Musician, Producer, and Mixing

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm at various stages on a personal EP, just finished mixing and mastering a friend's EP. Pretty deep in some production work for two of my friends songs, some of which hasn't been full written yet.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Constant creativity and finding unique solutions to problems

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

A: I can't recommend hiring a professional more. While it is definitely possible to do most of the groundwork yourself, working with professionals will turn a pretty good demo into a polished final track. That is often the difference between catching someone's ear or boring them in the first few seconds. Unless you are wanting to become an engineer or producer yourself, I would suggest working with people who know how to do it already. I've found that most artists like the creative aspects of songwriting, but not the nitty gritty detail work of audio engineering. If you want your song to impress even the most trained ears, it's best to work with some of them. ;) That being said, it's never been easier to record and produce your own stuff than it is today. Almost all of the fancy equipment you find in professional recording studios has now been emulated in easy-to-understand software plugins. If you start down that road and find yourself having fun, then do it! It might not be amazing at first, but hone your skills, get better, and keep going.

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

A: A guitar, my laptop, headphones, and a MIDI keyboard. And an interface I guess. But you can get by with those bare essentials.

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

A: I've been making music since childhood, but was always told that there weren't any "real jobs" in the music business. So I got a degree in Biomedical Engineering and held a job in the field for three years, all the while developing my production and engineering skills. In mid-2018 I left my BME job to pursue music-making full-time, and have been doing it since then, both in live settings and in the studio.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: The biggest thing for me has always been authenticity to a song's message. If a song is coming from a place of vulnerability, the production should reflect that in some way. Meanwhile, a soft string section and acoustic guitars wouldn't always work for a song about teenage angst and rebellion. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Music Production usually starts with getting a feel for the song and making sure I know where the artist wants to take it. Then I lay down a foundation on the backbone instrument, be that guitar, piano, synths, etc. For Mixing I generally take a listen with a notepad in hand and just right down the song structure, the loudest and quietest parts, and any problems I notice right off the bat. From there I'll tackle things from a top-down perspective, making overarching changes first and then getting into the dirty details.