Venturesome Mix Engineer

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: After receiving all the relevant information, perchance reference tracks and a rough mix to help me understand the aim, I start working, following where the music takes me. Once I deliver the first print, I expect the artist's notes, which I address in the revision. If the revision brings complete satisfaction — great, if not — we continue working until it does. I did put “five revisions” in the terms, but in reality, it depends entirely on the client and the project. I've had cases where the first print was also the final and others where it took eight revisions to get things just the way the band wanted them.

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

A: I do a lot of mixing for self-produced, self-recorded projects with all the good, the bad and the ugly that comes with it. Multitracks come as they are and I'm turning those into finished records. Touch-ups, tuning and editing happens.

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

A: From my teens I've been impressed by the works of Flood and Spike Stent. While I'm namedropping: Teo Macero, George Martin, Rick Rubin, Steve Albini, Nellee Hooper…

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: It's all in the box, under Ableton Live or Pro Tools, with a selection of Slate Digital, Waves and other plug-ins, monitored on a super-secret combo of vintage Wharfedale speakers, Beyerdynamic headphones and funny BT grot boxes. It sounds gorgeous and translates perfectly.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: The sound it deserves. If it's an airy trip-hoppy pop tune with ethereal vocals — I'll make it float on the groove; if it's an abrasive black metal exploitation of the soul — I'll drown it in spiky filth; if it's a neo-industrial cyberdelia's love letter to the eighties darkwave — I'll have it dancing on spring reverbs and wobbly tape with neon dreadlocks; if it's mind-bending IDM — you get the idea…

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: How can one answer that question without feeling obnoxious? My clients seem to like the way I handle the vocals, the spatial treatment and subtle details in the mixes.

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

A: Electronica, trip-hop, Eurodance, IDM, darkwave, industrial, metal, grunge and everything in between or sometimes beyond.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Invest in music instruments and production gear, not EQs, compressors, tape emulators, reverbs and such. Let the engineers worry about the sound. Concentrate on writing the best song you possibly can and on capturing your finest performance. Once the music is brilliant, the sound will follow.

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

A: You. I would like to work with you. There are so many stories yet untold…

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Visceral, emotional, controlled, detailed, gutsy, modern-vintage, gritty-clean… It all depends on the music.

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

A: I've been experimenting with music, recording and circuit-bending in my early teens without really considering a career in sound. Then, I graduated with a master's degree in music sound engineering in 2003. Life's adventures led me to working as a recording and mixing engineer in a recording studio, production sound mixer and boom operator in film, sound designer and engineer in theatre. I guess I don't own the sound, the sound owns me.

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

A: Computer, audio interface, a pair of monitors and headphones I can trust, sunscreen.

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

A: A mix engineer is not just a skilled technician, it is a close collaborator whom you entrust with the precious output of your very soul. Keep that in mind when shopping around for one. Choose wisely.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is your song about? What do you want to say by it? What's its story? The rest is technicalities and they come second.

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

A: Most of the sound character – timbre, depth, punch and spatial feel – is created in the mix. What's often attributed to mastering can't be done at that stage if it isn't there to begin with. In reality, heavy-handed mastering can easily do more harm than good. What’s called mastering is usually just a very light final pass on an already finished mix, not a separate creative transformation.

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

A: Q: “Do you think it's doable?” A: “It most probably is. Let's find out.”

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Music is the most sensual art form, sound is an immensely powerful medium. Manipulating the sound of music is gratifying, satisfying and humbling at the same time. Exploring the inner workings of a song is a privileged peek into the artist's mind and that's also something extraordinary. And if you're looking for a more down-to-earth answer: driving while listening to songs that not just haven't been released yet, they haven't even been mastered — that's one glorious exclusive feeling.

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

A: Your music will reach its full potential and will sound as good as it does in your head, or better. I won't apply a generic template and I won't work towards the standard “radio-ready” polished sound at the expense of personality. The sound will be great, but the way it was produced and recorded will show through, helping the music stand out from the crowd and hold its own perfectly well next to the multi-platinum works you want to compete with. And there will be no AI shortcuts in the mixing process. Everything will be done by me, a human, with no machines doing the thinking in my place.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital. Because while not always succeeding at faithfully replicating the sound, let alone the workflow of analogue gear, digital has reached that mature enough stage where its astonishing flexibility, convenience, timesaving and accessibility don't have to come with the flat, bland and sterile sound. With the right software used wisely, one could argue we are getting the best of the two worlds inside the box now. That being said, break out for some nonlinear perfect imperfections? I'm in!

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

A: I'm afraid not (yet?)

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'll try to keep the “news” section up to date, it should have the answers.

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

A: In all honesty, every record I mixed that succeeds is a project I am proud of.