Indie pop Mixing/Production

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

A: I began a collaboration with my cousin Dan a while back that I am particularly proud of. You can listen to some of it in my highlight reel! It was one of those things that came together well and I feel had quite an original sound.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working on an album of original songs right now!

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

A: Yes! Matt Johnson for drums, and Wil Houchens for keys.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I really do love both but if I had to choose one I'd probably say digital for the extra flexibility. I really do enjoy my analogue gear though!

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

A: I promise I'll do everything I can to make your song the best it can be! I will stay 100% focused on what your vision for the song is and work to bring that to fruition. I will be eager to hear your feedback at every stage. And if I ever think what you need is outside my skillset or I'm the wrong person for the job I will be open and honest about it.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I just love how music makes me feel! And also, putting a song together is a really rewarding puzzle. When all the elements start working together and the song communicates something to the audience it's a fantastic feeling!

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

A: Most of the questions come once we begin working on a song. For example, can we make this section bigger? Can we add another instrument to this part? The answer is usually yes! The beauty of recording these days is the options are practically infinite! You're really only limited by what your mind can come up with, which is very exciting!

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

A: That it's easy! Perhaps it comes easier to other people, but in my case I've had to work hard for many years to develop my skills!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Are there any tracks you can reference to give an example of the direction you want to take your song? It could be your own demo and you want to elevate it, or perhaps there is another song that has inspired the direction of your track.

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

A: I think it would be to listen carefully to the audio samples provided. If you really resonate with myself or another provider's samples and can see it fitting with your aesthetic it will probably work out well! I've used other providers and I choose them mostly for their sound. Most of the time I get exactly what I expect and it's largely based on listening to their previous work and understanding what sound they bring.

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

A: A laptop, audio interface, Soyuz 017 tube microphone, Arturia Polybrute, Fender Telecaster.

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

A: I've been recording music for approximately 10 years. I came up through a sound engineering school in Australia called SAE. From there I began building out a studio and have been adding to it for many years. In the last 5 years I've worked with some key collaborators who are primarily singer/songwriters. This has allowed me to put a lot of focus in developing my production and mixing skills.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: In terms of mixing I would say my style is harmonically rich, colorful, and musical. In terms of production I would say my style is emotional with a focus on texture and depth of field.

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

A: I'd love to work with Aaron Dessner from The National. I think I would learn so much from him. He has become an incredibly prolific producer/instrumentalist who writes really interesting music.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I've found that certain drum editing techniques can make an impressive impact to the overall feel of a track. Playing with the tuning, transient impact, amount of bass, length of the sound etc can take a beat that sounds 'ok' to one that really grooves and feels fantastic! Great advice that I learned from Greg Wells is if you get the vocals and drums sounding amazing everything seems to fall into place so much easier.

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

A: I record and mix a lot of Indie Rock/Pop.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I think I bring a great deal of work ethic and passion to a song! I'm always determined to bring the special thing about it out so it begins to shine!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I have built many templates that keep things moving quickly but overall I don't follow a set process. I'm often guided by what is the magical thing about a song and trying to communicate that to the audience. It could be the vocal, the groove, a particular instrument or hook. Once that is working I try to make everything fit around that. I often find that small changes can make a big difference, so I'll often spend quite a bit of time getting the fine details right!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I'm definitely a gear guy and over the years I've developed a hybrid approach to recording and mixing. I really love the amazing tonality and musicality that analogue gear can bring. And I equally love the incredible clarity, precision, and infinite possibilities of working ITB. I am lucky enough to have a fantastic mixing setup where I rely on the my ATC SCM20's to give me an accurate sound that translates to different speaker systems beautifully. These speakers really tell me if a mix needs work, or is working nicely! I also have some beautiful analogue pieces that give me a really big expensive sound. I've surrounded myself with some wonderful sounding instruments too, including some old European Piano's that have a lovely soft character, some great sounding guitars including a Malcom Young Gretch and a fantastic sounding Martin acoustic, and enough synths to create just about any sound you could imagine!

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

A: I love so many artists and producers but a few that come to mind are Aaron Dessner, Peter Katis, Shawn Everett, Tom Elmhirst, and Olafur Arnalds.

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

A: I often get asked to take a vocal track and build an instrumental around it. Sometimes it's just singing with nothing else, and other times it's a vocal with either a piano or guitar. I really enjoy getting a song at this early stage and collaborating with the artist to take it all the way through to the mastering stage.