Tyler Spratt (Dave Matthews Band, Nadia Vaeh)

Tyler Spratt is an award-winning mixing engineer, producer, acoustician, and audio consultant. He received his Masters in Recording Arts and Technology from Middle Tennessee State University and went on to work at the historic Village Studios in West LA with artists such as Dave Matthews Band, Pierce The Veil, and Snoop Dogg. As a mixer, Spratt’s credits include Nadia Vaeh, Moby, The Brevet, Courtney Paige Neilson, The Frets, and Molly Moore.

Tell us about your current studio setup.

I mix on Fluid Audio FX-80s with two FS8 Sub Woofers. My DAW is Pro Tools Ultimate, but I can also work in Logic and Ableton. My go-to plugins are the Fab-Filter Pro-Q 3 and Metric Halo Channel Strip.

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

I work in a lot of different genres, as well as mix for TV and Film. The changes in genre and format help keep me motivated. Also, trying new mixing techniques and seeing how I can incorporate them into my setup is always fun. One thing I always try to do is simplify what I’m doing. That includes reducing the number of plugins I’m using and how I’m using them.

How do you typically approach the mixing of a song.

I first save a new session and listen to what the artist is doing in their mix. If what they have going is pretty good, I will leave their plugins and automation, tweak a few things, and use my template to fill in the gaps. I rarely zero everything out and start from scratch because the producers and artists I work with have a pretty good understanding of what they want, and if you start from their ground level, you can build off what they are already doing.