Producer, edit, mix, guitarist

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

A: Ha, well I chose to settle down in my home town-which is close to a small city.... I could have moved to a city with more opportunity to pursue this work, but I fell in love and started a family, unexpectedly. That being said, recording studios is a very niche market where I live so explaining to a more traditional employee that I record music, can be interesting. I am always helping the independent artist, and sometimes "typical" non-artistic people don't understand the independent artistic pursuit.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I did three songs the first three months of 2020, then coronavirus hit and really hurt my business. I did a song for Peoria Illinois tourism, a song for a jam band, and something else...now I've been mixing a rock reggae band's record. I did a small thing for a yoga studio, did a mix revision on an old song.

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

A: I really enjoyed a project from a guy named Drake Hilliard. It's an EP called no cover. I did all production, recorded, edits, mixed, guitars, bg vox, etc..it was fun because Drake really gave me a lot of artistic freedom and he is a unique song writer. We just always had fun.

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

A: I've only worked with mastering guys on here. I used Andres Mayo for a few projects because of his experience, but also we have the same last name! I thought that was cool. I did recommend him to someone but they weren't a client of mine. Funny actually, they thought he was my dad for awhile lol. He's not

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Don't care. If it's good, it's good.

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

A: I will try my best!

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Using my God given gift. Flexibility to be with my kids.

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

A: What do you think? It really depends, ha Or, can you do that? We can try! Or, scheduling haha

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What are your intentions for this song? Is there a song we can listen to for inspiration?

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

A: Give me what you got, I'll either make it sound better or add what I think sounds good, or both.

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

A: Speakers, hard disk recorder, mic, guitar, bass

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

A: I started recording at 16, guitar at 9. I'm 38. My own band needed to record so I got some gear. Started doing friends stuff. Started getting strangers. Studied music in college. Moved to Europe and got a culinary degree as a backup. Moved to Chicago and played guitar in a band. Moved back to home town, got married and officially started a studio.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Laid back, confident, picky

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

A: Whoa, that's tough. I like good singers and good drummers. Maybe Jimmy Eat World because they do a good job of having special moments in songs. Like, could be a 4 min song, and 20 seconds have a golden moment.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: The magic is in the mid-range.

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

A: I have done several female singer songwriter projects with full band. I have also done progressive rock projects. I've done funk, Indi rock, movie score, and more

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Probably general editing or guitar playing, haha I have always worn a lot of hats in my studio.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I have a very good ear. My guitar playing is way above average. I have an emotional connection to tonality.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Depends on client and scope of project and what role I'm playing. Sometimes I just edit, sometimes I just mix. Most of the time I'm involved in the creative process. My editing skills are super solid. I can comp from 100 takes and grab the best of each take to make one great take, on any instrument.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a protocols HD rig with plugins. Plus preamps from api, neve, aea, maag, great river, Joemeek daking. And Daking comps, shadow hills comp, Joemeek comps. Focal sub and focal speakers. Mac trash can. Kemper profiler, handful of amps, dw drum kit, vintage ludwig kit, percussion stuff, a bunch of guitars, mackie hr824, a few large diaphragm condenser mics, a few small diaphragm mics, handful of other mics. Akai mkp88, vintage organ, upright piano

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

A: I like everything, I studied classical guitar in college, but the best live show I've ever seen was muse. I've enjoyed the mixing show with Dave Pensado, my range is broad.

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

A: My usual client comes in with just a chorus to a song on either piano or acoustic guitar, or a whole song...and I usually write, play and record, edit and mix their initial idea into a full production. I usually hire a drummer, or program electronic drums. I also hire other people according to the songs needs. Then, sometimes Im just recording a live band. Sometimes I'm just comping vocals. Sometimes I'm just mixing, an sometimes I'm just playing guitar.