I recently had the opportunity to grab an interview with Scott Horton of Virtual Mix Engineer. Scott is located in Prague but, thanks to technology, he provides mixing services for artists and bands across the globe.
I wanted to find out a little about Scott’s mixing process and what led him to creating VirtualMixEngineer.com.
Keep reading to learn more.
Briefly describe your background and what inspired you to create VirtualMixEngineer.com?
I am a mix engineer and Virtual Mix Engineer is merely my ‘brand’ and portal for my freelance music mixing service.
I’m originally from the Dallas area and realizing now the wonderful opportunities available in terms of musical training there. I’m a multi-instrumentalist, but specialized in orchestral percussion through high school and college. I graduated from Berklee College of Music double majoring in Music Production and Engineering and Music Business and Management.
School was defiantly a great start and drastically expedited the learning process, but I’ve learned just as much since being out of school from other materials and experience in regards to engineering and business.
Virtual Mix Engineer allows me to offer my services to independent bands and artists anywhere in the world due to the ease of file sharing and communication. Especially with the rising number of home recording rigs, more people are creating music but can benefit from an outside mix engineer to bring knowledge, experience, gear, and ideas to their music.
Who would you consider mentors as far as engineering and mixing go? I’m sure being around Berklee and Dallas gave you some interesting opportunities…
Mixers I look up to include the Alge Brothers, Justin Niebank, and Serban Ghenea.
Though I have not had the pleasure of actually being mentored by them, we live in a great area with so many resources available with insight from our mentors like Pensado’s Place, Sound on Sound, Mix and the internet in general.
At Berklee, my main mix tutor was Richard Mendelson and we often had some guest visits from some of the greats which was always inspiring.
When did you first realize you wanted to spend your life in the studio?
I started experimenting with recording with layering and dubbing on two cassette decks, then eventually with loops and hard-disk recorders for bands I was in at the age of twelve. The recordings are awful of course, but audio is all about experimenting, making mistakes, and learning from them.
When I went to Berklee, the Production and Engineering program really interested me so I did everything I could to be accepted into the program. I thought double majoring in Music Business would prove extremely useful as so much of the business is freelance, the more business knowledge I had the better.
I also made the personal realization that though I enjoy performing, my personality is more suited for studio work as I enjoy the newness each day brings. An artist spends weeks writing and recording a song, then the rest of their career performing it, while I hear the same song a hundred times, but once I’m finished with it, I get presented with a new challenge. So I like the ever-changing aspect of mixing.
Has the double major in Music Business helped? Did it you give you an edge when you started building your own business?
The Music Business degree has absolutely been beneficial to have, though I’m sure any sort of business studies could be applicable. In all freelance work, having the skills and/or knowledge of a topic is one thing, but to make a living out of it, you have to market yourself, run the websites and social media, perform accounting and run yourself as a business (same for all musicians actually).
What music did you listen to growing up? What music do you listen to now?
Growing up, like many people, I heard a lot of whatever my parents listened to which was mostly 60’s pop and Motown.
In my teens, I really connected with Pop-Punk groups stemming from Blink-182, The Rocket Summer, Sherwood, All Time Low, Green Day etc… Listening to Pop-Punk still makes me happy inside and energized.
I also make sure I listen to a variety of music and Top 40 to keep fresh on trends and sounds. I typically have AllMusic.com open and am looking up credits for sounds I’m liking and finding out more about the engineer’s approach. While I don’t listen to absolutely all genres for pleasure, I do enjoy getting mix in new genres.
Do you have a favorite genre you enjoying mixing more than others? Why?
Anything that is catchy is pleasurable to mix and will stay stuck in my head for days. This tends to be pop music, which is also fun because the track counts are usually high and it is a bit like a puzzle piece fitting everything together. Other genres have a general set of unspoken guidelines but in pop you can try out anything.
When working with an artist or band on a mix, what are your primary goals? Do you ever receive resistance from artists when trying to make suggestions?
In most cases, my primary goals are the artists goals, seeing as their music is their baby. So whether it is to sound contemporary, natural, loud, auto-tuned, I’ll try to make it happen. In all cases, the goal is to serve the song. Of course I’ll give my opinion if need be, and I usually try out my ideas so they hear them (as merely talking about the idea is not nearly as effective).
The biggest resistance usually stems from artists being very attached to their rough mix since they’ve heard it a certain way so many times. On the other hand, many artists are relieved to hear a new approach to their music. Sometimes the transformation is huge, while other times, the mix just builds upon and polishes the recording.
How should an artist prepare themselves mentally (and/or emotionally) for the mixing process?
