rock producer, guitarist

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

A: Nothing fancy or famous but I had an amazing local guitar player who came into my studio with a paid awesome budget from her wife as a birthday gift for its fifties. He came with incredible musicians, the mood was incredibly good and we all had some rare quality time. The final result was wonderful and I can genuinely tell my work was easier than ever. Some magic happens when positive vibes are in the air!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Brand new rock songs album for the libraries I am working with.

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

A: I am sorry I am new here!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Best of both worlds! But I must confess I am heavily using digital. Console 1 Fader is a good example of this combo mix, the approach is analog (its faders are sooo smooth) but the unit is digital indeed. Then I still love to use a real guitar amp and mike it old-style.

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

A: Satisfaction! no matter what. Their satisfaction is mine as well.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: the freedom!

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

A: when they came in the recording studio it was: "We want a huge sound!" and the answer was "it's not about the mix I am doing, it's about the way you are playing" and this is honestly true, damn true.

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

A: me: I produce music ppl: cool! it's great what a nice passion, so what's your job? me: I produce music ppl: oh, well but what you do to make a living? ...

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: what's their realistic budget, what's their goal, and according together the best way to reach the final result for both satisfaction.

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

A: The connection between me and my customer is very important, making sure you're giving me all the info you need, what you are looking for exactly, what's your budget and having realistic expectations according to the budget.

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

A: 5 guitars I guess :)

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

A: Like many kids I started playing guitar in my teens, after a few years I did open my own recording studio, my very own home studio actually. Friends playing in local bands started coming in the studio and it was natural working with them. Despite playing live is fun and having a band is a very cool thing, my main passion has always been working in the studio, arranging songs, recording, producing, and all that stuff. I've been playing guitar for almost thirty years and recording and producing music for twenty. Don't tell me I am old :)

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I can't really tell... I am lefthanded, maybe genius?? lol seriously, I like to think the word "fresh" can be a good fit.

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

A: That's a real hard one, I guess the list would be endless, from my teenage guitar heroes to the newest artists. Should I mention one I would say Nita Strauss, I love her energy, her style, she seems to be a very down to earth person and she surely has been able to break a lot of stereotypes about women playing guitar.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Don't overthink, don't lose time in very small things, and once again, when you mix, go mono as much as you can!

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

A: rock instrumentals.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I think I am pretty good at finding some nice catchy melodic lines, then my guitar playing, you may like it or not but they say it's pretty much recognizable.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: positive vibes and energy!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: The main thing is making sure I really get focused on what I need to create. So, mood, vibes, instrumentations, duration of the song, etc. Once I think I am ready I start recording a live track with riffs and chorus, using my guitar. I try to make it happen in one take to feel the vibes, no matter about mistakes, it's just a draft one yet. When I think I have the structure of the song done, I start with the drum track. For drums, I am using Slate Drums - highly recommended! - sometimes I use the grooves included on SD5 and eventually I modify them where I think it's needed, otherwise, if it's faster, I create them myself to make sure they will perfectly fit with the project. It really depends on the time I can spend on the project. After this, I record the bass guitar, I can play it myself or sometimes I can use EZBass, I swear not even most bass players have ever found out when it's me playing or it's just the EZbass :) Then it's fun time playing the guitar parts, usually, I record two tracks, left and right. Despite you can easily manage the stereo sound with two different amp settings (with some delay and a different attack on the amplifier) I really prefer playing it twice, the sound is gonna huge, like really huge, old-style win in this case! Lead guitar and solos usually come on another track, but sometimes I like to have the rhythm guitar on the left and the lead one on the right, it's surprisingly great in my opinion, it really depends on the kind of rock song I am working on. I try to have the final sound since the beginning, but I am gonna apply mastering and limiting tools just after the main mix. Last but not least, tons and tons of listening happen in mono! This is one of the most underestimated things ever, just my 2 cents indeed. But especially nowadays, where a lot of audio sources are low-end or mono, it does make sense to hear how a mix is sounding in that case.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I can work with pro tools and logic pro x but my fav DAW is studio one. I work with two Raven MTi as my main desk, I am using the AXE I/O IK Multimedia as the main audio interface which is surprisingly good, listening through Genelec Audio 1030A. I've recently integrated an amazing Softube Console 1 Fader, which gives some amazing analog vibes! Most guitars are recorded with IK Multimedia Amplitube for its great versatility, but many others get recorded through the badass guitar head Bogner Ecstasy, sometimes I also use a lovely vintage Peavey Classic 20.

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

A: I really cannot name one, usually, everything that stands out for creativity.

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

A: Instrumental rock music, from punk rock and modern rock to 80ies 90ies hard rock.