Matt Huber
How did you first get into audio engineering and mixing, and what made you realize this could become your career?
I grew up playing music in bands and in church. I found myself in many occasions being the guy that spent half of his time in front of an FOH console, dialing things in, running up to the stage tweaking tones and mic placement. I was honestly just fascinated by the pursuit of great audio. For some unknown reason, I found myself spending hours on (what is now known as) Gearspace, reading endless interviews, banter about gear & plugins, just absorbing any info I could about all things audio.
As time went on, I started dabbling in production, and found that the skills and knowledge I had acquired over those years were useful for other people, and to my surprise, people wanted to pay me for my time. As someone who grew up in cities where there was no “music industry,” this was a revelation for me. You can have a career making MUSIC?!
Production quickly developed into producing AND mixing, and that’s when I really found my lane. I was always a decent producer, but always felt a step behind people who I viewed as “real producers.” With mixing, I had so much to learn, but the path forward felt obvious and doable for me. I knew that it may take hundreds of mixes before I felt confident, but that was a path that I was excited to take.
At a pivotal time in my career, I was reading a classic business book called “Good to Great.” The author was studying companies that spent years as the mediocre under-performer, then out of seemingly nowhere became an industry GREAT. What they found is that all of these companies had an inflection point, where they focused only on the thing that they were Deeply Passionate About and had the potential to Be the Best in the World at what they were aiming to do.
When I read that, I knew that that thing for me was mixing. I wasn’t the best in the world at it, but I saw what that path to greatness looked like (getting .5% better mix after mix for thousands of mixes), and I thought…”I can do that.” So, I sold all of my production gear and pivoted to having a single focus: mixing. I haven’t looked back, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.
How would you describe your production/mixing style today and how has it evolved since you started?
The way it started is still the way I think about it today - as a mixer, I view my role as the “fifth member of the band,” someone who comes in and doesn’t necessarily impose his own vision on a song…my role is to LISTEN and sense the intention of the song, and elaborate and expound on that.
That said, I grew up listening to pop music, and always appreciated songs that sounded like they cost millions of dollars to make — that “expensive” sound, full of intention, energy and precision. I am still very much drawn to and driven by pop values: a larger than life presentation and a sound that connects to the widest variety of people as possible.
The music industry is continually evolving, how do you navigate the changes whilst keeping the soul of the music intact?
I think that a music professional at any level needs to always be a student - always learning, always humble, always willing to change. I simply try to stay connected to what is happening NOW - listening to New Music Friday every week, learning what the brand new bedroom producer/mixer is doing, and also maintaining a close relationship with fellow mixers in the industry and learning from them.
The second you think you “have it figured out” is the second you’ll start declining. Staying humble and seeking to learning from anyone, from beginner to pro, is essential in staying connected to where things are going.
Lastly, I think it is so important to always be an ALLY and collaborator with the artists that come your way. Stay available to the music, the emotion and the intention. If I can do those things, I can grow and change as the industry grows and changes.
With so much music being made remotely, how has file sharing and digital collaboration changed your workflow?
It’s absolutely essential. My goal with the tools I use is usually twofold:
To serve my clients better. Are there tools out there that make my client’s (A&Rs, Artists, Producers) lives easier? Removing friction in every step of the process is essential to me. I want mixing to feel like the easiest stage of music production.
To create as much room as possible for me to focus on the CREATIVE instead of the technical. I hav loved how modern technology has made things easier and faster, how the best tools take a minimal amount of time & brain power, so I can bring my best to the MIX instead of having to fuss around with complicated software and processes.
Do you think better file management can lead to better music? Why or why not?
One hundred percent. Like I was saying in the previous question, we all have limited mental bandwidth - its a zero sum game. If I’m devoting a lot of mental energy to file management, it’s taking valuable energy from what really matters - serving my clients with a great mix that accomplishes the intent and emotion they are wanting to convey.
How does quick, secure file sharing impact the creative flow of a project?
By GETTING OUT OF THE WAY.
If you could take away one routine audio-engineering job – what would it be?
Printing stems! Haha…thankfully there have been amazing developers out there who have created automated bouncing softwares that have been utterly life changing for us mix engineers, especially in the age of Atmos, where detailed stem-outs are an everyday need.
For people trying to break into engineering or production today, do you have any advice? What skills do you think matter most?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned - “Being a great mix engineer is not enough.”
You need to put in those thousands of hours to get great at your craft, but if you stop there, you will not have a successful career. You need integrity, organization, timeliness, a good bedside manner, and you need your artists to KNOW that they can trust you and that you are their greatest ally.
A great example - I work with so many artists who feel like they need to apologize for sending notes because they have worked with mix engineers who make them feel guilty or stupid for sending notes. Never forget that you are in the service industry — you are SERVING someone else’s art & creative vision. Notes and tweaks are not an insult, they are the key to COLLABORATION. Invite that collaboration, allow artists to feel excited about that process, not guilty!
You’ve worked with so many prominent artists, but can you give us one that you would love to produce or mix (living or dead)?
There are so many amazing artists that have made a huge impact on me — I mean, I would have loved to work with Michael Jackson or some of the great Max Martin pop of the 00s — but what I really spend most of my time dreaming about is finding and working with the next legend, being with them at the very beginning of their career, digging deep to accomplish something great, timeless and meaningful. That relationship, collaboration and team mentality - being in the trenches together to create something great - that is what gets me MOST excited.