Engineer / Producer

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

A: I am especially proud of the mix that I was able to achieve on a track called "Rain", by David Ladwig. He sent me the instrumental, along with a file of his raw vocals. I was able to add in a ton of stereo widening, and pitch shifting effects to the vocals, and we were both very happy with the final result!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: At the moment, I am working on multiple projects, remotely, from my home studio.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital all the way! These days, plugin emulations sound so close to the real thing! Digital is also much more convenient, and cost-efficient than analog.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love that this job gives me the flexibility to think creatively on a daily basis. This is the only job that I have ever had that has truly challenged me to think outside of the box with every project I take on.

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

A: I would bring my MacBook, my Audient iD14, my Sennheiser HD 600's, my studio monitors, and my Shure SM57!

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

A: I started my journey as a student at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS). I graduated in the top 97th percentile, and then went on to intern under J-Stylz (member of grammy-nominated R&B group Blackstreet). After I completed the internship, I took all of the skills that acquired and began freelancing. I have being doing this for around 5 years now.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I would definitely describe my mixing style as aggressive. I love mixing drums that really get the mix knocking, and an aggressive 808, or bass-line.

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

A: I would love to work with 6LACK one day. I love the vulnerability that he provides in his music, and I can really tell that he puts his all into his music.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: One music production tip would be to always maintain headroom when mixing. There is no cleaning up a distorted mix!

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

A: Most of the music that I work on is Hip-Hop/R&B.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I believe that my strongest skill is communication. I understand the amount of trust that it takes to hand over your creation to a trusted professional. With that being said, I try to communicate as much as possible, so you can be sure the process is always moving in the right direction.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I pride myself on bringing energy and aggression to every mix that I work on. Making the drums knock is my specialty!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: When I upload a session into Pro Tools, I always start with gain staging! From there, I will pull up the faders and begin working on a rough balance of the instrumental. Once that is complete, I bring in the vocals and begin to dial everything in to taste.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work through a completely digital setup! My audio interface is connected by USB to my MacBook. I use the Audient iD14 to power my headphones and monitors. All of my mixing is done through Pro Tools.

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

A: MixedbyAli is definitely one of my top inspirations. His ability to achieve such clarity in the mix is something that I have always strived for. I am also a huge fan of the way he leaves his sonic footprint on anything that he touches.

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

A: The most common type of work that I do for my clients is mixing & mastering.

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

A: I would advise customers to provide as much detail when explaining the vision for their song/album. We are engineers, not mind-readers!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I always ask prospective clients what their vision is for the song/album that I am mixing. As the engineer, it is my duty to take the artist where they want to go with their record.

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

A: The biggest misconception is that an audio engineer can make anything sound magical. An engineer needs good recordings to create a good mix!

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

A: Most commonly, customers ask me how quickly I can turn around a mix. I always answer that it will me 72 hours (maximum) to return a mix to a client!

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

A: My promise is to work on the mix until it is right!

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

A: I am very familiar with the work of audio engineer Jordan Criddle. He works out of his home studio in Kansas City, and I would definitely recommend him to my clients!