Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, Therapy?, Biffy Clyro)

London-based producer and mixer Chris Sheldon has worked on numerous groundbreaking rock albums for acts such as the Foo Fighters (mixing The Colour and The Shape), Feeder, Skunk Anansie, and Biffy Clyro. Starting as a tea boy at Utopia Studios in the 1980s, Sheldon continues to work closely with producer Giles Martin, engineering and mixing tracks for the Rocketman soundtrack. He also produced and mixed the latest Therapy? album. (Photo by Marcus Maschwitz)

Tell us about your current studio setup.

I use Pro Tools, UAD interfaces, and KRK and Genelec monitoring. I use all kinds of plugins to get the result I want, but you do not need to spend a fortune. I am a big fan of some of the cheaper end of the spectrum, such as Massey and Baby Audio.

Having produced so many songs over the past few years, how do you stay fresh and excited about making music these days?

It still gives me a thrill to finish a mix and get the artist excited about their work. I try to vary the work that I do, so I'm as happy to mix records by rock and alternative guitar bands as I am to mix folk trios. The end result is the same: maximizing the emotion and the hooks, plus there is always something new to discover in production or mixing that I haven’t heard before.

How do you typically approach the mixing of a song?

I always start by listening to the rough mix of the song and figuring out the ebb and flow of the track. I’ll often ask the band what their aspirations for the mix are and if they have any particular requests. Then it’s a case of creating a mix that showcases the strengths of the song. For me, mixing is mainly instinctive. I love moving parts around and trying ideas that the artist may not have thought of and presenting them to the artist.