Producer | Instrumentalist

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

A: I love to work with references. Give me an idea of what artist/group you would like the project to sound similar to.

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

A: Tools so I can get off the desert island. I would be much more worried about survival than playing music. Haha!

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

A: 10+ years professionally. I moved to Nashville in May 2009 to begin working in the industry. It took a year and a half to get really connected into the industry. At the beginning of 2011, I was able to begin working in music as a full-time profession.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Ambient - Rock - Country - Pop - Folk... again, my goal is to be a chameleon.

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

A: This isn't as important to me to be honest. I treat every project on a professional level.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I love to take time lining up my work to the grid. I always want to make it easy for the producer to drop in my tracks into their session. I also label my tracks so the producer knows what they are getting. Also, the grid can be a dangerous place where parts can be over edited. It's ok for parts to not be "dead on" to the grid all the time depending the feel of the song.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Excellence in serving the song to the best of my abilities and/or my team's abilities.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: If I am producing, I first work with arrangement for the artist. I will take their work tape and generally rework parts of the arrangement at times...chord changes and/or voicings. Once the arrangement is solidified, I will move on to programming. Once we have a good feel for the song, I will move on to real instrumentation to replace programmed drums, bass, and keys. If budget allows, will even replace programming with real strings and/or horn sections. We will then track vocals. After vocals are comped and tuned, I may add more production elements. Then when the artist and I are ready, we will move on to mixing and mastering. I walk with the artist every step of the way through the song production process. When tracking instrumentation or doing overdubs for a producer, I provide multiple parts for the producer to pick and choose from. I will typically start with a rough track that has drums, bass, possibly keys, possibly programming, and a rough vocal. Having a rough vocal is important so that I don't write parts that could step on the vocal.

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

A: I primarily work on EDM, Trop House, Country, Pop, Rock, Gospel, Christian, Praise & Worship, and even on projects for commercial and film.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Big picture. I would also say, as a musician, playing the best parts that fit the music as a whole. I love creating parts that talk to one another. Some of my clients compliment me for the "ear candy" I provide throughout my tracks.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: It's different everyday and I get to travel the world. Also, with SoundBetter, I am able to work with clients from all over the world.

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

A: What are your rates? I typically answer by asking them what their budget is. Depending on the project, the rate will also be affected by the amount of tracks that need to be created to make the project sound best.

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

A: I wear many hats as most of us do in music. I produce, compose, and record instrumentation for singles, jingles, EP's, Albums, and film scores.

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

A: I recorded the guitars on Audio Adrenaline's song "Move" in 2015. The song has been featured on American sports networks such as NFL, MLB, WWE, & the PGA Tour. It was also picked up by the SONY PSG conference in 2015.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I love using analog because of the warmth of the sound that is produced. I also like using digital for ease of use. When tracking electric guitars, I usually prefer recording with a mic'd up tube amp.

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

A: That you need to have the most expensive gear to create the best sounds.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: In my studio, Apollo Twin Duo Thunderbolt interface, iMac 27", KRK V6 Studio Monitors, UAD plug-ins, SoundToys 5 plug-ins. I have several mic options as well. For many productions, I will rent studio spaces.

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

A: Excellence!

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

A: Dann Huff is one of my favorite producers in country music (Hunter Hayes, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry). His work inspired me as a producer and instrumentalist to allow parts to talk to each other. One of my biggest goal as a producer or a session musician is to be like a chameleon with my work. I don't necessarily want my stamp on the work... I want the finished product to be the voice of the artist. My goal is to always create music that will best serve the song and the artist.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What style would you like the project to be, reference other artists/groups. What instruments would you like on the project... what is dominant and secondary? BPM of the project?