Singer/Songwriter

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

A: To give 100% of my attention to your project.

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

A: People think because I live near her and look like her that my set up/sound is like Taylor Swift. That might be my dream to have an expensive home studio like that but these days I tend to prefer to travel to record. That being said, being given such big shoes to fill has really pushed my improvement as an artist over the past year.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Gosh, where do I begin? My next album, Black Satin. I'm also simultaneously working on songs for future albums, they're just all at different levels of completeness. I only haven't recorded the next ones due to budget/time constraints and I live in a rural area where there are not a ton of experienced producers around who match my genre. I wish the world would let me produce a 42 song album but the world doesn't necessarily work like that, LOL. To help better connect with my fans I do an exclusive behind the scenes on Snapchat, and live recordings of my new-new songs on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. I also tour locally throughout RI and CT. It's been going well, so far. Also starting a new band but it's at its beginning stages. I also teach voice, piano, guitar, and songwriting on the side and do casework for a day job.

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

A: Elliot James.

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

A: I've been writing music since I was 14 so it's been about 10 years now. I've sung since before I could talk and played piano since I was 5. I've been playing guitar for about 5 years. As of March 2024, I have written 61 songs. There will definitely be more to come.

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

A: Jazz and pop

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

A: Jamie Cullum has always been my number 1 inspiration. I like how he's modernising jazz and that's my goal, too. Jamie's songwriting is just brilliant. Listening to male singers has helped me develop a unique tone for a high voice since my range and "falsetto" is so different from theirs. I've also been on a big Adele kick lately as I love the simplicity in her more acoustic productions.

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

A: I was the singer for my friend Luna's song "Chapter 2". This was recorded under my real name and can be found at the link below. She didn't know what she wanted for later in the song during the music break, as the piano part while elegant, is very repetitive. So, I did a solo on the spot over it. We did a few takes for the solo but when recording, we wanted the take to be as genuine as possible, and did not edit any part of the solo but instead chose whichever spontaneous idea sounded the best. You can find Chapter 2 on Youtube and on iTunes. The music video was of course the most fun part about doing this song, and this was the first project I had ever worked on where I myself was not the writer. Chapter 2 by Luna ft. Tara Gozaydin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fCu3wSN0jc

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The creative process! Bringing likeminded people together!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What inspired you to write this? What are the details of your vision?

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Vintage and live-sounding

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Don't make your mixes too loud before mastering. Also, do get your songs mastered. How You Be You was mixed and not mastered, so for my next album I am currently searching for a good mastering engineer.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Singing

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: A vintage quality and a lot of drama and passion. I'm all about bringing the louder dynamics louder and the quieter dynamics quieter, without overwhelming the listener. I also love playing around panning.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I usually write lyrics first, perhaps with a melody in mind, then write the accompaniment. It doesn't always go this way; Learning How to Dive (my first song) had the accompaniment first which I was very proud of at the time for its crunchyness and jazzy quality, but I found later on my songs were a little easier to put together if I already knew how many syllables I was working with in the lyrics.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: At home studio

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

A: Singing, writing lyrics, and writing music. I have done both instrumentals and vocal music.