Indie/Folk Music Production

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

A: The last recording I made was a raw recording of my own songs where I set up a mic and forgot about it. I expressed the songs for a friend but they turned out so well I released them.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A new album by Scottish Indie/Folk artist Catherine Rudie.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Project dependent really.. Digital is great of course but one must use an analogue approach and avoid the 'luxury' of doing too many takes and losing the human feeling.

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

A: I promise to always resect the rawness of what makes you 'you'.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Being able to surprise my clients with a musical vision that embellishes their original intent for their song in a way they had not considered.

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

A: It was not recorded to a click track, can you use it? Yes I can because I will beat map a click to it so I can sync everything to your unique energy imprint.

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

A: That I will fix every mistake without first exploring how much the vibe will be affected by 'curing' it.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Are you able to set up a couple of mics in a quiet space and forget about them when you press record?

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

A: Make sure that they listen to your lyrics and are able to understand your vision for yourself. Make sure they like your music.

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

A: Gurian Acoustic Guitar, Tascam 388 Tape Machine, Diamond Memory Lane 2 delay pedal, A Fuzz Pedal, And an Austrian Audio Mic!

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

A: Started as an Electric guitar player, then because an acoustic singer/songwriter in order to exorcise my demons. Moved to London and joined up with Lou Rhodes os Lamb for a few world tours and studio albums. When that finished I joined up with Passenger for a few years before releasing music as Pillarcat and Ragged Rebel City. I then went on to produce albums for Gita de Ridder, Catherine Rudie and many more.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Experimental, Looping, Indie Folk meets Singer/Songwriter Rawness.

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

A: Low. Because they are fearless with their vision yet always bring songs of unique melody and lyrical depth to the party.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Make the elements play for you rather than the other way around! So, trust yourself to be the centre of the picture and for everything else to support you as you are. Your feeling is more powerful than any production element will ever be.

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

A: Indie/Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Experimental Music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Layering guitar lines.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: A love for its true performance, an ability to maximise the element of performance inherent within, and an unquenchable desire to find new methods to tell your story.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: We chat to establish a common ground and then we work toward you providing the raw tracks. I can come to you if needs be or come to my studio. I will then take inspiration from your music and add my rough ideas for us to process. Once we have a clear picture of what works I can then work away on the album taking it to a full finished mixed album to go to mastering. I can master it but always recommend using another for this part!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I normally work in Logic or Ableton and record most of my parts with an Austrian Audio OB818 microphone through a Gold Mike valve preamp via my MOTU Interface. I have the latest Macbook pro with plugins by Soundtoys, Izotope, Unfiltered Audio and many more so I can mangle the sonics as needed (Always paying attention to the track itself). I can create a click track to go alongside the provided track so we do not loose the human element. I will then run stuff out to my tape deck (Tascam 388) or my Watkins Tape delay and other pedals where needed to get an analogue charm. I have 2 1970's Gurian guitars and a lovely Les Paul as well as various other instruments to hand. I also have an Ableton Push 2.

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

A: Burial, Bonnie Prince Billy. Low, BJ Burton, Glen Hansard, Bon Iver, Mike Oldfield, John Martyn, Brian Eno, Phoebe Bridgers, Slayer.

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

A: I am normally employed remotely to take vocal/guitar tracks from singer/songwriters, whom I have guided to a relaxed performance, with a view to then take their project to the next level of a fully mixed musical production and album release.