Over the years, I had the invaluable fortune to work with some of the most talented engineers, producers, musicians and song-writers. It was and continues to be a very humbling experience, made particularly exciting by being able to witness how great music can be delivered with minimum effort, privileging performance over perfection, vibe over labour and character over sterile technique. Like my mentors, I believe that music cannot exist without performance, a concept too easily forgotten in the studio.

My approach to making music

As a recording engineer, I strive to put musicians at ease - I enjoy befriending them and I commit to understand what makes them write and perform exceptional music. I then set out to create the ideal environment for that music to thrive. Music needs the right space, the right mindset, the right time of the day, even the right food to stand a chance to blossom, and it is the engineer’s duty to understand this, blow on the fire and get things going. Under the right conditions, it is easy to capture great music, simply and effortlessly.

 

As a mixer, I simply love that process of discovery and revelation. Italian sculptor Michelangelo used to say that the statue was already contained within the block of white marble towering in from of him,  and all he had to do was to just chisel away the excess. Far from being an art genius, I also humbly believe that a recording already contains the right mix - the soul of the performance is smeared all over the music, and a careful and caring mixer will hear it out, and place the elements in the right sequence, at the right level, with the right effects. I am very instinctive in my mixes, and I trust my ears more than any techniques I might have learnt over the years. I love unusual textures, wide canvasses, steep dynamics - a small recording with a big soul craves to be big again, and if the performance is great a good mix should return the depth and width that have gone missing.

 

My production is very much alike: I respect the author, and I work to give his/her music a chance to deliver its message. I only suggest ideas when the thread is lost, like when a friend can tell another friend that something isn’t quite right. I enjoy working on the sonic content to set up a vibe and to help choose a tempo. Arrangements are also crucial and can radically affect a performance, which is something I enjoy working on right from the start. Once everybody is happy with tempo, arrangement, key and general mood, the recording is typically a formality, and at this stage more sonic experimentation can usually take place.