Production Mixing Development

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

A: Walla when their hit "101" started to pop off. We had done two full projects already that had some limited success and then bam it just HIT after 3 or 4 years! Felt good to see people i really cared for and had grown with get their/our moment in the sun. I produced, mixed and co-wrote the song.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: DEVELOPING COOL ARTIST PROJECTS!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both of course!! lol you need the warm front end from tubes and analog gear combined with the efficiency and work flow of a modern DAW like LOGIC PRO.

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

A: To give my absolute best, most artistic and honest work and opinions, without an ego or a "this is right/wrong" type of mentality. Every artist should have a characteristic unique to their sound and music. I'll help you find it.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The freedom to make anything I want. Every client is a new set of emotions and sounds.

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

A: If they buy multiple songs can the price be discounted and the answer is absolutely.

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

A: That music production costs too much. We put in so much overtime that we never get paid for because our names are attached to these products forever! And we want this to sound incredible just as much or more than our clients!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What three artists do you see yourself on tour with or opening up for

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

A: Bring references of songs you like and try to recognize what you like about them for your sound.

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

A: MacBook Pro with Logic, UAD Apollo Duo, Ibanez Semi Hollow Artstar, Fender P Bass, Yamaha or Korg 88 key heavy weighted midi controller

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

A: i started as an intern at Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta, GA in 2002. Billy Hume was cool enough to give me a room at his place for a while when i first started working with Luda early in '03. Then later that year i became full time for Luda until 2010 when i got signed to sony/atv music publishing. i moved to LA in 2010 and have been writing songs and developing artists from around the world ever since. my studio is now in the heart of Hollywood's Media District.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: big drums, lots of bass, melodic with interesting chord changes, old meets new

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

A: Trent Reznor. I think his voice with some of the big and dark sounds of today would be next level.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: its all about the sounds you start with. eq'ing, compression, efx and all that are cool but if you build from sounds that take up or fill certain sonic qualities, you're almost mixing while you're producing. you have to know your library and where to find these sounds or how to engineer the bass or guitar so that the hard work is done in actually getting the sounds, not mixing and layering necessarily.

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

A: ANYTHING THAT INSPIRES ME. alternative, hip hop, urban pop, indie, modern disco, emo music

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Project management across multiple songs and EPs and artist development. Not just making the songs but getting them HEARD.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Outside perspective, creativity and a true understanding of many musical genres. I've worked with everyone from Elton John and Whitney Houston to Nas, Zwan and Justin Bieber. I'm a fan of almost ALL music. I have a knack for getting in my clients head and pulling from what brought them into making music themselves. I combine that with sonic trends within the genre my client is working towards and BOOM...we have a massive song in the end! Music is about just letting it happen in the moment.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: First and foremost to get inside my clients head and know what made them want to make music. I wanna hear what you play when you get good news and life is amazing. Then play me what you listen to when everything is shit. Old and new influences. What your parents or family members introduced you to. Then I pull from those musical palettes to create a truly unique and tailored track or song for my client using their musical heritage. Besides that, I don't have a process when it comes to actually making the body of music. That part changes each time because I just go with whatever inspires me and just keep building that out until I have something I'm excited about.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I use high end tube pre's and mics, vintage synths and a 1973 Rhodes Mk1. I love Antelope Audio interfaces and converters. Gotta have my UAD 1176 Rev A, SSL Bus Comp and AMS RMX16 reverbs. Speaking of reverbs oddly, i use Logic...it comes with one of the best reverbs in the world in my opinion..Space Designer. I have various guitars and basses from Fender, Gibson, Ibanez and ESP. Mesa and Fender Amps and loads of virtual amp packages. I love Output Audio, Spectrasonics, Native Instruments, Arturia, XLN Audio, SPL Audio, Waves Audio, and Xfer Records plugins. Yamaha 5"s and 8"s for monitoring.

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

A: i have a very diverse palette. eras: Hendrix, Stones, Beatles, Zeppelin, Dylan, The Band, Petty, Sabbath, Nirvana, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Soundgarden, Pallbearer, GNR, RATM, NIN, Biggie, Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang, Outkast, Tip, Madonna, Brittany Spears, Sylvan Esso, Tommy Genesis, Anderson Paak, Ottis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Evelyn Champagne King, Chance the Rapper, Kendrick, Dre, Manny Fresh, Polo the Don, Scott Storch, Older Kanye, The Drums, Foster the People, Sun Kil Moon, MGMT, Temper Trap, Purity Ring,

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

A: artist development and/or producing and writing an entire EP are most common for me. I also mix anything I produce as well included in the price.