisions to be done. My brain needs to switch from the producer/arranger viewpoint to the more analytical one of the mixer. The saying "we'll fix this during mixing" is generally a bad idea, therefore I enjoy mixing songs that already have a strong artistic statement inherent to them, even if further producer may still be introduced. To me, a good mix helps the song and the music to communicate even more emotion than originally intended. It acts like its own instrument, playing with levels, instrument balance, placement and artistic moods to enhance the sonic character of the song and serve the project furthermore.

  39. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  40. A: Microphones: I love so many microphones, it's hard to list them! (That said I'm a fan of John Peluso's mics) Preamps: BAE 1073MP, API 3124, API A2D, Trident 65 series console pres Mixing setup: hybrid setup including a Trident 65 series console for splitting, EQ and summing, other outboard gear including UREI, DBX, Orban, Eventide, Lexicon effects / and plugins such as Waves, SoundToys, Softube, Valhalla, URS (no UAD plugins yet).

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

  42. A: I am a huge fan of Rich Costey. Other big influences are: Nigel Godrich, Brian Eno, Andy Wallace, Kevin Parker, Andrew Scheps, and my teacher - Ronan Chris Murphy (based here in LA).

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

  44. A: Most common types of work I do generally include: preparing a recording session for a band or songwriter, microphone placement, conducing full recording sessions, selecting, comping, editing takes, preparing a full mix session, mixing full tracks & albums in the box, mixing full tracks & albums on an analog console.......... But MOST importantly : communicating with the artist and understanding their needs!

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GRAND BAIN - Anything Else

I was the co-writer, producer, mixer in this production

Gear Highlights
  • Neve 8816 Summing Mixer
  • BAE
  • API 312
  • Universal Audio
  • Teletronix LA-2A
  • Neumann KH310
  • Phoenix Audio
  • Peluso microphones
  • Empirical Labs
  • Tonelux
  • Trident
  • MOOG
More Photos
  • Dani Terreur's new single 'A Bout de Souffle' just released!Jun 09, 2016

    http://www.lesinrocks.com/lesinrockslab/lab-tv/nouveau-single-dani-terreur-a-bout-de-souffle/