Music Production

Dean Marino works as a freelance producer/arranger/engineer with over 30 years experience. From humble beginnings in his parent’s basement in the 1990s, recording local bands on his 8-track Fostex open-reel machine, to working with international acts as house engineer, producer and eventually co-owner of Chemical Sound Recording Studios.  During Dean’s 12-year association with Chemical, he worked in every genre from classical, to folk to metal, from punk, to hip hop to jazz with countless artists, some of them household names.  If you came of age in the mid 2000s you have probably heard some of Dean’s influence in the soundtrack of you life.  Much of Dean’s behind-the-scenes work as over the years has gone unsung, but if you listen to his own work as a recording artist you can get a sense for Dean’s strengths as an arranger/composer. In 2010 Dean formed the band, Papermaps who quickly signed a record contract and released three full-length albums and one EP between 2011 and 2018 with Dean at the helm as producer/engineer, principle songwriter and co-arranger. In the mid 2010s Dean became a father, retired from studio ownership and touring, and paired his recording equipment collection down to the most-essential pieces. In 2019 he opened shop once again as a freelancer out of his own private producer’s room, “the Echo Box,” in the west end of Toronto. Dean describes the Echo Box as “more of a workshop than a studio in the traditional sense” with it’s “open concept” and “lite on the amenities” approach. Although Dean is comfortable working in just about any studio in town, large, small or even improvised, most of his recent clients choose to work at the Echo Box.

Dean’s Rate Card:

Tracking/production/arrangement services: $60 CAD per hour

Final Mix Services: starting at $300 CAD per song (includes 2 revisions)

A flat rate for full productions (tracking and mixing of albums/eps) are also negotiable

Contact Dean directly at: ex.po.dean [at sign] gmail [dot com]
Or click the banner below to find dean at Soundbetter.com
DeanMarino, Mixing Engineer on SoundBetter

Dean’s (incomplete) discography on Discogs


 

Tracking is the process of capturing or recording performances, usually as separate parts or sounds, called “tracks” into a Digital Audio Workstation or onto multitrack analogue tape media. This process might involve learning, rehearsing, arranging, or otherwise developing those parts in-session before “takes” or attempts are made to record. A producer’s job is to make sure that everything that needs to be recorded is done so on time and on budget all the while ensuring the best possible-performance and fidelity of sound has been rendered. Sometimes the technical aspect of recording, called audio engineering, is handled by a separate person, sometimes the producer takes on both roles (or allows an assistant engineer to aid them in the technical aspects). Sometimes the musicians/artists themselves take on some of the technical aspects of recording. These roles are often discussed and defined at the project’s start. Producers often mix the recordings into final results.

Mixing is the creative and often-transformative process of taking the raw multitracks of a sound recording (i.e. individual microphones and instruments) and balancing them (sometimes editing) them, into a final polished stereo format (usually a high-resolution, lossless digital wav file).  Mixing can also result in a number of “stem files,” which are six to eight stereo wav files containing pre-mixed elements of a final mix separated into broad groups such as “all drums” and “all guitars.” Producers often mix multitracks they oversaw, sometimes other producers or “mix engineers” are hired to provide a final mix.

Mastering is the largely-technical, often creative process of readying a final mix for digital distribution and/or manufacture. The goal of mastering is to make the final mix feel “louder” and more consistent across various media platforms while attempting not to compromise the fidelity of the original recording. Mastering allows music to sound “on par” with everything else in the market in terms of loudness, punch and impact. Dean Marino does not consider himself a mastering engineer and therefore outsources this process to a small number of trusted specialist mastering engineers.