Mixing & Mastering

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

A: I worked on a prerecorded Christmas production that aired on PBS for Concordia University Irvine, I was the assistant to lead engineer. Entailed mic setup and creating the layout and later gave my feedback on the mix. Was really exciting the school had recently finished their new music building with brand new state of the art equipment. A brand new Neumann Analog Desk and studio, also a mic package from DPA to record the whole thing and 2 of the designers to come help us with the setup and answer any questions we had, a real learning experience.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Working on a mix and finding more unmixed tracks to keep my skills sharp.

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

A: Sadly No

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: O man loaded question for us engineers. The world has moved to primarily digital, mainly its cheaper and easy to move. Nothing replicates certain analog systems and their many nuances that come together to just sprinkle magic fairy dust on a mix. Though some come close and I believe that line just gets closer and closer till one day even the masters of this industry cant tell the difference. Even some of those said masters now work totally in the box (digitally) .

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

A: I don't half ass my mix's. I give you my all.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I get to be creative and use my brain. Lots of tech and technique.

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

A: What is some of the most challenging mixes you have done? Recent mix I undertook was a club recording lots of audience noise and bad room reflections, but was real happy with the end result and used some of it to my advantage.

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

A: We can clean and fix any issue with a recording or mix given to us. Simply not true. Sometimes things need to be re-recorded and if you spent serious cash on studio time that can be soul crushing paying for a shabby recording. I was given a mix with a metronome click in a guitar and vocal track the mics picked up because one of the members of the band had put his mix headphones on his chair during his break.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I like to ask about the song or work they entrust to me. Maybe I wont understand the context of the song right away and will ask what is your vision or story for this work. We work with art and art is very personal and I will ask questions to try and see from their perspective.

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

A: Honestly, shop around and talk with the engineer, find that good fit.

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

A: Assuming all the life essentials were taken care of. Computer, 2A optical compressor, Bricasti reverb, an 1176 UA compressor, Pultec EQP 1A.

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

A: Career is rather young started offering my mixing and mastering services as of 2022, finished my schooling in 2021, I look for experience anywhere I can get it, took me along time to figure out my passion and what skill set can bring me joy and an income.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Fluid, you have your fundamentals and know the technicality the creativity can flow better.

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

A: Always cool to meet titans of music, I think the artist I would like to work with is the artist still say under the radar, I believe what we do as audio engineers is offer a leg to help prop the artist up and being part of that is special. What we do is very technical but also creative and that's what attracted me to this field.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Master your fundamentals was always instilled in me by my mentor, Leveling/Balance, Panning, EQ, Compression. If the mix sounds good with just these the rest is gravy. Keep the listener engaged.

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

A: All kinds. I've mixed and recorded Funk, Motown, Hip-Hop, Acoustic, Chorals with Orchestras and several others.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I discovered I had a real knack for mixing when one of my instructors was impressed with how quickly my skills progressed early on and how dedicated I was to learning and improving my skill set. He took me under his wing teaching me in his free time, offering me assistant gigs for recording which several lead to repeat business, and teaching me his recording, mixing and mastering techniques.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Elevation, That Final Punch, That kiss you send your love off with, to prepare your song for the world.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: 1st. After importing the audio into my session I start the audio to loop start leveling and panning 2nd. EQ and compression also any edits and cleanup that need to happen 3rd. Listening over and over I start to get and idea about the context of the song (whats it about) (how should it make you feel) start thinking about how am I gonna make that happen or elevate that already existing feeling. 4th. Send FX delay/reverb 5th. Once over with levels then to automation. 6th. Comparing reference material provided to me by the client or myself. 7th. Tweaks and a corrections after listening on as many sound systems as I can (ear buds, car, monitors) then a ear rest maybe a day but at least 6 hours of separation from the song. 8th. Client Feedback

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Limited I work totally in the box as I move around a lot. I work dominantly on my mobile rig, when I get close to completing a project I try to make my way to a studio but doesn't always work out that way.

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

A: Production: Tom Dowd , Mixing: Andrew Scheps, Mastering: Mike Guzauski These are the masters in the field and are responsible for so many of the greatest hits that will be immortalized. The amount of ingenuity these guys have could have built just about anything.

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

A: I haven't been freelancing very long most of the work I have done was with studio's and several schools and local bands. Mostly Recording but since Covid primarily mixing and mastering.