Producer and Songwriter

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I always strive to create music that reflects my many moods. I'm a very a introspective, romantic individual. Often my material has a kind of romantic bittersweet sound, a combination of lush Beach Boys style harmonies and melodies fused with a slightly melancholic lyric and driving pop/rock arrangement. I also have a tendency to weave a bit of an 80s synth pop feel to a lot of my work.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: Brian Wilson hands down. I would love to see his masterful skill at work in the studio of creating and producing from start to finish.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I grew up going to the cinema all the time. And that's often been my first introduction to a new song, hearing it featured in a movie. So when I'm coming up with a song, I want it to inspire a story or at least bring to life a scene in my mind and the mind of the listener.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I often start with a chord progression, a simple melody or both. I like to build a song by setting the proper drum pattern with either a guitar or piano structure and will continue to grow the song, adding or removing parts when necessary. As is often the case most songs I produce happen organically in that it there is rarely a preconceived notion of how it must sound. They simply come together over time and each one develops its own identity.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Presently I use Garageband and Cubasis for iPad to craft songs as I am often on the go and need a set up that I can easily take with me everywhere I go. For larger scale projects, particular those that require live tracking of drums, there are several across the country that I can turn to satisfy those particular needs of a project.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: My greatest influence in the work that I do is Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson. I learned how to pick out individual harmonies, understand the basics of song structure, and arrange tracks in a compelling manner listening to his records. Current artists that I am very much influenced by include Sheppard, Maroon 5, Kings of Convenience, The Corrs, Imagine Dragons and Of Monsters and Men

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: It's always a great help if the client has a general idea of where they want the song to go. You know, just what sort of vibe they are expecting in the end. This gives me a platform to work off of when creating the different tracks for the song. And this idea could be a lyric or melody that the client has that he/she would like for me to incorporate in the song.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: Well I suppose I started by picking up the guitar when I was about 13. I spent the summer listening to the Beatles and begged my parents to get me a guitar so I could learn to play those songs. From the age of 16 I taught myself to play the piano, which starting as me picking out the different parts to my favorite film scores by ear. When I was 19, I trained at the Los Angeles Recording School completing the Audio Engineer a Program, which included an internship at Terminal Studios in Mississippi. I took a hiatus from music in my mid 20s to focus on other areas of my life, but returned to the studio in 2008/2009 and have been working on songwriting ever since.