Composer,Bassist,Synths.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm mastering an album project by an artist called Serious Nubian titled Stay In The Dream,plus i'm writing new music for a second Album for a band called Coldjack.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: No.I'm relatively new on this website.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I like both ,you can't beat the warmth of analog ,plus digital is super clean.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: My promise to my clients is that whatever projects they bring ,i will utilize my talents to interpret their ideas and vision and that they will be finished mixed and mastered to the highest standard in the time period they set.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Just being creative and the process of making music,i can't imagine doing anything else.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: How much! I tell them straight up what my rates are and that theres more info on my website.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: Alot of times the prospective clients misread my ads ,they send me a link to songs they,ve already recorded and think i'm going to promote it for them.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: How many songs do they want to do ? The time period to complete the clients projects? Does the client have a rough blueprint or idea of the song or songs they want or do they want me to start the song from scratch?

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

A: Always have an idea of what you want to start with ,plus always read and understand the ad the provider has posted so there is no misundertanding,that way nobody is wasting anybodies time.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: Bass Guitar,Synthesizer,24 track Tascam hard disk recorder,Drum Machine,and an Amp.

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

A: My career path is primarily as a Bass Player playing in a bunch of bands gigging and touring.I'v been in bands in the Uk ,Canada,The States,and back in Canada again.I'v always had the desire to have my own studio setup to do projects etc.I'm a music person man ,i can't imagine my life not doing music.I'v been doing it for about 30 odd years now.

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: I worked with a Vocalist back in 1994 when i had my very first studio setup ,his name was Jessie and he was from Nigeria.He had all his musical ideas in his head ,so he would convey those ideas to me and i would lay them down.When the songs were finished it was like a whole new sound which you could not define.It was primarily Keyboard driven because i had alot of Keyboards back then .I was the Producer,Arranger and Engineer for that project,he wrote the songs.It was totally original in terms of sound there were elements of progressive rock like the band Genesis in terms of keyboard sounds, the drums were heavy it was'nt RnB or Funk more of an African Drum thing.I was real proud of that project.He later gotten involved with some students out at Berklee and i have'nt heard from him since.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is basically Funky with some Jazzy and Rock elements incorperated in the mix.

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

A: Theres a few of them ,I'd have loved to have produced the band Rufus.They were one of my favorite bands,When Chaka Khan left they released a couple of albums with little success ,now it was'nt because of their talent or musicianship because they,re all great musicians ,i think it was because of the material that they chose for their songs,if they reformed i'd be the first in line to produce and write for that band.Another artist i'd like to work with is Stanley Clarke,i'd write some material for him.I wrote a song back in 1999 called Starting Over its Bass solo driven if he played that song it would definetly be a hit ,like what Birdland did for Weather Report .

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: One Music tip have good ears.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: The type of music i work with is mostly RnB, and Funk.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill i think is i tend to see the overall big picture ,for instance when a song is being put together with a band i can see where all the instruments will lay, the drums,the keys,vocals,harmonies etc.I don't see things in terms of just one instrument.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I like to think that i can bring something original or even groundbreaking to a song and not jump on the bandwagon and sound like every other tom,dick,or harry.I might be ranting a bit here but there was a time that you could distinguish an artist or even a producer by their style.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: If i'm working for a client depending on what ideas he has ,i'll work from that .From that perspective i'll start of with a chord progression ,then work out the rhythm parts ,so i'll program a drum pattern .By this time its a drum pattern and keyboard chord progression,so i'll work out the structure of how the song goes verse,bridge,chorus etc ,once thats established then i'll figure out what sounds from the keyboards to use that will fit and enhance the song plus other instrumentation depending on the song.If i'm just composing music for myself or a client wants me to just compose an instrumental for a short film etc ,then i'll usually start with the rhythm first by writing and programming a drum phrase,then build it from there ,working out a chord progression on the keyboards.I always lay the Bass parts down last ,be it Bass Guitar or Bass Synth depending on what fits.Sometimes i may start with a Bass Phrase ,then i'll build the composition from that.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I'v had 2 studio setups in the past ,this would be my third,which is more streamed down and consists of 3 Keyboards ,Korg Trinity,Korg Tr Workstation,Yamaha MM8 ,and Alesis Q49 Keyboard Controller,3 Bass Guitars,a Spector Legend Classic 5 String,Yamaha TRB6 6 String ,and a 6 String Esp Bass Guitar.Samson TXM 16 Power Mixer,Ableton Live music software with Instrument Plug Ins,Focusrite Interface,Boss DR880 Drum Machine,Alesis SA 16 Drum Machine,Electro Harmonix V256 Vocodor ,AKG Microphone.I'm a gear junkie so i'm always adding new gear to my setup.

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

A: I had a great admiration for Quincy Jones at one time ,plus i'v always been inspired by great musicians like George Duke,Marcus Miller,Lenny White,also Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis i liked alot of their production work.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Most common type of work is for songwriters and vocalists.They usually e-mail me or phone telling me what they want as in terms of their ideas .Once they've secured a deposit then i get to work .I usually dialogue with the client thru e-mail or by phone till the project is finished.