Horn/string section arranger

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

A: My work with Francesca Pichel. I am together with her, the founder of the project under her name. The participation of outstanding musicians and the creative freedom of composing, arranging, recording and mixing is something that I enjoy immensely.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am working on a library of compositions for movies, documentaries and ads.

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

A: I am new to this platform.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital. I work a lot remotely, it simply wouldn't be possible sending magnetic tapes around by post. It also gives a lot of flexibility and creative outcomes.

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

A: I take my job very seriously. I love doing it and I have very high expectations for myself.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The creativity and the freedom of exploring new ideas.

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

A: They ask me how much I want to be paid without telling me how much work they need. I answer them that we need to have a good talk about their vision first. Depending on that, there's a 1000 different options.

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

A: That it's easy, quick and cheap.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is your vision? What would you like to achieve with the work you ask me to do? Do you have examples to show me? Would you like me to try something different from what you showed me?

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

A: What you need is a combination of experience, creativity and technical skills. Like every other craft it requires dedication and professionalism. Share your vision with a professional in a gentle way and it will be his/her interest to make you happy (unless you ask for the moon).

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

A: A trumpet, a keyboard, a computer (oh dear), a sound device and good speakers.

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

A: I play since I am 7, I studied music for 2 decades and I have been arranging, recording and composing for almost 10 years.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I am a slave of beautiful melodies. I always try to get beautiful lines: most of the time there's no need to impress with complicated, virtuoso arrangements.

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

A: I'd love to to work with Jamiroquai, Mark Ronson, The Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Bon Iver and , even more, a new artist or band that is not famous yet but has a lot to say.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Play the track that you composed and tried to fix for days to someone else, and you'll immediately hear what's wrong (even before the person gives you a feedback).

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

A: I normally work on R&B, Pop, Funk, Jazz and Songwriting.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I have a very long experience in live music and I played everything from ancient music all the way to pop, exploring a wide range of styles. As a consequence, I feel very comfortable in a broad spectrum of music genres and I can imagine potential arrangements immediately.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: A well arranged horn or string section can bring a whole song together. It can become an essential stylistic element or simply be the touch that makes the song resonate even more.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I carefully check what the client wants, trying to get tracks to refer to. Then I explore the different options, based on the style, the budget, the deadline and the ensemble requested.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a recording studio in the center of Amsterdam. A no nonsense studio with excellent speakers (Genelec), a very reliable and efficient sound device (RME Fireface UFX II). The right mics for horns a strings (I keep changing them depending on the sound that I want from the instruments), lot of trumpets, flugelhorn, trombone, several keyboards and a wall of percussion instruments.

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

A: I love the work of Quincy Jones and Mark Ronson, especially in the way wind instruments are used in the music they produce.

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

A: I often arrange, perform and record horn sections.