John Enebrad on SoundBetter

I'm a songwriter and musician living in Brooklyn who has been part of the independent music scene and played in multiple bands from Seattle to New York for the past 15 years playing opening for acts like Craft Spells and The Thermals. Being a multi-instrumentalist for multiple projects and a session player I can adapt to many different styles.

I have worked on a wide array of projects ranging from LoFi bedroom pop to Film Scores. I have worked as a session musician for the last five years and a touring musician for the last 10. I love all styles of music and approach all projects with the same amount of care as I would my own project.

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Interview with John Enebrad

Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I'm working on producing a friends album covering cocteau twins and I'm working on my own music.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Lucius Page
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: It really depends on the project.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: My promise is that I will put genuine care into their project
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Creating and hearing what people create
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Who are you? I normally just tell them who I am.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That quality work can happen overnight. It's hard work and requires adequate time.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: I ask a lot of questions to get a more clear vision of what is being worked on.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Know what direction you want to go with on a project. A good songwriter, musician or producer can help immensely in the construction of the creative vision you have, but it won't work unless you have some clarity on that vision.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: If the desert had electrical outlets I would say a Macbook, Apollo, Arturia KeyLab, and a nice microphone and pair of monitors, but if it was a normal desert island... i guess a piano and a guitar?
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I started off writing my own stuff and playing instruments when I was about 10. I started doing more serious when I moved to Seattle. Having played a variety of instruments in bands in high school when I moved to Seattle I found the local music scene and started playing shows. I now know more about the studio world enough to hold my own, but it wouldn't of happened if i hadn't played in indie rock bands in DIY warehouses and basement venues 10 years ago.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I would say on the more chill and softer side with heavy emphasis on melodies.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: The new creators of the world. A person that challenges me and what makes a song interesting.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Give the song what it needs and only that. It's tempting to add every new idea or sound that one can think of, but overproducing it will really depreciate the best parts which are the important parts.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: It ranges, recently for myself I've been working on solo piano compositions and sample and texture based arrangements, but I've also been working with one friend who produces pop records on topline stuff and small production consulting and producing another friends idea of a really stripped down singer songwriter approach to cover a cocteau twins record.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: I don't know if that's for me to say, but If i were to say something it would probably be my excitement for creating. I know a lot of people that are jaded or worn down trying to get something or somewhere, but I still enjoy the process every time I do it.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I'd like to think I bring my unique experience of my history and care of writing my own songs and songs for others.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: When writing a song I normally write melodies first or think of melodies as I'm connecting chords together. The melody and top line is such a powerful thing in music.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a small home studio with an Arturia Keylab 88 runing through a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 on Ableton 10 live. I also have a variety of mics and electric and acoustic guitars.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Chris Cohen is one of my biggest inspirations for how humble his approach is to production, musicianship and songwriting, but my influences range to Matthew Tavares, Jonathan Rado, Elliott Smith, James Blake, Jai Paul, James Murphey, David Longstreth, Chris Bear and so on.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: I've mostly done session or touring work for (I.E. Piano/synths, Guitar, Bass, Drums, woodwinds, brass, etc) but songwriting is my passion. I've written songs for a few groups and individuals and songs for myself since I was a child.