Mix Engineer and Producer

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

A: I'm most proud of my own album. I've made an album in 2024, it got released around September. I made almost all of the beats, recorded myself and mixed it myself. It was difficult to get everything done in time but I made it. I make an 3x4 Meter painting for the Album cover and some videoclips for it. It was the most fun project to me since I was in charge of everything but it was also a lot of weight on me so that's why I'm proud how it came out.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working the second album of me and my bro JimiRocco, we've been working on it for a few years now. Its a mix of Trap, Rnb and all kinds of other genres.

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

A: Nope, I'm new here

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: See it like this. Software is something we can see but not feel. It gets displayed onto a screen, and of course you can convert it into something physical like say for example a car with software in it. But the software itself will remain untouchable. Then we have analog, which are things we can see and touch. So Analog is touchable, Software is not. So analog is the real life experience, the smell of tubes, the knobs you turn, the components that are actually working. Software is just computer code. And what did they base this computer code on? They based it on gear that is touchable. I always say that, as far as I know, there is no legendary software, except for maybe Pro Tools or another DAW since that made recording so much easier but as far as sound goes, there is no legendary plugin or something like that. So when we're talking sound, Analog wins in my opinion. If we're talking price, combined with sound. Digital would win, because software is just so much cheaper. But that is really the only reason we use digital stuff. If analog gear would be the same price, I would bet that every studio had unlimited amount of gear. Because software is unlimited (or actually till the point where the CPU cant take it anymore)

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

A: I barely make any promises to the client except for the delivery date. I can tell them that they will be satisfied with the result but I cannot promise it because I am not them. I can only promise things I have control over.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I just like sounds and how we perceive sound and what it does to us. I just find sound and music a fascinating phenomenon. I influences us, how we feel more than we think and I just feel home when working my job because I'm not working in a system made by a human. I'm working in the law of nature or God. Because in the end of the day, sound is all nature, physics and science. And I prefer to work in that field over a field where everything is already calculated and planned out for you. Every project is basically an adventure, sometimes a fun adventure, sometimes a more tough adventure but either way, you'll be surprised.

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

A: Well, most of the time, they ask about the price because they know what I do. So I will then tell them that the price is based on how long I will spend on the project.

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

A: I think a lot of people see the engineer or producer as someone who is doing the paperwork to the song. Like, we are not contributing to the creative process. With some of them that might be the case but with most engineers and producers, we are 100 % contributing to the creative process and putting our hearts into the song.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What their vision for the song is and when the deadline for the song is.

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

A: Check my specs and see if it resonates with you. I think the most important thing to indicate wether its good for you to work with me is to see if our interests match or not.

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

A: Thats a really difficult question. I don't think I would take recording gear with me because it would be difficult to keep it below 5. I would say, a piano, a saxophone, a mouth organ, a harp, a trumpet. Why all these instruments. Because when I'm on a desert Island, I don't want to waist my time, so I'd rather prefer to learn some new instruments so that when I come back, I have upgraded myself. Desert Island seems to be the best spot for practising haha.

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

A: I'm walking a long path since I'm focusing on many different aspects within music. Started by playing guitar for fun at a young age. Later started recording my brothers band in Logic. After doing that, started to write my own stuff and recording that. After that started remaking trap beats for songs that I liked. After that just making a lot of beats. Trap and hiphop mostly. While doing that I started engineering my friends in school. And actually I have been doing that and work for clients for 10 years now.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I would describe my style as soulful, juicy and thick.

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

A: I would like to work with a lot of artists but I would say for me a legendary person is Michael Jackson, not because of his status i must say. Purely because of the mans rhythm, I don't think I ever heard someone else with that feel and rhythm. Unfortunately, Michael has passed away for some time.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Play an instrument. You don't have to master it but play it good before you start producing.

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

A: I usually work on Hiphop, RnB or Pop stuff.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Strongest skill I would say is my patience haha. No but seriously I have a lot of patience. Besides that I would say my experience in making music is my strongest skill.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring life to a song. If a song sounds dead before I get it, I will make it sound dead still, but alive in a way. Because a song with a dead song can still touch us. I distinguish a song in between what is emotion and what is not. Everything that is emotion becomes more apparent and everything which is not, becomes less apparent. There are exceptions of course.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: First listening to the song. The whole song. Then after the song see how I feel and also how the artist feels. Kind of tap into each other on what the song lacks in certain area's. Then after pointing those issues out, trying to find out how to artist likes the general sound of the song, just to kind of know if they want me to keep the same vibe it has or if they are totally open to a newer or different sound to the song. This way I can imagine how I will mix the song. If I know what the artist wants. I'll get to work and start in that same order. First fix all the production things and go back and forth with the artist until that is good and then after that start mixing. It's kind of like fixing a car's motor and after that is done, I'll start painting the car and fixing all the details.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work at Muyard Studios in Amsterdam and the setup they have there is kinda crazy. There's so much equipment! For recording vocals, I use a U87 into a 18i20. The rest happens mostly in the box tho since I'm on the road a lot and don't always have the time and space to use outboard gear. For recording guitar, I do almost always use a pedalboard and a Marshall stack or some other kind of tube amp.

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

A: Mike Dean, Leslie Brathwaite, TM88, Quincy Jones, Kanye West, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie van Halen, James Brown, George Clinton, Mark Ronson, Earth Wind and Fire, Funkadelic, Johnny Guitar Watson, Bootsy Collins, Bob Marley, Wes Montgomery, Robert Glasper, Travis Scott, Migos, Jay Z, Pharrel Williams, Guns N Roses, The Beatles and many more...

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

A: The work I do most for people is mixing, mastering and co producing. Basically turning a project into a final product.