Mike Hillier

Nathan Evans, Melanie C, Haska, Django Django, The Anchoress, Blinkie, Genesis, Josienne Clarke, Gabriel Prokofiev, Zemfira, Wahl, Shattercones

Mike Hillier is a world-class mastering engineer and vinyl mastering expert. He works with local and international music artists, and lends his expertise to a wide range of musical styles. Mike takes the time to listen to his clients, understand their music, and bring vibrancy and emotion to the forefront of each track. He has relentlessly worked throughout 2020 to send music out to brighten a world crushed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

You can listen to a playlist of Mike’s tracks on Spotify .

Mike returned to Metropolis in 2018, the studio where he began his career as an apprentice to Crispin Murray in 2006. In the interim, Mike worked freelance on all aspects of music production: recording, mixing, mastering, and live production (touring with Ed Harcourt and Mary Epworth; working in venues all across London). As a freelance mastering engineer, Mike was a go-to for the London folk scene, mastering albums for Sophie Jamieson, Patch & The Giant, Ringlefinch, and many others.

From 2004 to 2020 Mike was the Mastering Editor at MusicTech Magazine, and was often the first person in the UK to get his hands on new audio equipment. He also teaches new generations of engineers through MusicTech tutorials and guest lectures in audio programs at colleges including SAE and ACM.

Mike brings this educative element to his work and often mentors artists and mixing engineers alongside whom he works.

In addition to being one of Metropolis’s best mastering engineers, he is also the on-site tech genius for the mastering department. He curates the studio’s equipment, tests and reviews new tools for music production, and develops innovative techniques for his clients and colleagues. This technical proficiency maintains the studio’s position at the pinnacle of the world of music mastering.