Behind the Mix
Studio · Sessions · Craft Notes
14 APR 2026
Plate reverb revival
Bought a new plate this month. There's a texture on dialogue tails you just can't replicate digitally. Started using it on the Brezza cut — the density at 2kHz sits differently, you stop fighting the mix and start listening to it.
28 MAR 2026
On mixing for OTT vs theatrical
Waking of a Nation needed two masters — a cinema version and a SonyLIV version. The dynamic range you can afford changes everything: what sits at -18 LUFS in a hall becomes inaudible on phone speakers. You don't compress, you rebuild.
10 MAR 2026
Score sessions with Kunal
Three weeks of BG score sessions for Madgaon. Kunal wanted humour in the low end — a rare brief. We ended up using a Juno-60 sub layer under the drums to carry the joke. Hearing Filmfare recognize that work was something.
22 FEB 2026
Why I stopped using presets
A preset is someone else's decision applied to your problem. Nine years in, I build every chain from scratch. Slower, yes. But I remember every move I made — which means I can defend it to a director, and undo it when it's wrong.
08 FEB 2026
New monitors arrived
Replaced the nearfields this week. Spent three days just re-listening to old mixes and noticing what I'd missed. Every pair of monitors teaches you what you weren't hearing before. It's humbling every single time.
18 JAN 2026
A note on client communication
The best briefs I've received were one line long. "Make it feel like a memory." Five words, clearer than a 40-point email. Sound designers don't need jargon — we need emotional precision. Learn to translate that before you touch a fader.
