Remote Mixing & Drum Tracking

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

A: This EP I'm currently wrapping up, "The Indiana EP" with Jon Henry and Thomas Austin is very special to me. It was a joint effort by two brothers and I'm so humbled to be brought into the project. I am proud of the work are putting out and cannot wait to see where it takes them.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Working on a full-length with a friend of mine as well as finishing up a 4-song EP with a couple of long-time repeat clients! Exciting things in the works.

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

A: J.R. McNeely is one of my all-time favorite mixers.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. Generally speaking, analog for character, digital for "daily-driving" and transparency.

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

A: You will experience your tracks put in the best possible light. If you're not happy about it, I want to talk about it and figure out where the bottleneck in the process is and work on that together.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Getting to be creative and being able to collaborate with all different kinds of peoples in different walks of life.

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

A: I'm often asked what services I provide. I do provide all kinds of services such as remote drum tracking and editing, vocal editing and tuning, production, arrangement, tracking and mastering. As enjoyable as all of these things are, I find the most joy in mixing a track and being able to take good to great and is what I'm most passionate about.

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

A: There's no "magic" about it. There's no magic vocal chain to top the charts and there's click-of-a-button to sound better. Each and every mixing decision requires careful attention to detail and the end product.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I like to get to know the prospective client. I find that I learn just as much about a project by simply learning about the person as I do asking about the project and the vision. I like to start there.

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

A: If you're the songwriter, you've got enough to worry about between lyrics, music, arrangement, tracking, tone-shaping, and performing. It is possible and even preferable to record transparently with affordable equipment, leaving the heavy-lifting for a professional if you're not confident in your technical abilities. This leaves you to focus on the aforementioned aspects of the production. That is the greatest advice I can leave you.

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

A: Gear is a funny thing. Sometimes it's the only thing that'll get ya there and other times, the cheapest option is the best option. It just depends. If I had to pick 5 pieces of gear for a desert island trip, it would probably look like this: 1. Laptop 2. Two-Channel RME Interface 3. Neve 1073 (can I have a pair? :)) 4. Pair of Neumann TLM103's 5. Adam A7X Monitors

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

A: I started in audio as most do, in a crappy high school band. Faced with a need to record our originals, I bought (my parents bought) me my first two-channel audio interface. Using this interface, I was able to begin experimenting with sounds and started into theatrical live sound. Out of high school, I continued into a full time live sound and now spend more time in the studio.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I am pretty laid back. I try to "major in my majors and minor in my minors". For example, if I spend 2 hours eq-ing a tambourine track, but the vocal tone sucks, I've just wasted time, energy, and ear focus.

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

A: Mandolin Orange. Their musicality and sincere songwriting paired with their unbelievable skill in crafting parts and layers is a skill hard to come across.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Everything is about perspective. You cannot possibly churn out your best work if you've lost your objective ear and that begins to happen after your first listen...

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

A: Mostly music falling under the umbrella of "Rock", but this can range from quiet indie acoustic to slamming pop tracks featuring guitars and acoustic drums.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Balance. An unbalanced mix, unless it's for effect, is a distracting mix.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Attention to detail, focus on what matters in a song, the ability to pull out what makes each song special.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Open discussion until I'm sure I understand the project and it's vision. Then comes rough mixes, more communication, and then final mixes delivered.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I use a combination of world-class audio software and hardware from brands like Adam, Universal Audio, Fabfilter, Waves, Slate Digital, Native Instruments and many more.

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

A: Eric Valentine for his devotion to the craft by any means necessary. From designing consoles to accessories, to consulting Avid in creating a better Beat Detective for Pro Tools, he gets the job done musically.

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

A: Most often I am asked to produce, record and mix music for my clients. This always becomes collaborative and results in my playing drums or percussion on this music.