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about me

mix engineer, music producer, musician

From a very early age, I was a musician - initially a pianist and shortly after that, a guitarist and singer.

At the same time, I developed a penchant for recording the songs I wrote, starting on a dual-deck cassette recorder, moving on to a 4-track, and then using computers.  I fronted a metal band called Monokey, a studio project called Beneath The Dirt, and an ongoing solo project called DiceJar.  

After recording my own music, this progressed into recording other bands, which continued further into regularly working with a wide variety of different artists, helping to turn their sounds and visions into full-on productions. 


I went to the University of West London where I was awarded a First Class Honors degree in Music Technology which helped to encourage my career.  This developed further into working in multiple recording studios in London, including the YouTube Space, where I worked on events and live recordings for some well-known artists, such as Linkin Park, Lewis Capaldi, Muse, Miles Kane, The Temperance Movement, and many more.

After the YouTube Space closed, those production rooms reopened as a new entity - Rews Digital Studios - at which I was the Head of Audio for some time. 
 

I write library music and have a YouTube channel called James Arter Music, which specialises in creating videos in music production and mixing - view some videos below or access the full channel here. Also, I used to host a metal radio show/podcast called The Heavy Show, of which you can still listen to some of the previous episodes here.


I subsequently relocated from London to Liverpool in search of new adventures and now operate from both.

James Arter

Services

Here are some of the main services I offer.

mixing & mastering

Over 15 years of experience working across multiple genres. Mixing from a dedicated, acoustically-treated mix room with high end monitoring ensuring a professional quality sound when working with any project.

music production

I've worked with a huge amount of clients, whether they be solo artists or bands, and I draw from all of my years of experience when working in music production.

session musician / songwriter

As a multi-instrumentalist session musician, I offer an extensive repertoire of services, including guitar, piano, drums and vocals, as well as song writing. I've been writing and recording songs with clients, all from varing genres, for years.

music I've worked on...

Below is a selection of music I've been involved in, whether that be production, songwriting, performing, mixing, or mastering.

Specific information about the involvement for each song is available in the expandable box beneath the music player.
 

INVOLVEMENT IN EACH SONG (expand to view): key: P - Production | M - Mixing | Ma - Mastering | S - Songwriting | Pr- Performing | A- Arrangement. 1. Until The End (P, M, Ma, S, Pr, A) 2. Foe (P, M, Ma, A) 3. Till The End (P, A) 4. Hurt Me (P, M, Ma) 5. Come Back Mine (P, M, Ma, S, Pr, A) 6. Call It a Sin (P, M, Ma, Pr, A) 7. Make My Day (M, Ma, Pr) 8. Wrong With Me (P, M, Ma, A) 9. Degenerating Mind (P, M, Ma, S, Pr, A) 10. You're So Cool (P, M, Ma, S, Pr, A) 11. A Wonderful Time To Lose (M, Ma) 12. Shutdown (P, M, Ma, S, Pr, A) 13. Nuthin I Won't Do (Ma) 14. Mutate (M, Ma) 15. Faded Away (P, M, Ma, A) 16. Running Up That Hill (M, Ma) 17. Leave Me When You Go (P, M, Ma, A)

YouTube Channel

In my channel - James Arter Music - I share tips and tricks for music production and mixing.

Cycle through and click on any videos you'd like to view, alternatively, visit the channel here:

