Sean D: "It’s all about just keeping the sound that the artist wants."

(Sean D worked on ‘German Whip’ by Meridian Dan feat. Big H & JME)

Did you make music before you started mixing?

Yeah, I messed around with Fruity Loops when I was 13. I used to DJ, I used to play the guitar, just anything to do with music, and then I found a career and just stuck with it.

When you are mixing a song do you take full control of what is being done, or do you get artists who are particular about what sound they want?

Sean: When I started, I used to just take a song and be like 'fuck it' I’m just gonna do my thing, but now I’ve realised that you can't do that because, at the end of the day, it is the artist's work so, you have to listen to the rough mix and keep the sound, and work with the artist, and work with a lot of feedback. It’s all about just keeping the sound that the artist wants. You have to learn what sound the artist wants because you can just go off and do something that you think is good, but the artist won't agree and at the end of the day it’s the artist's work.

I am guessing that it is easier when the artist is in the studio.

I don't like mixing with an artist in the studio. I record an artist, but then the artist doesn’t want to sit there while you’re playing with the kick for four hours. They just start getting all aggravated. It’s more like I get a mix to a certain level, and then the artist will come in and I just get feedback, if I can.

How many hours do you spend to get that first good-sounding mix that you are happy with?

It’s always so different. I’ve done a mix in half an hour that I thought was amazing, and then I’ve done a mix that took me five hours a day for a week that I’m still not happy with. If I get stuck with the kick and the bass and how they’re sounding, then I could sit there and work on that, I would have breaks for my ears, but I could work on just a kick and the bass for five hours.

Do you usually mix in a studio environment or do you have a bedroom studio?

I’ve just got a flat with a spare room and I mix there. The room is the most important thing I find, it’s more important than anything. I got my carpenter friend to build me 16 bass traps and I’ve got them all around the room, and I use focal twins, but as long as the room sounds good, I can mix.

Are there independent artists hitting you up or is it mostly labels? How do you get your clientele?

They come and they go. I’ve been engineering for 11 years, so a lot of people I’ve met when I was engineering and when they were on the come-up. I’ve met a lot of people at a good time, it’s just right place, right time, and then I’ve kept them as clients. Then some jobs my manager sorts out, and it's just label jobs, and they come in like that. Once you have a brand people just come to you.

Do you think that branding is important for engineers and producers?

Yeah, nowadays a lot of artists don't even know what a good mix is. You get some artists who are quite musical, and they’ll really want a certain sound. But some artists are just gonna choose you because you’ve got the brand, and they’ve seen your Instagram and know what you're doing. I think that because of social media it’s really changed.

Do you also get tunes that you can't mix because of the quality of the recording?

Sean: All the time, some artists are recording in some really ghetto studios. You don't know what you’re going to get. A lot of the time the problem is that they don't want to re-record because you can't recreate the feeling they had when they were in the studio, so you have to just make it work.

Would you do something that 'sounds wrong' just because the client wants that? It is about your image as a mixing engineer and if you do something that sounds bad it might influence your brand.

I choose what I promote on my social media to control my branding. Obviously, the client is always right, so if they want something that doesn’t sound good, you have to do that as an engineer, otherwise, they would use someone else. But I choose what I promote. So if it is something that I don't like, and the song has gone somewhere where I don't like, I just won't put my name to it and I’ll just take the job. But it’s not an ideal situation, and normally the clients trust you.

Do you have a favourite song you worked on?

I have had songs that kind of changed things in my career. 'German Whip' was the first tune that went Top 20 and charted, and then I had 'Golden Boot' with Headie One, that was quite a big one, and obviously, 'Broken Homes', the first tune I was an A&R for. But I wouldn’t say that I have one.

Who is the favourite artist or project that you have worked with?

Well, The Plug is the biggest project. With The Plug, I A&R-ed it as well as engineered it. It was like a new thing for me to put the songs together. But it is really who you have the most fun with. M Huncho is more like a friend, so we get into a studio and we just vibe. In terms of sonically, I think that D Block Europe has quite an interesting sound, so when they send me a song, I really like to be creative with it.