I believe being exposed to that outlook with artists I respect would be educational and rewarding. From the tones to the articulations of a section, artists in prog music always have a fully fleshed out idea of what they are trying to achieve in the end. Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?Ī: I would love to work with Plini or any of the great progressive instrumental guitarists because of their heavy focus on their song's vision. Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?Ī: I would take my Axe Fx II, my Music Man JP 6, Scarlett 18i20 interface to record into my Macbook Pro, which I would also bring, and my sm7b for vocals because singing is another major passion of mine. I love using Modern and Massive and Superior Drummer for midi drums as they offer a natural clean sound to the foundation of a song. I also use Nolly's Neural DSP plugin as well. I have an Axe Fx II at my home studio, which I use for guitar tracking and re-amping. I have engineered latin jazz songs for clients in the past, as well as, blues tunes.Ī: I have a home studio and I occasionally do freelance work at of a studio called Lighthouse Sounds in Alton, IL. Q: What type of music do you usually work on?Ī: Progressive rock, metal, djent, and post-hardcore. I would love to take on more remote projects in the future and work on other genres alongside rock. Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?Ī: I went to school for Music Technology back in 2010 and started taking clients in 2015. Anything audible, like a phone recording, will help paint the image in the engineer/producers head. Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?Ī: It always helps to provide demos even if they aren't recorded that well. Having tracks labeled and categorized makes the project prepping process much easier, which allows for a faster turn around time. Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?Ī: What sound they are looking to achieve, if they have any demos/recordings, their deadline, and if they can ensure files are sent in a folder and organized. Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do? Since I am working on their song, I value all feedback from my clients and try my best to ensure their mix comes out the way they intended. I never mind sharing the progress of a mix. Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?Ī: Q: Can you send us a bounce down of the mix where it's at now? It's like painting a picture and when you get to the end of the painting/mix it's so rewarding to see/hear the finished product knowing where it started from. Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?Ī: My promise is that I will provide commercial quality mixes to their standard and will not be content until they are.Ī: Being able to work on songs I genuinely like and being a part of bringing them to life. I have worked with analog equipment at school, but for my home set up it just makes sense to keep it in the box. He is a great engineer who I've worked with in the past, super nice guy too.Ī: Digital. Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?Ī: Adam Bentley from Arch Echo. I took care of all the audio for it and am very happy with how it turned out! I'm also finishing up an EP for a client that involves bassist Dave LaRue so that's just too cool. Q: What are you working on at the moment?Ī: About to release an EP for my band Pale Kaiori on Oct. It's a bit of a passion project and to see it finally come to fruition is an amazing feeling! I not only handled the mixing and mastering for the album but I also composed the songs, sang on them, and helped with the design work. What was your role?Ī: I would say the EP that is about to release for my band. Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why.
Feel free to contact me with details on your next new single!Ĭlick the 'Contact' above to get in touch. If you are interested in working together I would love to hear from you. I enjoy helping artists with composition, midi programming, and creating back-tracks for live use as well. I pride myself on attention to detail and assisting clients with revisions until they are fully satisfied with a product.
I have spent years composing metal, being a studio guitarist for many projects, and putting in the effort to ensure my mixes are up to professional quality standards. I focus heavily on mixing and producing progressive metal, djent, post-hardcore, and pop punk. Currently I've been looking to branch out into the remote mixing realm to further expand my career in the field. I graduated from Southwestern Illinois College with a degree in Music Technology back in 2014 and started working as a freelance engineer in 2015. My name is John Alsop and I'm a mixing engineer, producer, guitarist, and composer.