Hey there - my name is Danny Echevarria, and you’ll be hearing (um, reading) a lot from me on the Musik Hack blog. I’ll be joining the team sharing thoughts on our plugins, mixing and mastering in general, and the occasional hot take.

Before writing for MH, I spent several years writing (a whole lot of listicles!) and making videos for theproaudiofiles.com. If you’ve ever found yourself stuck on a mix problem and turned to the internet for answers, there’s a decent chance you’ve run into some of those. I’ve also been teaching music production and mixing in UCLA Extension’s Media Studies program since 2021. Of course, what takes up most of my time is mixing, and I generally like it that way.

Hmm, what else? I enjoy hiking, crossword puzzles, and I’ll cast iron sear you a mean (medium rare) ribeye sometime. Come on by.

Just kidding - inviting you over to my place in the first article would be a clear breach of the blogger-reader relationship. We’re not there yet.

In all seriousness, my background is equal parts industry, academic, and DIY. I learned recording techniques playing in bands that produced, engineered, and mixed our own records while studying electronic music at UC Santa Cruz. After some years teaching music lessons, I moved back to my hometown of LA to focus on music production and audio engineering.

Over the years I’ve worked across a few corners of the audio world - composing for ads, TV, and film, producing records for independent artists and bands, and doing audio post production. These days it’s mostly the audio post work that keeps me busy, though music is of course my true love now and forever.

I believe the changes to music production technology over the past couple decades have been a force for good overall, whatever else can be said about the current state of the music industry. People should make music - you feel me? It’s easier now than it’s ever been not only to make cool sounds, but to share them with a global audience. 

That idea is a big part of what we’re going for here: tools that are powerful, approachable, and inspiring. Make your music. Make it sound huge. We’re into it. 

Next time you hear from me it’ll be technical musings, hands-on tips, or the occasional soapbox rant. Until then, happy mixing!