Vocalist/Topliner/Vox Arranger

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

A: I'm don't work as a lyricist for other artists and I believe if a song is incredibly personal to you, giving your top-liner an idea or at least a structure of words you would like to use is very helpful.

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

A: Make sure you're doing research and finding your top-liners history of projects on YouTube, Instagram, Spotify to make sure you have an idea of what they sound like in the genre that you're looking to work with them on. And make sure they LIKE to topline, because otherwise you're not getting your moneys-worth.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I write catchy melodies with room for a lot of vocal stacking and variations of the melodies I create. In this way, my writing is Pop/Soul.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I write melodies by adlib-ing over the tracks I'm given, so they're always going to be ones I really vibe with, are in my range, and that I can really deliver on. This ensures that my performance on the track is real and connects with listeners.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Home Studio: WA-47 Tube Condenser, Apogee Duet, ProTools, Auto-Tune

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

A: Top-lining. I love writing catchy melodies, arranging vocals, and layering adlibs. Definitely one of my passions.

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

A: Apart from my own music, Albert Pan (a.k.a. Folded Dragons) and I used to work together on his projects and he was always so great to work with. We did several tracks together and he always sent me work he was incredibly passionate about and he was also very talented, so it was really fun to work with him and the EDM kinds of music he was into.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: My own music at the moment! I acoustic piano-y, string-y, soul/pop ballad.

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

A: Immanuel Park is an incredible Mixing Engineer and Hip-Pop producer. Check him out!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Oof ... so different, but digital, because that's how I roll right now.

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

A: That if I accept your track to top-line, I will make sure you end up with what you envisioned.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Top-lining is like putting a puzzle together and I get such satisfaction finding different ways to not only make the track sound "finished", but to make a specific kind of vibe appear.

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

A: If I can do redo's for free. I supply one redo for free and the rest are $25 each.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Their timeline, budget, what the project is for (what inspired them) ... if it's more personal to them, questions like ... what the song means to them, what's the story, what vibe are they going for ... but overall I ask them to explain their vision.

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

A: Mic, speakers, laptop, cables, midi keys.

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

A: I've been top-lining soon after I graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2016 where I studied Performance, Songwriting, and Music Production & Engineering. I am a full-time musician as a singer-songwriter and work as a top-liner, private vocal instructor specializing in vocal health/injury, and freelance performer/session singer.

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

A: H.E.R.; I'm so blown away by her writing style, it's sexy, simple, groovy, unique to herself, catchy and it's R&B but widely recognized by the "pop" world.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Be open-minded and don't overdo it.

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

A: My own writing style as an artist is Pop/Soul, but I also get a lot of clients pitching EDM/Pop/Rock tracks.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Coming up with "ear-candy" melodies and recording them with whatever style of vocals I believe is most appropriate to the vibe of the track.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Given that there's no melody pre-written, I plug the song into ProTools, label the sections so I have a visual, and use the lyrics supplied to me to ad-lib interesting melodic ideas that fit the track and vibe my client is asking for. Then, with the loose structure I laid down, I will build off of that with harmonies, doublings, etc.

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

A: Vocalists: Cynthia Erivo, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Ariana Grande, H.E.R. Songwriters/Producers: H.E.R., Julia Michaels, Daniel Caesar, Kaytranada