Artists should be prepared by relaxing, letting go of the rough mix in their head and not paying attention to too many technical aspects of mixing. If an artist has some engineering skills, it is easy to want to get caught up in gear and routing, but it is best if they listen at the end of the process not as an artist necessarily, but as a normal listener would, hearing the song for the first time.
They should check the mix out on a variety of playback systems and make notes that jump out at them. In some cases, artist may want to be more involved in the entire mix process, in which case in-person mixing (rather than online) makes the most sense for them, though is often more expensive and choices can be limited.
How do you prepare yourself for the mixing process? Do you sit in silence? Listen to reference tracks? Take a power nap?
For me, the process is less of a meditative one as I prefer to have more of an aggressive attitude when beginning a mix.
I like to open the session with the aim in mind that I’ll bring something exciting to the music and by the end of the process the mix will be great!
Silence, naps, and references definetly do have their place in my workflow after the majority of the mix has been taken care of as they are essential to give the ears and mind a break and form a point of reference.
Briefly describe your workflow when working through a mix.
If I can, I like to separate some of the technical and creative aspects of the mix over a day or two.
So the first session, I’ll listen to the rough mix to get an idea of what the artist initially sketched out, then proceed to organize the session for my workflow, get familiar with the tracks,make edits, cut out silence, and tune any vocal tracks that need it.
The next time I open the session I begin the creative aspects of the mix. I may start with the rhythm section and gradually bring in the other elements to make sure everything sounds good together. Setting panning and basic levels are huge first tasks which dictate the image and direction of the song.
I usually get a vocal sound early on so I have a reference point of how to build the music around this. I’m processing tracks as needed at this point with equalization, compression, and effects. Around 2/3 of the way through I’ll add any buss processing and then try to imagine any special effects I can add to enhance the song.
Automation is my final task to make sure the song has a good flow from section to section and the vocal is always the star. I may run it through a mastering chain for myself to get a feel for how the processing may effect the levels. It is nice to have a break after this, and come back with fresh ears, listen on different speakers as a normal listener would and I’ll take notes with any changes I’d like to make to the mix.
After this, I send the mix to the artist at which point they have ample opportunity to make their own notes with any overall or specific revisions they’d like me to make. The first time working with an artist there may be a few more revisions while we get adjusted to each other’s style, but once everyone’s happy, I render out the final files and then the track goes to mastering.
What equipment and software do you have experience working with? What is your favorite piece of hardware and/or software?
I was initially trained on analog boards and outboard processing, but my own rig is completely in-the-box due to many advantages such as recall ability, routing, and cost effectiveness.
I work with Pro Tools and Logic for some tasks, but I’ve actually moved away from these workstations and find myself using Reaper because the workflow is very customizable and effortless with this software.
I use plenty of third party plug-ins as well which of course depend on the source material. I like the Slate Digital line for nearly every product they make in terms of analog emulation, drum sampling, and limiting. Wave’s H-EQ is very versatile for equalization and the CLA Compression line is extremely useful.
For people who may not know, briefly tell us more about Reaper and what drew you in to using it? What is your favorite feature?
I think Reaper is one of the best DAWs out there. It exists on Mac and PC, and also is extremely customizable, is updated often, and very intuitive to use. It is funny because it is also one of the cheapest DAWs on the market. Some features that draw me to Reaper are the simple routing capabilities, the fact that all tracks are treated equally, all key commands and actions can be customized, every effect has a parallel control, and offline bounce is useful.
What led you to making the decision to settle down in Prague?
Prague was one of my favorite cities before deciding to move here immediately after finishing school, which was ultimately made for romantic reasons 🙂
I like the atmosphere, freedoms, transportation, and centrality of the city within Europe. Speaking Czech is quite difficult, but I manage daily routines and continue to learn.
However, I believe being in a music hub like New York, Nashville, or Los Angeles does have major benefits in terms of networking, though disadvantages in terms of cost and competition. It is quite possible that I’ll end up in LA eventually, but I’m enjoying my time here and consider living abroad to be a very eye opening experience.
Is there a “dream” engineer or band you hope to work with before you kick the bucket?
My dream artist to work with would be The Rocket Summer, solely because he is my favorite artist to listen to so it would feel wonderful to be involved in a record. In terms of producers, I would imagine being sent a track to mix from Dr. Luke is a noteworthy goal.
What does the future hold for you and VME.com?
Engineers’ careers revolve around hits and credits, which is the classic conundrum: how to get to mix for major artists without having any major hits?
So much of mixing depends on the original song, production, and recording, so no matter how much you improve the track, to have hits there has to be some magic from the beginning. I’ll happily continue working with independent artists through VME, and with some luck, a few of the artists I work with will be successful in their own right, which will allow me to work on some higher profile productions.
Far down the line, I would like to expand in terms of the everlasting quest for gear and possibly branch into a few other areas of the biz.
