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I'm Caleb Andrew Smith, producer, recording/mix engineer, songwriter and musician.
Home for me is Victoria, BC on Canada's West coast. I have a studio retreat in the nearby Southern Gulf Islands, and you'll find me producing and recording there or editing and mixing at my home studio closer to downtown.
I love to work in many varied styles and genres of music, blending creative elements and techniques between them. I work mostly "in the box" these days for post production, but I still place a high priority on getting a great tone recorded at the source.
I'm happy to join a project at any stage from writing to release. I learn something on every record and I look forward to whatever challenges and opportunities the next collaboration will generate.
analog or analogue
whichever you prefer.
various work
STUDIO
Our studio and retreat workspace is located in the Southern Gulf Islands. The live room sounds absolutely fantastic and is a great space to write and record without city distractions. The old farm house has been renovated and repurposed into a 2800 square foot facility dedicated to making art, and we offer catering on site for longer stays.
In Victoria I work from a smaller but very comfortable home studio that allows for quick capture of the best ideas, and offers a controlled acoustic environment for editing, mixing and mastering. A short walk takes me to the beach between sessions or into downtown for a pint.
Though I value the studio creative environment, I can produce your music nearly anywhere, and I keep my equipment very portable. Over several decades I have honed the techniques required for getting the best recordings out of the worst spaces. Sometimes out of necessity, and sometimes because that's where the best performance will happen. I am not scared to record in a small room, large public space, or outdoors if the situation calls for it.
Ultimately an impassioned performance is the most important thing to me during recording and we'll do anything we can to get a comfortable and confident artist on record.
Production Services
Guitar is my first language and the one at which I am most fluent. I can also contribute professional bass tracks in just about any genre. Real acoustic drums is my preferred equipment for beat making, though I also love to produce music using samples and digital versions of the best historic gear or with modern synthesis.
audio editing
comping, de-breathing, de-plosive and de-essing vocals
gating and background noise clean-up
vocal tuning and leveling
timing and pitch corrections
fades and bouncing to mix-ready tracks
drum and midi programming
editable midi performances built for your song
sample doubling and replacement
individual drum kit parts recorded to separate tracks
keyboard parts: piano, rhodes, organ etc.
recorded to audio from highest quality sample libraries
session guitar and bass
professionally performed and recorded, mix-ready guitar and bass tracks for your project
rhythm guitar / lead guitar / bass
any genre
large selection of gear on hand to best serve the composition and genre
stereo mixing services.
balancing recorded tracks into a cohesive stereo output that will translate well to a wide variety of listening environments and equipment.
application of equalization, compression and creative effects to achieve clarity, consistency and listening enjoyment.
I bring a musical and creative approach to producing and mixing a song that goes beyond the core tenets of balance and clarity. A track can really come to life in the mix and my goal is to bring out the soul of the song without trampling on the original intent.
The mixing engineer can have a profound effect on the tonal outcome of your music. It is important to stay in communication before and during the process to ensure a result that speaks for your vision.
I understand and welcome your revisions.
mastering
gentle EQ and/or compression enhancements
excitement, air and width
genre appropriate loudness and limiting
level matching songs on a multi-song release
fade ins/outs and song transitions
formatting for release
minimalism
I take a subtle, minimalist approach when it comes to mastering. I feel that any creativity should already have been applied to the track before this stage and any major EQ or level corrections need to be addressed in the mix, prior to sending for mastering. Mastering serves only to enhance a well recorded and mixed song.
I may (or may not) apply some compression and equalization, add some harmonic content, and make delicate modifications to the stereo width, before applying limiting to bring the track up to a genre appropriate loudness level.
If we want the track to be truly loud, and competitive with modern rock, metal and EDM mixes, it needs to start being built for loud all the way back at the recording and arrangement stage. Mastering can only do so much for loudness without squashing the life from your song.
My preference is really to try and keep the dynamic range present in the material as much as possible, while getting the track up to a level that will not be out of place on the popular streaming services.
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