Audeze speaks with producer and engineer Lucas Romano

Lucas Romano is a record producer/mix and mastering engineer that has worked with artists such as Alan Sutton y las criaturitas de la ansiedad, Maria Becerra, Nico Sorín, Koino Yokan, Santi Muk and more. His main goal is always to get the best sound of each production, and he loves to work with a lot of music genres.

"The funny thing is that sometimes I take my LCD-X off because I think that I'm hearing my monitors. I can't believe how close to a good monitor system they sound."  - Lucas Romano

Here's our chat with Lucas:

Can you pick out any highlights from your work that you're particularly proud of?

Rec/Mix: "Tutank'mon" (Alan Sutton y las criaturitas de la ansiedad)

Mix: "Sinfonía Antártica" (Nico Sorín)

Production/Mix: "So Wet" (Mas Que Uno. feat Chocolate Remix)

Mix/Mastering: "Rnb" (El Feli)

Mix: "Lo Soñé" (Gon Andrada)

Mastering: "La Forma de Mirarte" (Eloisa)

How would you define your main role on most of the projects you work on these days?

Mix & mastering engineer are my main roles on most of the projects that I'm working on now.

How did you get started in music? What kind of music did you listen to while growing up and how has that progressed?

My journey with the music started playing bass when I was 12 years old. I grew up listening all kind of music (fully influenced by my dad): Genesis, Yes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, Foo Fighters, Jamiroquai, Aerosmith and more.

After that I started composing and recording my own music and I fell in love with audio engineering.

Can you name any factors that influenced the course of your musical life? Heroes, role models, moments, interactions, etc?

My influences, when it comes to mixing: Josh Gudwin and Jaycen Joshua, and for mastering: Chris Gehringer. After listening to them I felt very identified with their work.

Can you briefly describe a moment of frustration from your past work, and what you may have done to overcome the obstacles? Would you approach it differently now?

In my past, sometimes I was really overwhelmed about the amount of work that I had, mainly when it comes to produce a record. Nowadays, I delegate all the editing work so I can be fresh for the mixing stage.

Is there any gear you find yourself turning to most when working on a project? What are some of your favorite tools/instruments recently?

My Telefunken microphone for recording vocals, and for plugins: I use a lot the Oxford Envolution for mixing and Weiss MM-1 Limiter for mastering.

Do you have any words of wisdom for people who might aspire toward a similar path for their own careers?

Compete with yourself, not others.

How long have you been working with headphones, and how do you typically use them in your workflow?

Besides using them to check my mixes and masters, or doing binaural automation in my mixes, I always use my headphones when I record in a studio that I'm not familiar with the monitoring.

How have your Audeze headphones affected your work, and what have you been working on with them?

The first thing that left me amazed was the amount of detail that I have now in my mixes, and the mid-low it's so clear. For mastering, I can detect better the differences between songs when I am working on an album. And last but not least, I can clearly hear the amount of distortion in a track.

The funny thing is that sometimes I take my LCD-X off because I think that I'm hearing my monitors. I can't believe how close to a good monitor system they sound.

Currently I'm working with 5 artists at the same time:

•     Finishing the mixing of Alan Sutton y las criaturitas (Argentina), a local artist who I helped them in the previous album as well
•     Mastering a few songs for Maria Becerra (Argentina)
•     Mastering digital and vinyl for Pahua (Mexico)
•     Mixing an urban album for Bastida (Argentina)
•     Mixing an 80s vibe album for the band Cooper (Argentina)