Production services

Because I’m a total gear nerd and simply enjoy twisting some physical knobs I do have a some select outboard equipment. Equalizers and compressors by Elysia, Roll Music, Api, SPL, Roger Schult, as well as effects by Strymon and a good ol’ Roland Space echo, for example. Sometimes I’ll use them for their specific sound. Or maybe for their noise, distortion, and technical deficiencies that bring a bit more character to a digital recording. Finally, the acoustic design of my control room with its high-end monitoring helps me make informed decisions. At the moment, I have a pair of Focal Trio full-range speakers and Yamaha NS-10s with VOVOX cabling. At the end of the day, it’s all about being able to trust the sound coming from the speakers!

A lot the projects I produce and record, I also mix. But I often also mix music for artists that I haven’t recorded or produced which can equally be as much fun. Especially if we haven’t worked together before, we’ll begin with a conversation about the sonic vision and references you’ve been listening to. Once that starting point has been established, I’ll have a listen to the rough mix and the individual tracks. It’s pretty common that I’ll suggest changes to the arrangement or get into some editing work before actually mixing the song. Last but not least, I sometimes add drums, percussions or synths/keyboards to the track if I feel that the song needs it.

Unless you have your own mastering engineer you want to work with, I will recommend engineers we can trust and that have knocked out great-sounding masters in the past. Remember, this is the final step before sending your music out into the world! So I will be there to make sure it all goes smoothly and comes out sounding like a record. Because I have established relationship with these mastering engineers, we can communicate efficiently and work as a team for the best results. One of my favorite mastering engineers is Alex Kloss, who has his studio in the same building as my Satellite Studio. This means that I can get him involved during the mixing stage to really hone in on a cohesive sound or simply talk to him personally to manage deadlines and delivery details. Lastly, but probably most importantly, I very much value his skilled ears and musical taste just to get a second opinion. Other mastering engineers I have successfully worked with in the past are Kai Blankenberg and Jens Dreesen at Skyline Mastering, Maor Appelbaum, and Roger Lian at Masterdisk in NYC.

What else do I need to know?

If you want to stay ahead of the curve and prep your sessions right away, here’s what I would ask you to do:

1. Really take the time to organize your session with meaningful names for tracks and audio clips. No, “Audio 10.2.4_final_new” is not a meaningful track name!
2. Most music is released at 44.1 kHz, 24 Bit so this probably what you want to send me. If it’s a video project your session might be at 48 kHz or if you’ve already advanced to high-res recording maybe you have 96 or 88.1 kHz. If you have something else and don’t know what to send me, let me know!
3. Export each track individually over the full length of the song in the same format you’ve recorded in so they all start at the same point in time.
4. I like to get audio files without effects unless it’s an effect that you deliberately added to create the sound you’re going for. If you feel strongly about the sounds you already have, that’s great! Whatever sounds I don’t have to re-create, means I can spend more time actually mixing. If there are any issues, I’ll definitely let you know.
5. Include your latest rough mix so I have an idea what you’ve been listening to.
6. Also let me know the tempo (and potential tempo changes) of the song and include the written lyrics.
7. Let me know what music references you’ve been listening to and what your sonic vision is for the song or album.
8. There are lots of great DAWs, but I prefer mixing in Avid Pro Tools. If all of the exporting work mentioned above sounds really confusing to you, let me know. In some cases I will accept Pro Tools, Logic or Ableton Live sessions and do all the exporting myself to save you the hassle.
9. Send everything in a ZIP file via whatever cloud sharing service to my email address.

So how much does this cost me?

Prices vary depending on the project, but as a general rule of thumb it’s € 450.00 Euros per song including two mix revisions. There will be discounts for live mixing, EPs and full-length albums. Please get in touch to receive your individual quote!

Cool, so what’s next?

You’ll find a selection of projects I’ve mixed below. Dig in and check out some of those records.  Do I have your attention and you’re ready to move forward? Great! Just send me an e-mail, give me a call or get in touch via the social networks. I promise to get back to you ASAP!