Vic Cuccia (Jake Miller, Sofia Reyes, Ty Dolla $ign)

Los Angeles-based multi-Platinum mix engineer Vic Cuccia mixed and mastered Silver Lining by Jake Miller (number two on iTunes) and engineered Sofia Reyes' R.I.P., which features Rita Ora and Anitta (400 million+ streams). Working with multi-Platinum producer Chaz Mishan, Cuccia also engineered for Ty Dolla $ign and mixed Malu Trevejo & Gente De Zona’s Nadie Como Yo (number one Pop/Latin with 20 million+ streams).

How do you typically approach the mixing of a song?

I take the process of ‘first listen’ quite seriously. I make sure the production is finished. If the artist provided a reference, I'll listen to that first as that will calibrate my ears to those sonics.

I then hit play on the rough mix and immediately start jotting down what's popping out to me. For example, ‘Add certain effect on this vocal at 0:13 seconds for further interest’; ‘the kick drum is overpowering the vocals’ and so on.

Once I do this run-through, I know exactly where the song needs to go and what I need to do in order to get there. This approach keeps me grounded and retains my subjectivity for the mix, allowing me to never lose sight of where the artist is trying to go sonically.