Mixing & Mastering

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

A: I mixed and mastered a christian soft rock track that turned out really great, I loved the lyrics and was told it got picked up for a sync recently, so I've been proud of that lately.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm mixing mostly everyday, I do have somewhat of a heavy workload so it's different day to day, but right now I am focused on a country album mostly

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

A: Yoad Nevo is a legend, I'm sure his prices are out of some people's budget but if you can afford it I would recommend him.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both, always both. get the best of both worlds.

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

A: That I will continue to work on the song until you are totally and utterly satisfied. I've always understood that music is very delicate and there's a million ways to mix something, so making the clients vision come to life, not mine, is my midnset.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: That I get to work on music everyday, and I get to work with people who share the same passion as I do.

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

A: Can you send me references of songs you've worked on? and my answer is always yes.

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

A: That I am a magician and that I can turn poorly produced and recorded song into a radio ready, streaming ready hit.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is your deadline if you have one? Can you send a reference of a similar, popular song that is out that you like the mix of? What vibe are you going for? What's most important in the song that you would like to stand out?

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

A: I am only as good as the engineer who recorded the session, the producer on the song, and the artist. I can take something from really good to great, I can't take something that is bad and make it good. So spend the time on the song as if it wasn't coming to someone like me.

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

A: My focal's, my RME ADI-2, my computer with way to many plug ins on it, a distressor, and a ssl g bus compressor

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

A: Started at 18 producing electronic music on a laptop, when I got out of the military i went to school for Engineering at The LA Recording School, interned for a short time while in school at Silverlake Studio's, eventually moved to San Diego, started free lance producing, then moved to nashville to try and get into that scene to no avail, then eventually got into free lance mixing and mastering and have been doing that full time for about three years.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I started in electronic music production so I feel like I still mix in the same vein as a lot of electronic music, even if it's a totally different genre, I still like to add tons of ear candy and space and depth when I can.

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

A: I'd love to work with Mumford and Suns in some alternate universe where I was 10 years older and caught them in their prime.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Sound Selection and Recording is everything, you can't build a house on sand. So finding things that work together in the context of one song, and having excellent recordings, is the secret to a great song, in my humble opinion.

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

A: As a full time engineer, I take on any project I can that I feel I can do a good job on, so literally everything. However, the main genre's I work on are Pop, Rock, Pop Rock, Hip Hop, and EDM

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My ability to connect with what the customer needs and wants

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I like to think I bring good taste for one, somewhat trained ears, attention to detail, knowledge on how a song needs to translate, and intensified emotion

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Typically the client reaches out to me with the song they are needing help with on the mixing and mastering side, I'll listen to the demo, and if I feel I can help bring the song together in a way that supports their vision, I'll take it on. I usually work with stems only. Once I received those I'll get to work, after final delivery I take on as many revisions as needed until the client is happy, within reason.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I run a hybrid setup, but in the box for the most part, I have a RME ADI-2 Pro FS A/D D/A for a converter, my analog chain really is just a stereo pair of API 500 series pre amps that I run the majority of the by mixes through, an SSL fusion that's also on the mix bus usually, and then an 1176 for vocals, everything else is done in the box. For monitoring I have a Pair of Focal solo6's, and an Auratone 5c mono speaker, some times I'll use my adam audio T7V's as a third reference.

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

A: I follow a lot of engineers both of the past and present, such as Jaquire King, Chris Lorde-Alge, Jason Joshua, DJ Swivel, but I am trying to learn something new everyday and everyone has something to teach

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

A: Remote mixing and mastering, production every once in a blue moon