Daniel Griffo on SoundBetter

I am a professional drummer & studio engineer based in Southern California. I Will get you professionally recorded, comped, drums, mixed & mastered songs in a fast turnaround while adapting to your musical style. I drum for returning clients such as Isla Vista Worship, Almost Monday, and Beach Chapel, who all love my work. Book Me Today!

I am a professional drummer & studio engineer based in Southern California. He'll get you professionally recorded, comped, drums, mixed & mastered songs in a fast turnaround while adapting to your musical style. I drum for returning clients such as Isla Vista Worship, Almost Monday, and Beach Chapel, who all love my work. Book Me Today!

I was born and raised in San Diego and started exercising my drumming passion only at the age of 5. While I grew up, I started playing in church and developed relationships with drummers like Aaron Redfield, Chad Butler, and Joel Plotnik, who still mentor me and help me become the drummer I am today.

I now do weekly studio sessions and play live for artists like Isla Vista Worship, Beach Chapel, Tyson Mostenbocker, Mark Barlow, and Almost Monday.

I specialize in Mixing, Mastering, Drumming, and percussion for styles like indie pop, gospel, and singer-songwriter.
What to expect:

1. Face-to-face interactions to chat about what you are looking for in your track or album.
2. Professionally recorded drum tracks on high-end vintage and new drum gear.
3. fast turnaround time. I work very well with deadlines.
4. Two to three revisions per track.

Fun facts about me are that you can find me weekly spending time with my newly married wife, visiting my favorite coffee shops, driving the coast, or making music in my backyard shed.

I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.

Credits

4 Reviews

Endorse Daniel Griffo

by Sam Hornshaw
Verified
Daniel is a great drummer and a great dude. Highly recommended.
by Chandler Dixon
Daniel is a great player, creative mixer, and amazing dude! Hire him for anything and he’ll do an awesome job!
by Spencer Annis
100% recommend. Daniel helped me out by mixing 8 tracks and mastering a few of them as well. He's a great dude and really easy to work with. He knew exactly what I was going for, and was able to get me clean professional mixes in record time. Looking forward to possibly working with him again in the future.
by Brian McMaster
I've worked alongside Daniel on quite a few projects now. He has a great ear for production and where to place instrumentation in a track. That coupled with the ability to write hooks that instantly elevate a song put Daniel in the unique position of being a great musician and producer. He has drummed on a good number of my own projects and has mastered two songs of mine. He is quick to work and communicate with and has delivered final products that are top notch and sound great.

Interview with Daniel Griffo

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: Recently did a album for my friend Spencer Annis and it was a blast to work on. He should have singles coming out in the near future.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Yes!
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I get to do what i love everyday and it puts a smile on my face.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: What do you need from me? My answer would be "It's different for everyone. But usually just the exported tracks, a reference for the vibe, and your vision for the song."
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: That it's a quick process.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Hire people you are stoked on and know is a good person!
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a built out stand alone drum shed I made specifically for session work. I am running Logic X and Ableton Live 10. UI to run my drum channels into. I use Sennheiser e600 drum mics as well as Shure SM57's, and The Sennheiser MD421's I have a ton of vintage 60's Ludwig kits, a bunch of Ludwig snare drums, and tons of cymbal options as well.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Depends on the vibe/song
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: The thing I do more than anything else is provide high-quality drum, and percussion for my clients. Mix and Mastering is a very close second :)
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: My favorite ones are, "What kind of artist would you be?" and "What are your favorite songs at the moment?" That answer can tell you a lot about the kind of record someone wants to make.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: Excellence
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I made it a New Years goal to write, create, and produce a song a month for the year of 2020 for myself. But other than that, I am always consistently turning out multiple drum sessions and producing EPs and LPs for bands and artists in San Diego, CA.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: 1. 20'' Sonor Kick 2.14.6 Ludwig Copperphonic 3. 16'' Istanbul Hi-Hats 4. Seat 5. Kick pedal - Make some drum sticks on the island
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: Music been my goal, and career for the entirety of my professional life. Music is what I have always done in some form or fashion. I used to tour a lot more, but I have gravitated more toward the studio the longer I have been in business.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Adaptive and percussive. I love playing just about anything!
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Keep it simple, and don't overthink it.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: My focus is generally on indie rock, pop, and worship. I also really enjoy working on rock but don't get to do quite as much of that as I would like.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Communication. In my experience, the better the communication, the better the final product and the happier everyone is throughout the process.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I believe I am good at helping to guide a song along its way to becoming what it wants to be. As a drummer, I try to lay a solid, consistent foundation for the band, create special moments, and accent the lead vocal.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: For drums, I will usually listen to the song several times through to get all of the finer points of it internalized. Then I will track 3 takes in a row and come back into the control room and review them to make sure it all works well for the song. Redo if need be. Than comp, export, and send off via the clients preferred file sharing network.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Drummers and friends like Aaron Redfeild, Chad Butler, Paul Maybury, and Aaron Sterling