Testimonials

One of the most important things I’ve learned during the lessons with Pete is the understanding of the signal flow. In any studio recording or live sound engineering I’ve done, having a clear idea of where the signal is traveling from/to is fundamental. It helped me a lot in keeping control of the gains/volumes of the recordings in a more efficient and organised way, which is a great advantage, especially in a live situation in which being fast and tidy is necessary for the good outcome of the performance.

One of the hardware (or software) units I was struggling the most with was the compressor and how to use it in a creative way to make the sound of the track fit its genre. Thanks to Pete’s lessons I’ve learned how a good balance of EQ and compressors and the use of parallel compression allows you to blend different sound to reflect more the genre you are trying to make.

Learning mixing techniques with Pete at Abbey Road Institute was incredibly useful and inspiring. Thanks to him I understood how to make every instrument sit in the mix and also to be creative by automating effect sends as a way to add movement to the mixes.

In terms of production Pete’s teaching has been absolutely invaluable, whether it be his clever use of effects to really make a song shine or his intricate use of compression and EQ to tighten up a mix, I’ve learnt a lot from him.

I was really struggling with controlling the muddy mid frequencies in my mix but Pete showed me some extremely useful tricks with compression and EQ to really tighten up my overall sound.

On the technical side, I’ve learnt a lot from following Pete’s workflow. Many of his excellent, time saving editing shortcuts have come in really handy when working to a deadline and I’m very grateful to have learnt so much from him.

Lessons with Pete at Abbey Road Institute have been both fun and informative. On one particular occasion I was struggling with a track and wanted Pete to listen to what I thought was the final bounce to get some feedback. He noted that, although it was influenced by jazz and along the right track, it was also quite clean-sounding.

Pete showed me how adding subtle tape saturation and analogue modelled compression on various drum tracks added character to the mix and made it sound more authentically “analog” and therefore closer to the jazz sound I was aspiring for.

“Without Pete I would never have been taught the most important question I ask myself in every aspect of my audio engineering career, and that is “why?”.
“Why am I putting this plugin on?”
“Why am I choosing this mic?” ”

“Pete helped me understand how to achieve mixes with depth and power, that translate better across all mediums.”
“Pete’s teaching helped me understand the fundamental truths of mixing and why I wasn’t achieving the results I wanted. Now I can mix better, faster and more efficiently thanks to his teaching!”
“I always struggled with drums in the mix stage, but Pete helped me understand how to treat them in a way that truly packs a punch without overpowering the rest of the instruments!

My name is Andrea, I am a music producer and sound engineer based in London. I spent the last year being taught by Pete at Abbey Road Institute. What impresses me about Pete, is not only the energy he gives to every project or his depth of knowledge but it’s his way of being; extremely humble and pleasant to be with. The biggest thing I have learnt from him is how important it is to give attention to the production stage when crafting a record.

For years I struggled, leaving things to fix in the mix, it even got the point that I thought mixing was actually fixing a bad recording and giving the flavour to bland stems. Pete taught me the beauty of getting the sound right when tracking, having a perspective from the beginning and giving the record its character early on by being bold with your decisions. He emphasized that a record would never sound natural and solid if you don’t put attention to the right things at the right stage in the production process, my outlook and approach to music production completely changed, for the better. I am now a much more efficient producer/engineer, thanks to his help and I am grateful to Pete for this.