Mixing and mastering

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

A: Once a kid comes to me in order to get his song mixed. He provided a beat and a couple of vocals of his. I cannot say how enthusiastic he was, how humble he was and how bad his takes were. I was about to reject the project as the result was going to be no good at all. But he knew he wasn't good and yet he wanted the job done. I did my best making him singing in tune and in tempo. I had to do many of those things manually, altering pitch and splitting and nudging multiple clips. The result was actually acceptable. And the kid was really happy with the outcome.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital. Simpler, easier, faster. Quality is the same.

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

A: I promise the hardest work from my side.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: What I like most is how I can transform a set of individual recordings into a good song.

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

A: Usually, how long I will have the mix ready. My answer is "it depends on the number of tracks".

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

A: I think it is the thought that the mixing engineer is a mind-reader. We are responsible for the mix, but the artists need to transmit what they want. Sometimes the artists think that all mixes are equal, but there are so many mixes as artists. That's why a start with a discussion with the client, in order to set clear targets and expectations.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I always ask two things: 1) what's the vibe the client needs and/or wants for the song and 2) specific details the artist wants to include in it.

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

A: Patience. In particular for new artists, they usually wants a hit. Sometimes that hit needs work, time, trial, error and fixing and adjustments. Communication is essential.

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

A: Gear ? I would be happy with my classical guitar and my ukelele. I don't think there is electrical power in a desert island.... ha ha ha.

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

A: I've been mixing and mastering for more than 15 years, although I've been a musician for almost 40 years.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: As a mixing engineer, I think that automation is essential to make every instrument counts with a distinctive part inside the song.

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

A: I enjoy working on pop, rock, blues, but lately I've been working also on R&B, hip-hop and rap.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is the listening process, not only the music, not only the song but the musician. Every musician has a particular way to create and has a song playing in the head. I listen to the musician and we work together to translate that idea into a song.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I usually try to provide musicality to song. As a musician, I do not only look for a good mix, but a good song, a song one wants to listen.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My typical workflow is discussing with the customer, cleaning tracks, mixing, discuss the mix, adjust mixing, agree with the customer mix is ready, mastering, deliver the master.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I recently reduced my studio setup to my desktop computer. I count with an Apple iMac 27', a couple of Focusrite Audio interface (Sapphire 24 and Clarett 4Pre USB), a Yamaha mixing console (for recording mainly), a Presonus Fadeport 8 DAW controllers, a Stream Deck for triggering plugin insertions and an AKAI Midimix console for plugin management.

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

A: As I am also a musician, I've been inspired for very popular artists like Beatles, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Police, Stevie Wonder. I also like a lot jazz singers like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennet and Michael Bubble. Although all these are male singers, I enjoy mixing female voices. I also like world music (samba, bolero, bachata, cumbia, flamenco).

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

A: My most common type of work is mixing and basic mastering of songs. Before mixing, I like to talk to the clients and set expectations, based on what the client wants and needs. I request good recordings, but if they are not good I carefully work on cleaning tracks, and in some special cases, I work on their restoration. Once the song is mixed, I deliver the draft of the mix for client revision. The client makes notes (if any) and I adjust the mix based on those. Once the client is comfortable with the outcome, I deliver a mastered song with the ear set on tonal balance and current loudness values. My deliverables are a very good starting point to publish the song on streaming platforms as well CD burning. If the client needs a separate master for both media, I will provide two different masters. Usually I deliver, two high qualities files for Apple and Windows lossless format and one lossy format file (mp3@256kbps).