JAMES ARTER MUSIC - YouTube Channel

How To Prepare Your Tracks For MASTERING
10:19

How To Prepare Your Tracks For MASTERING

►► SIGN UP TO THE MAILING LIST AND GET SOME FREE STUFF! ►► https://www.jamesarter.com/freestuff You'll get... - EQ Cheat Sheet - One-shot drum Samples (I use some of these in every mix!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: http://www.jamesarter.com Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jamesartermusic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamesartermusic ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How To Prepare Your Tracks For MASTERING I get asked this a fair bit by my clients so I thought it might be useful to put together a video answering many of the most-asked questions about how to prepare your tracks for mastering. Below are some time stamps in case you want to jump to the most useful section. I'm planning to cover which format is best to use, whether you should leave on mix bus processing. how much headroom to leave and lots more! 00:11 - 1. Which FORMAT should you provide your mix in? 01:22 - 2. Should I leave MIX BUS PROCESSING on? 03:02 - 3. How much HEADROOM should I leave? 03:53 - 4. What if the mix is CLIPPING? 04:39 - 5. Should I provide STEMS? 05:30 - 6. Should I provide REFERENCES? 06:49 - 7. Is mastering different for CD, STREAMING, and VINYL? 08:33 - 8. What about embedding ISRC CODES? 09:33 - Brief SUMMARY #mastering #preparingformastering #stemmastering #masteringtips #masteringformats #masteringengineer #streaming #vinylmastering #cdmastering #samplerate #bitrate #441or48k #24bitor16bit #24bit #16bit #44.1k #48k #whichsamplerate #whichbitrate
JST Howard Benson Vocal Multiplier - Plugin Walkthrough & Demo
12:32

JST Howard Benson Vocal Multiplier - Plugin Walkthrough & Demo

►► SIGN UP TO THE MAILING LIST AND GET SOME FREE STUFF! ►► https://www.jamesarter.com/freestuff You'll get... - EQ Cheat Sheet - One-shot drum Samples (I use some of these in every mix!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: http://www.jamesarter.com Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jamesartermusic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamesartermusic ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JST Howard Benson Vocal Multiplier - Plugin Walkthrough & Demo In this video, I'm taking you through this fantastic plugin by Howard Benson and JST, the Vocal Multiplier. Its main intended purpose is to create vocal doubles but, as you'll see, it does so much more than that. It really helps to make the vocal sound thicker and to create some space around it. Check it out! 00:59 - 1. PLUGIN SETUP 01:40 - 2. PLUGIN WALKTHROUGH 10:25 - 3. EXAMPLES - Before & After Further information on the Joey Sturgis Tones website: https://joeysturgistones.com/products/howard-benson-vocal-multiplier JST is celebrating 10 years of making plugins - crazy that it's been that long already! - so make sure you follow them on Instagram for more tips and tricks. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joeysturgistones/ Song used (by permission) in video: DiceJar - Lose Control https://open.spotify.com/track/6ulPtrGTN3qu9AOcRCC2mA?si=516a4b0f3b864e5a #howardbensonvocalmultiplier #JoeySturgisTones #vocalplugins #mixingvocals #jst #howardbenson #vocaldoubler #vocalfx #vocaleffects #DecadeofJST #JoeySturgisTones #audioplugins #mixing #mixengineer #musicproducer
Plugin Insert Reordering - Pro Tools Update 2023.9
01:26

Plugin Insert Reordering - Pro Tools Update 2023.9

►► SIGN UP TO THE MAILING LIST AND GET SOME FREE STUFF! ►► https://www.jamesarter.com/freestuff You'll get... - EQ Cheat Sheet - One-shot drum Samples (I use some of these in every mix!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: http://www.jamesarter.com Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jamesartermusic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamesartermusic ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plugin insert Reordering - Pro Tools Update 2023.9 in the latest update for Pro Tools, Avid have released a bunch of new features. One of them is one that has been needed for a long time - since the beginning of the Pro Tools journey - so it's a very welcomed addition. Forever, when using Pro Tools, if you wanted to move a plugin to the top insert slot but it was occupied by another plugin, you'd have to shuffle everything down a slot in order to make that happen. Now, it's all changed, you can simply drag the plugin to the slot you want and, if it's occupied, it'll simply shuffle that plugin - and everything else - down one. Yes, we're still limited to how many slots you have in general but that's not the end of the world. I think many Pro Tools users will agree that this is something that has been needed for a long, long time and will make many people very happy. Good work, Avid! For further reading and a full list of updates, you can view them here: https://resources.avid.com/SupportFiles/PT/Whats_New_in_Pro_Tools_2023.9.pdf #protools #plugininsertreordering #avidprotools #protools2023.9 #daw #protoolsupdate

Adam Falkner (One Eskimo, Baby Shambles, Dido, Amy MacDonald)

"I've worked with James Arter for many years. He is a fantastic engineer and producer and never does things in half-measures. He always manages to pull a huge drum sound out of the smallest spaces and makes everything sound like the finished article. A hard grafter and a gentleman!"