Session Drummer/Key Programmer

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I always have a few different irons in the fire. A few singles and a bunch of demos from song writing sessions.

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

A: My number one goal is to facilitate a collaborative environment. I've heard so many horror stories of artists that have had musicians that are "always right" and have left a project feeling unfulfilled. My goal is to always take the artist thoughts and ideas in to consideration when I'm decision making. They do have to carry the song when I'm done, so it's really important to me that the love the final product!

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

A: Surprisingly I am most asked about my process. I usually talks about the process of going from a idea to recorded track and help guide them through the reference process.

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

A: I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that musicians just press record and then you're done. There is a large amount of time spent on figuring out the song and the right parts to play, then the editing and cleanup to deliver professional quality files. It all takes time!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I am able to bring "drum speak" and programmed drum ideas to life. I try if at all possible to not only do what has been given, but embellish and make the ideas my own; hopefully resulting in a better overall final product.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I like to start with client contact so I can hear their vision for what they are trying to accomplish. At this stage I'm usually asking about artist or song references, timeline, and to hear songs. Then I take the thoughts and ideas from that conversation and build out tracks that help serve the song and accomplish the artist vision. After the tracks are recorded and edited, I send an MP3 file as a reference and to offer the chance for any minor tweaks. Once that version is approved I send over any necessary files via a dropbox link.

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

A: I typically do remote drum recording, keys programming and editing. I have accumulated hundreds of hours of remote work and am very comfortable working with clients online.

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

A: Be sure to communicate very clearly what your expectations are. As hard as producers/musicians try, we are not mind readers. The beauty and sometimes struggle of music is that it is so subjective. Literally every single person in a room can have a different take on a song. It really helps when artist know what they want their music to sound like, but more importantly know how to communicate exactly what they want.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skills are in the parts and ideas and editing of it all together. It's one thing to play it down, it's another to get it tight and radio ready.

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

A: I went to college and did production there. During college I started working at a church doing production and did that for 10 years. A couple of years ago my family and I made the jump to Nashville to contribute to the music industry full time.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I work and live in the worship and CCM genres, very groove and feel focused.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I will actually relate this back to my strongest skills. In my opinion, editing is key; particularly for vocals. Since the song is really about the vocal anyway, it has to be right. One small way to have huge results with your vocal is to make sure to clean up the space between phrases. Unconsciously a vocalist will invariably make noises with their mouth that really stand out once compressed and EQ'd in mix. Also it really helps to time align the vocal to the track. Just like an instrument, the pocket really matters.

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

A: I recently worked on an EP for an artist from Singapore. It was awesome to get to work globally, but she's also been experiencing success on the iTunes Charts. It's been a huge win for everyone involved!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Right now for me it's digital. It gives me the opportunity to be portable especially in writing sessions. I love the honesty and authenticity that analog brings, but it's so much easier to take a laptop and Apollo on the road than a bunch of analogue gear.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love that I get to make music for a living! It sounds kind of cliche, but it's so true. I cannot imagine doing anything else!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I like to ask questions about what they are hearing in their head for the direction of their song. This includes specific artist and song references. I don't want to deliver a sound to you that is way off, so it really helps me figure out how to get in your head and try to better understand what you're thinking.

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

A: MacBook Pro, Apollo Twin, SM7, Midi Controller, Headphones

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

A: I normally work in the Christian music genre including Worship and CCM. I also have several clients in the singer/songwriter and Americana genres.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I normally keep at least one drum kit setup. I work a lot in the box because it affords me the luxury of portability. I do however have some API 512's to get that front end warmth. Everything else runs through UAD to preserve the quality that is expected from todays music. I also have an extensive virtual instrument and sample library.

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

A: I am a huge Coldplay fan. I love that their sound has and continues to evolve since the beginning. The constant shifts in creativity and how they construct a cohesive work is incredibly inspiring to me.