Session Drummer/ Percussionist

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

A: My favorite project was a recording of a new-music work by a Quinn Mason, a quickly rising young composer in Dallas. The piece involved an entire orchestral percussion section performed by a single player. Recording the variety of instruments and working with a group of world-class chamber musicians was an awesome challenge and a lot of fun to execute as we brought a young composer's vision to life.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am currently working on a set of tutorial/ reference recordings for CCM worship drummers to use as they learn parts for church services across the country.

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

A: Jim Riley of Rascal Flatts. I first met him at a clinic while i was in graduate school. His musical ear and incredible consistency taught me a great deal about my own priorities as a session drummer.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital for flexibility, reliability, and creativity.

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

A: I promise to be honest, transparent, and loyal to clients. My goal is to EXCEDE your expectations and produce exactly what your project needs.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love taking someone's work and elevating it to a new level through my contribution. I love hearing back from recording or arrangement clients that the final product was exactly what they imagined but in a way that completely exceeded their expectations of where they thought it could go.

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

A: Customer's most commonly ask me about what kind of style of recording I can bring to their project. My answer is that I work to bring whatever style your musical vision needs.

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

A: Being only a few years into the recording business, the typical thought would be that I am a typical "weekend warrior" with a drum set in a bedroom and a $100 mic pack running through a laptop. In reality, I have worked to create a studio that uses industry-standard equipment to create products that compete at a professional level while fitting the independent creative's budget. I have spent years and thousands of hours dialing in my craft with two music degrees and a resume of world class, high pressure, high-execution performance experience. My training allows me to get the most important thing right, the musical and creative performance.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: After getting an understand of their budget and timeline, my goal is to get as much information from the client as possible. This includes asking about influences, examples of past work, and their vision for how and where the project will be received.

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

A: Look for flexibility and a willingness to hear your voice/idea. My goal is to create a product that is designed and best suited for one person...the client. With the variety of libraries and sounds that you can buy online, the only reason to hire a specialized provider is to get an individualized and custom sound that only YOU will have. I love to work with artists that want to add their voice to the world and if that is you, make sure you are working with someone who understands and wants to fit your unique voice.

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

A: I provide percussion/ drum set multi-track recordings to support client's musical vision.

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

A: My real-feel practice pad, 55a drum sticks, a metronome, and my two favorite method books (stick control, and wrist twisters)

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

A: I have spent the past 4 years as a music educator, performing and recording on the side. For the past year I have moved into being a freelance musician full-time. My goal is to continue to support myself and family through recording, producing, performing, and teaching music.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Clean, powerful, musically-motivated playing in a large variety of musical styles.

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

A: I love to work with small, independent singer/songwriters who want to see their purposeful musical vision come to life in a way that they never thought they could afford.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Create the best possible sound first. Before any plug-in or edit is added to a track, the base of a good recording is getting the best possible sound from the instrument through the microphone.

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

A: I typically work on Pop, Indie, CCM, and Country music, incorporating both acoustic and electronic sounds to produce a polished but emotionally strong product.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My ability to execute parts with an extremely high level of rhythmic and dynamic accuracy based on my background of collegiate-level competitive music making.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: My background as a classically trained musician with a love for epic, emotionally driven popular music allows me to compose and perform parts in a way that both drives and supports the energy of the song. My goal is to create a product that brings the artist's vision to life beyond what they expect and give them the tools to best display their skills and abilities.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Typically my goal is to get as much information from the client as possible about their vision of the project. From there, I familiarize myself with the material, composing and making instrument adjustments that I believe best suite the artist's vision. After creating parts and sounds that I believe will serve and enhance the project to my best ability, I meticulously record and edit parts to create professional level tracks that the artist can use in any capacity that they need.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I operate in a home studio in a sound-treated room. I use industry-standard microphones all run through an 8-channel Focusrite Scarlett Interface into Logic Pro X. My goal is to make the best possible acoustic sounds through high quality instruments, accurate tuning, and creative modifications and capture these sounds as accurately as possible.

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

A: Carter Mclean, Aaron Sterling, Paul Mabury, Ash Soan