Mix, Mastering, & Productions

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

A: I was lucky enough to make some arrangements and especially to mix one of Jimmy Sax's new tunes made together with Gero. Thanks to my mix, Jimmy Sax found the inspiration to be able to create the main melody and at the last minute, it was decided to include this song in his new album that will be released soon.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: In addition to my role as professor and artistic director, I regularly collaborate with clients and am pursuing the creation of my debut album.

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

A: Actually not.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both, and it depends very much on the kind of work I have to do; I am deeply convinced that we are in a brilliant age and that both worlds have unique and extremely positive things.

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

A: That I always do more than my best to offer a high-quality and above all very personalized service, totally based on finding the best specific solutions to specific requests, all done in a time frame that is reasonable

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The greatest thing is to make the clients happy: it's priceless to receive positive feedback and to see in the client's eyes the joy they have when they receive the final version of their mixed track, I think it's the most beautiful and rewarding thing a mix engineer can receive.

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

A: Many times I am asked questions about the composition itself, and I am always more than happy to advise from both a technical and artistic point of view how the client can implement his or her ideas in order to always achieve the best possible result in each song.

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

A: About mixing, that it's a very "cold" job: mixing a song means highlighting its emotions and creating an overall harmony; mixing a song is an extremely creative act, much more than many people imagine. Regarding mastering, that good mastering can solve the problems of a song, it is absolutely false to think this way.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I think one of the first questions is to ask for an appointment on Zoom in order to talk together about the project and to define together the main guidelines that I can follow in order to be able to carry out my mission in the best possible way.

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

A: I think an important piece of advice for a client is to have the opportunity to be able to communicate directly with the mix engineer in order to best illustrate their ideas and needs.

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

A: My laptop, my headphones, a midi controller, my sound card and of course an extremely powerful solar panel so that I can have enough electricity :)

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

A: I started working as a DJ and composer more than 20 years ago and have been fortunate enough to experience productions of different styles of programmed music: from hip hop to dubstep, from pop to audiovisual projects via house, tech house, deep house and to the more contemporary forms of electronic music in the very extended sense of the term and among the many collaborations, having been able to participate in international projects with Warner Music USA & Latin America has allowed me to learn a lot about all aspects of the music industry. As a mix & mastering engineer, I have been devoting part of my time for more than 8 years now to help other composers and labels to have a professional product and I am fortunate to teach electronic music and also be active as an artistic director at the prestigious Berklee College Of Music university in the European branch, in Valencia, Spain.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I'm a producer and mix engeener who likes to put a value on the client's music-sometimes it's necessary to take more drastic actions, but in general I always try to enhance the raw material I have available without altering its essence too much.

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

A: One of my dreams would be to be able to collaborate with The Weeknd for the simple fact that I have always admired all his creativity and the quality of his artistic choices and the "colors" that his productions have always had.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I often teach that there are 4 main stages in both producing and mixing a song. The first one is the preparation part: it is very important to have at one's disposal a whole range of professional tools and sounds related to the genres of music we like to produce (I am talking about drums kits, sequencers, synth sounds or other types of sound sources). this allows us to deal with the second part in the best possible way. The second part: be creative! Expressing one's ideas, being in that status mentis in which we express with sounds our emotions without worrying too much about whether whatever we are doing is perfect: creation is a unique state of mind and one has to be free to be able to express oneself without thinking too rationally. The third part is the production part: whether it's a mix or an original composition, this is the part where you "produce"; this means making everything sound its best, giving the right colors, spaces and effects to each element of the piece of music in order to be able to reach the level of quality needed to be competitive in the market. The fourth part is finishing: we could sum it up in mastering; that final step that allows us to get a piece of music final and ready to be consistent with the market rules.

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

A: I generally work a lot with electronic music tracks: this means club tracks but also pop, indie pop, hip hop & rnb projects.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: the ability to interpret the client's needs and desires and transcribe them with my work with relatively quick timelines.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I always try to value the qualities that the song has in itself; it's not just about making the music "feel good" but a deeper work that values the emotions that each piece of music has within it.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Before starting any work, it is vital for me to talk with the artist in order to understand what he or she wants, what his or her needs are, and how I can help him or her achieve his or her goals. After that I start listening sessions without doing anything, just listening; this allows me to quickly identify what priorities the mix or production requires.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work a lot "in the box" and most of the time I perform all missions digitally using plugins from the brands UAD, FabFilter, Waves, Soundtoys, IKMultimedia, Plugin Alliance, MacDSP, Arturia, Weiss, Oxford, SSL, Slate Digital, Soothe2, and Standard Clip. I have a RME audio interface and as listening system and I love to use Sennheiser HD600s, Audeze LCD Xs, an ATC calibrated system with Avocet Crane Song controller, and a dedicated Sub woofer; I also regularly use a pair of Genelec 1030s.

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

A: It is difficult to briefly summarize the amount of artists and mix engineers I admire but I can definitely mention The Weeknd, Disclosure, Black Coffee, Tale of Us, Keinemusik, Daft Punk, Justice, Keane, Timbaland, Childish Gambino, Pharrel, Justin Timberlake, Adele, Dua Lipa, John Mayer, Tony Maserati, Michael Brauer, Serban Ghenea and many others.

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

A: I have the chance to work regularly as an art director, composer, and mix & mastering engineer. Usually the most common assignments are advising on the creation, production and composition of my clients and of course doing all the mixing, additive production and mastering work.