Recording Mixing & Mastering

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

A: I was lead tracking engineer for Lalah Hathaway's last album called Live. One of the songs won a grammy in the category for best traditional R&B performance. The project was truly a lot of fun and Lalah is one of the best singers on the planet. I am very proud to have been a part of this project.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am currently working on mixing and editing soundtrack songs for 3 separate movies. I am also editing, mixing, and mastering a metal-core album that I recorded most of the audio for. I am also doing daily tracking sessions of many other projects such as radio jingles, audio books, singer songwriter album, vocal choir for film, and string orchestra for a film.

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

A: No

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. Analog is truly the way to go when it comes to capturing the audio, but this can be done with analog gear being recorded into a digital system. Once in a digital system it is more efficient to do any work on this audio, such as editing.

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

A: I promise to do everything within my reach to help you achieve your goals for your project.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love music and making people feel something from it.

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

A: What are your rates? My rates are different for every project. This is why I communicate with my clients, to figure out how much work will need to be done and how long that will take. This makes my rate fluctuate to properly adjust per the work needed to be done.

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

A: The biggest misconception about what I do is that everything must be done in a professional studio. I do agree that most recording should be done in a good environment, but there is a lot of writing, editing, tuning, mixing, and production than can even be done on a laptop.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is the project? What is your goal? What is your budget? How can I best help you?

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

A: Just email me with your inquiry.

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

A: Nuemann 149, Neve 1073, Teletronix LA2A, Pro Tools HDX, Genelec 1032.

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

A: I started in the US Army, which paid for my BA in Music and Music Industry Studies at California Polytechnic University Pomona. Their I studied music and audio engineering. I have been working at Firehouse Recording Studios in Pasadena, Ca for the past 3 and a half years as and engineer working on many different types of projects.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style could be described as pristine and huge. Of course not everything I do is this way depending on the project, but my goal is always to make people say "wow" when they hear my work.

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

A: I would like to work with the band Blink-182 because they are an incredibly talented group of musicians and I have been a huge fan since I was a teenager.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Communication between the client and their engineer is extremely important.

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

A: I work on all kinds of music and some audio that is not music at all, such as voice overs. I have worked on albums for Rock bands, Metal bands, R&B bands, Jazz bands, Gospel bands, and singer songwriters. I have also worked on music for film and orchestras.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Working with clients. When working with audio, mixing and editing.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I have a great ear when polishing a mix to make it convey the correct emotion. If I need to add some production to make the song bigger and better, or clean up the overall sound to make things tighter, I am able to do this to reflect the client's goal for their project.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I typically like to start by gathering all information needed from my client to realize their vision. Then I make a plan to start a step by step process to complete this vision. Every project is different so details can change drastically between projects.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work out of a studio called Firehouse Recording Studios in Pasadena, Ca where we have a large tracking room and a small vocal/ overdub room. We have state-of-the-art equipment to work with on a daily basis. I also do a lot of work at home using my laptop. This allows me to do editing, mixing, mastering, and production any time of the day or week.

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

A: I have been inspired by many mixing engineers in the music industry, but I find the mixing engineers that work on big film projects in Los Angeles have the most experience in working with clients and making their vision come to life in the music.

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

A: The most common work I do for clients is editing and mixing their projects. I also record many of them, and master them as well.