Vocal Cellist, Music Producer

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

A: The Other Side of Paradise by recording artist Tree Of Lyfe is the most recent project that I have worked on and it is a body of work that I am very proud to be a part of. There is one song on the album called Closer that TOL expressed his hate because the bass line that the original producer recorded to the track clashed because the notes being played were not in harmony with the chords of the song. After I recorded strings to replace the botched bass line, it completed transformed the song into a masterpiece than is now one of my favorite songs to listen to. TOL and the mixing engineer were blown away by transformation. I was even blown away myself.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am working on an album project called The Other Side Of Paradise for recording artist by the name of Tree Of Lyfe.

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

A: No, I am new to SoundBetter.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I'm working with digital equipment only at the moment until I am able to invest into Analog equipment. I

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

A: I promise to be as professional as possible and offer the best quality service I am capable of rendering with impressive turnaround time.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: What I like most about my job is that I have clients that bring songs to me that sound great before I add cello and after I add cello, I blow myself away with my ability to add so much more life and emotions using my original creative cello voice.

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

A: What is Vocal Cellist? I'm not a classical cellist. I use my cello like a voice, I study creating original music and I am really good at playing by ear and improvising.

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

A: Most people think that since I don't play in an orchestra, I'm not a professional cellist. I grew up playing in orchestras and know that Classical music is the ultimate learning foundation for string instruments but traditional Classical music doesn't touch my soul like the original music I create myself. Most orchestras only play traditional Classical music. Extremely repetitive music catalog.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What key is the song in? Do you want a solo cello sound or a cello/string ensemble sound for your project?

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

A: I expect publishing credit on any original material that I contribute to a project.

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

A: All depends on the situation. 5 pieces of gear to do music would be: 1. My Cello 2. My Macbook Pro 3. My Focusrite Interface 4. My Microphone with Kaotica Eyeball 5. My Headphones 5 pieces of gear for survival on a desert island would include: 1. Drinking water purifier 2. Inflatable Boat 3. Fishing Reel with tackle 4. An assault rifle with bullets 5. Solar powered Flashlight/radio

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

A: My career path has alway been music and entertainment. I started playing cello at the age of 5 and after 20 years, stopped playing cello for 7 years. I started back playing cello in 2014 and I have been concentrating on playing by ear on the cello ever since. I've been producing and songwriting since 2001. I just started promoting myself for original cello features in 2017.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I have a soulful style of playing the cello. Being that when playing the cello my goal is to often imitate the human voice, I use my left hand to slur and slide into notes giving the note a more vocal execution when done correctly.

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

A: I would like to work with Ed Sheeran because a lot of the acoustic guitar songs that he make sound even better with cello or strings. I hear room for cello in his style of productions more than I hear in a lot of other artist music that I randomly come across.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Be original.

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

A: I usually work on all genres of original music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My ability to create a musical masterpiece out of original ideas is my strongest skill and my superpower.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: The cello is being used in lot of movie music. Most of the time, I bring out the movie soundtrack potential in most of the songs that I add cello to or build with a cello foundation. I bring life to empty Hip Hop tracks. I bring southern soul on the cello when needed in any song. I bring a classical solo cellist or I bring a cello quintet to a song. It all depends on the mood of the song or what the client is looking for. I prefer beautiful melodic songs but I love challenges as well.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My typical work process depends on the project. If the client knows exactly what they want me to play on the song, I usually have them send me a mp3, wave or Protools session of the song along with the written music or demo of what I'm to add or we schedule a live Facetime studio session and the client and I build the cello part accordingly. My ear is so good as a vocal cellist that some of my regular clients love to sing the parts they want me to play in the recording session because I can pick it up almost immediately and record it straight into the session and they save time not having to write out the cello part.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio consist of an Apple Macbook Pro, Focusrite Midi Interface, MXL V9 Tube Mic, JBL studio monitors and subwoofer, my cello, Yamaha Motif XS 6 Synthesizer, Native Instruments Machine Studio, Kaotica Eyeball Sound Protector, and a Zoom H6 Portable recorder.

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

A: I have a background in Classical, Hip Hop, Neo Soul, Marching Band, and Blues. My inspiration comes from influences like Suzuki, Yo Yo Ma,Composer Edward Elgar, Wyclef Jean,Timberland, Quincey Jones, Steve Wonder, Seal, Tracey Chapman, Organized Noise, Pharrell, Producer Bangladesh, David Banner, B.B. King, J. Cole, Dr. Dre, and more. Growing up, this is where my inspiration started.

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

A: My passion is producing original music. Most clients come to me looking for cello or strings arrangements for a song that they already have and just want me to add cello. As a music producer, singer, songwriter, and cellist, clients sometime want me to build a song from scratch as well.