Indie Music Production

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

A: I've been doing this for a long time. I spent my college years playing in bands and touring, then moved into a studio in Los Angeles to start writing for TV and film. I recently started MDing for a musical and have started taking on more artists as clients over the past year as a way to take a break from the fast-paced sync world.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is very dynamic. I love songs that throw you in and out of moments, moving from huge, soundscape choruses to dreamy, psychedelic bridges. Saturation is my best friend.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Don't sweat the small stuff! Your intuition is usually right.

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

A: The spectrum is MASSIVE, from pop to folk to experimental electronic. However, I'm a huge fan of giving any song I'm working on an organic touch. I feel like producers spend too much time on their laptops these days, and music sounds colder because of it. Having that tactile, "airy" feeling in a song is something I typically look for.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I'm a very intentional listener. Because I work on so many different styles of music, I've had to adapt to all sorts of sounds and styles. When an artist says, "I want my vocals to sound like this" or "I want that guitar tone," it often only takes me a couple of listens to say, "Got it!"

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring a fresh perspective. Sure, that might sound cliche, but I think it's important. Many artists I know (as well as myself most of the time) are working alone. When you're the only one in the writing and recording process, it's really easy to get stuck in negative feedback loops. I've come to realize that having an outside ear to tell you whether something is working or not is incredibly valuable.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: The process is unique for each artist I work with, though I often like to start by establishing a connection, especially if we're working remotely. "Meeting" someone and hearing about what they like, what music they're into, and what their vision is for their project is crucial for me. From there, we discuss how we're going to move forward with their track. I often like to start off by delivering a small snippet of the song, maybe the first verse and chorus, to establish a vibe and make sure our stylistic vision is aligned before we continue. I also like to give artists a chance to give me real feedback and guide me before we get too far into the track.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I operate with a rack-mounted Apogee Symphony interface, an LA-2A compressor, a Neve 1073DPA, Yamaha HS8 studio monitors, and a pair of Beyerdynamic 770 headphones, which I swear by. My main vocal microphone is a Wunder Audio CM7 S and some of my favorite instruments I own include my Fender American Stratocaster, Supro Keeley Custom 12, Kemper, Taylor 212 CE Acoustic, Minimoog Voyager, and I'm just picking up the banjo! For effects processing, I use a combination of stompboxes and plugins, and I have a large collection of professional-grade plugins that I use to mix and master, including those from iZotope, Waves, Soundtoys, FabFilter, and more.

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

A: There are SO many, but a few that I'm really inspired by these days include The Kount (mostly because I love the way he experiments with live instruments in a beat-making setting), Skinshape, Fatboy Slim, Dijon, Jacob Collier, Emily King, and Bon Iver.

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

A: Because I work in sync, most of my work revolves around making music for TV and film. More often than not, I'm producing, songwriting, and live-tracking.