Mixing It Up with Andrew Scheps
Mixing engineer/producer Andrew Scheps explains enhancing guitars with vocal tools, saturating single frequency bands and the plugins he grabs when a mix needs some love
Read MoreA Long Island native who got his start playing jazz trumpet, Andrew Scheps has mixed records for artists as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Metallica, Jay-Z and many others. After graduating from the Recording Engineering Program at the University of Miami, he spent some time working for New England Digital as a field service technician for the Synclavier, one of the first digital synthesizers / samplers / workstations, then on the road with Stevie Wonder (as a keyboard tech) and Michael Jackson (mixing live sound), before settling in LA.
Having gotten into mixing a few years before the analog-to-digital revolution, Andrew works with a collection of vintage gear at his Punkerpad West studio in Van Nuys, California, including a Neve Electronics BCM-10 with ten 1073s that were used for reference during the Waves Audio Scheps 73 plugin modeling process.
Scheps is known for his balanced, modern sounding and often loud mixes. He recently declared to work completely "ITB" (in the box), which stands for working completely inside a computer, without the use of external gear. "Going back into the box wasn’t a sonic decision, but I actually rediscovered that I really like it. It’s great to be able to work on three or four songs at the same time. I have not gone back to working on the desk since then. While I miss some of the visceral hands-on aspects of the console, there is a lot of creative freedom working this way. It might seem like a drastic change, but it are only the tools that have changed: remarkably my philosophy and sound have stayed the same"
He is also the owner and president of Tonequake Records and Punker Pad West.
