– Pay Attention to Transients, i.e. Control Harsh Transients and Make Them More Organic by Softening Transients
– at Least 3 Reference Tracks that You can Constantly A/B to Your Mix Progression and Levels
– Mix Around the Kick, i.e. Make the Kick the Same Level to a Reference Track and / or Start from a Kick that Really Peaks at 0dBFS (or Maybe -1dB or -2dB) just as the Fully Normalized (Downloaded) Reference Track is
– in House Especially the Kick is Very Much the Fundamental to the Mix and the Whole Groove of the Track, Throwing Too Much on Top of the Fundamental Elements you Will Lose the Groove / Punch and the Kick Disappears on the Laptop
– Keep Fundamental Elements Clear and Nice, i.e. Kick / Clap / Hat are Fundamentals of a House Track and if the Elements are Not Sounding Right it Wont Work on the Floor and Sound Weak Against Other Tracks in that Genre
– Take Care Where the Vocals Sit in the Mix, Reverb Alone Wont Fix this and Especially if there is Nothing Else with Reverb in the Project, Make it a Part of the Track Just as an Instrument, Be Aware that Many May Request you to Make the Vocals Louder (i.e. A&R Manager)
– Reference to Commercial Tracks also During Production, Not Only During Mixing / Mastering, i.e. Check Where the Kick / Hi Hats Sits etc.
– SC Bass / Kick is Crucial, there is Not Room for Both at the Same Time, Make it Loud as Possible Without Distorting, i.e. SC Bass / Kick to the 0dBFS Value and then Compare to Other Productions, Use MB SC to Preserve Top Harmonics
– Warns You to Count on Big Improvements (if at All) in the Mastering Process, Has Only Sonnox Inflator Followed by a Brickwall Limiter with TP Engaged on the Master Bus
– Warns Using Limiters as Any Sound Loses Impact, also Rarely Uses Compressors (Only for an Effect or for Envelope Shaping)
– Distortion is the Main Tool to Give a Sound Impact, i.e. Peaking Quieter but Make it Louder by Adding More Noise / Harmonics
– Control Transients for Every Sound, Especially Attack of a Sound, i.e. Make Them More Natural
– Sometimes Adds White Noise to the Transients for Definition
– Groups Bass / Music / Drums and Sends Them to the Master Buss which has an Automated Filter to Cut the Low End in Breakdowns
– also has an FX Buss for Any Incidental Noises that Don’t Affect the Main Groove or Melody
– Lastly an Vocal Buss
– Tries to Keep the Kick Largely Unaffected by Group FX as the Kick is the Central Part of the Mix
– Subtle Warmth Comes from Rich Harmonics, He Focusses Saturation in the Low Mids Especially on Drums
– for Space, Apart from Kick and Bass, he Makes Most Things Stereo with Waves 2 Tap Delay
– Depth is Achieved by Delays and Reverbs on Some Sounds and by Paying Close Attention to the Subharmonics of Kick Drums and Basslines
– Cuts Everything Below 30Hz and Makes Sure Kick and Bass are Giving Good Energy at Around 50Hz
– Does Not Master the Tracks, Only a Clipper Before Limiter
– Again, his General Advice (Beside having Good Working Sound Sources) is Getting the Kick to Sound Right and the Rest will Follow, i.e. Good Kick and Harmonically Rich Samples
- Quantize as Much as Possible for More Room in the Mix, then You also Need to Less Squash Everything to Make it Sound Finished
– Uses Genelec 1238A which are also Great for Sub Bass Monitoring
– Loves Maserati GTi on Everything that has a Pluck
– Uses Quik Quak Fusion Field Reverb for Long Colorful Reverb and Adding to Tension / Build Ups
– for a Lifeless Drum Bus he Uses Waves SSL Bus Comp
– for Boring Sounds Izotope Trash
– Uses Arturia Minimoog Dubstation 1.5 as Dub Delay
– Uses JJP Vocals on Vocal Bus for Lifeless / Dull Vocals (Sometimes CLA Vocals)
– Uses Cubase Quadra Fuzz Multiband Distortion to Distort High Frequencies for Sizzle
– Received a Tip from a Mastering Studio to Use a De-Esser and Take Out the Harsh Clicks / Pops and Make Things Sound More Analogue, i.e. Especially Harsh High Frequencies and Popping Transients
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