Music Producer | Songwriter

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I am a big UAD fan..I think this can tell my story.. Cubase as my main DAW on my Mac platform full of huge sound banks and VST's.. I also use Push 2 with Ableton Live11 when I try to catch more common EDM type sounds. In my studio I have Washburn acoustic, Ovation, Fender Jazz Bass, Fender Jazz Master, Telecaster, Peerless Jazz guitars, Roland JV 1000, Juno-D, Korg X5, hammer action keyboards, also Komplete. I also have my first Upright Zimmermann (1945-1950) piano, iron crossed, in very good condition for acoustic live performance. Rode, Apogee, Neumann, AKG pair mics, Fender M-80 Bass amp, Vox Guitar amp. Acoustic Reserch speakers with subs for reference listening, JBL monitors for surround mixing, Alesis (flat) and Genelec active studio monitors for mixing. Remo accoustic drumset and a bunch of other mics..

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I try to understand the wideness in their range of music, what are their goals, their spiritual comfort, how do they define themselves musically and individually, if they do have a record deal or not, the deadline... and their budget.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Hybrith.. analog provides more dimension and warmness and brings out all the benefits of traditional recording and mixing opportunities. Thanks to today's technology that brings us the chance of getting the best amounts of an analog sound on a digital platform. This saves time and money for the client and the producer. Currently I work digital with some analog gears I have in my studio as well (like compressors, limiters, mic amps..)

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Basicly one project to another and working for my new album and my future projects in my free time..

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

A: I know the founder of Kursun Sound & Music Design, Hakan Kursun. Without a doubt, I would recommend A&R Production, Istanbul. I have to dig in here for more.. :)

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

A: They are mostly curious about listening the final result and I tell them that time is the biggest deal :)

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

A: My promise to my clients is to take their song to the next level in a highly world standard format, by working with the qualified session musicians, mixing and mastering engineers, under the leadership of my production skills..also help them to find a record label or digital marketing crew, if they do not have one.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The most thing I like about my job is, that while I'm working I feel like in another dimension and I do not feel like what I do is a job. :)

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

A: Before they get to know more about my musical perspective, they generally focus on what I do currently on a 'specific genre' but when I play them different references from my library, they get surprised. I’m focused on what I do for people and how the result will make them happy. My work speaks for itself, just like everybodyelses.

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

A: With my band Feyz Trio, we performed my compositions and experimental pieces of traditional Turkish and Classical music, which led me through an Ethnic- Jazz journey (2003 - 2004) with the great band Hijazz Hicâz, drew the attention of the great producer Arif Mardin of Atlantic Records, and been supported for attending İstanbul Jazz Festival by him. This project became a pioneer for it’s followers, in which my arrangement for Segâh Saz Semaî of traditional Ottoman composer Nayî Osman Dede took place and performed by Budapest Synphonic Orchestra, conducted by Alparslan ErtungaAlp, which I am very proud of.

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

A: It is not possible to totally understand each other, what we are or aren't capable of doing unless we give each other a try. So if this profile catches a little bit of your attention, try me..so may be you will be able to catch mine as well. :) I'm eagerly waiting to show you what I can do for you.

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

A: I prefer working with musically experienced people. There has to be something in their song, lyrics, voice, spirit and how they are getting excited about their plan, they have to know what they are doing and what they are dealing with. I have to believe in their self confidence and they have to believe in what I'm doing. This is the first step. Everyone must accept the reality that no matter who the singer or the artist is, the most important thing is the 'song' itself. I mostly work from scratch to final. Very few with the pre arranged ideas..but if so that's ok.

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

A: My favorite producers that inspires me are Quincy Jones, Arif Mardin, David Foster, John Mutt Lange, Rick Rubin, Nile Rodgers, Bob Power, Tony Maserati.. Queen is my favorite band since I was a kid. I was inspired a lot by Toto, Chicago, Journey, Yes, Supertramp, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mötley Crüe, Black Label Society, J.S.Bach, Stravinsky, W.A.Mozart, Sufi Music, traditional folk and ethnic music of all different nations and cultures.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Funny, full of surprises, dynamic, emotional, sometimes aggressive, sometimes calm.. I think it is all about the character. I like surprising people with the unexpected movements in my music. Combining or separating these kind of feelings is no different than doing the same with genres. I just can't name it.

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

A: 4 boxes of Phosphor Bronze 10|47 Elixir Acoustic Guitar strings and my Acoustic Washburn with a brand new Phosphore Bronze 10|47 Elixir Acoustic Strings on it. (When I was 15, I built up my first guitar from an orange box, the strings were from the fishing guts and the tuning pegs were from the screws.. loved that one.)

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

A: Names are not a priority for me.. there are more important priorities than names..

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: When you look at a blank page always be afraid of loosing all the knowledge you have.. :)

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

A: I usually work on my own music projects, trying to finish my unfinished projects from the past for my future goals. The good thing is, I make music in various types of styles in a wide range of genres from classical to sufi music, rock'n roll to experimental..infact what I'm doing is practising for my progression. I like the good old taste mixed up with today's..always keep myself updated not only to today's music but also to the technology and tomorrow is another 'today' so this keeps me alive and fresh for an upcoming project.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: we take all the necessary steps of a pre-production..such as.. 1- Understanding eachother with the artist. 2- Examining the song with the artist. 3- Making the final restoration of the song (traffic, additional sections, additional melodies, checking the lyrics, changing some syllables or words if needed for the best pronunciation and phonetics, finding the right tune.. the right tempo, defining the main structure of the song...) 4- If there is a reference track on the artist's mind i want to hear that.. we develop some mainstream ideas together.. 5- I play a demo tarck with a guitar or a rhodes type of sound for the demo vocal recording. Or if the artist can play and sing together, I record them with the metronom. When it comes to the main production..this is the easiest part.. and it shows differences according to every project.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I think I'm very good at making the artist or a session player (this can be a string group or a brass section..no matter what..) feel very comfortable during a recording process. I can take control of the room easily and tell them directly what the production needs. I can make them play better, sound better, sing better.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Every producer, arranger has their own vision and taste, so I bring my own unique approach. This 'taste' that brings life to a song depends on how much experienced you are. Experience depends on how much you listen to music in a wide range of genres and keep yourself updated with the actual productions on the market.

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

A: Besides being a musician I am also an architect. After the years in conservatory of piano department, I decided to be an architect because my father was an architect and I liked colored pencils and rulers. Architecture and music are very parallel to each other. Because both are a matter of structure. You can not build up a safe construction unless you build a safe and strong structure even if you have a cool design. The song is a design, the structure is the sum of the decisions you make with the artist or the band, the construction is your production. When I look at my career path of 25 years from this perspective, I realise that I always took the steps slowly and I can tell, I am still becoming a 'music architect' every single passing day.