Producer/Bassist/Guitarist

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

A: I'm proud of everything I've been a part of. From taking and developing/producing an unknown like Kiiara from 0 to 100's of millions of streams, to writing/recording a jazz album at Moon Studios in Brooklyn with some top notch jazz musicians recently. My role has always been enhancing creativity to the max and especially pushing boundaries. I want to push everyone I work with to max out their fearlessness. That's where the magic is always made.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A lot of country stuff for 17 Memphis. I just finished a jazz album in Brooklyn at Moon Studios with Obed Calvaire (drums), Immanuel Wilkins (sax), and Joel Ross (vibraphone). I'm playing upright bass on it. I wrote all the tunes as well. Truly a bucket list moment for me, google those guys, they are amazing talents. I'm working on some hyper-pop ish beats and productions with Travis Mills (girlfriends), Pat Miranda (Movements), and more. So I'm really stoked on all of that.

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

A: Yes - Chelsea Davenport is amazingly awesome at vocaling/toplining. Wolvo is really freaking great at mixing and producing. Naomi Wild is so good with singing and writing too. Tim Riehm is an awesome writer

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. I recently recorded a jazz album in Brooklyn at my homie Lane's studio - Moon Studios. We tracked in a hybrid analog/digital fashion and it came out sounding stunning. Both can yield incredible results. The plugins and VSTs are getting stuuuuuupid good these days so digital is taking over, but outboard gear is always so inspirational to mess with. They both have a spot in my heart.

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

A: My promise is that we will create something special, something magical. Art is magic, creativity is divine. It WILL sound bad ass. I will talk with you, for hours. We will get to the heart of what it is you want to bring out of yourself, out into the world. I will deliver in a timely fashion, and I will put real heart, soul, and spirit into what we are doing.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The thing I like most about it is that there's nothing I don't like about it. Meeting people from all walks of life, everyone with different tastes and vantage points, the ability to create every day. It's a real life dream. I feel so blessed, everyday, and I want to honor that with helping to facilitate the most imaginative and striking art I can muster.

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

A: How much for a beat? Lol. Serious people I work with usually ask me what I'm listening to - we try to exchange our vibes and fuse a creative playground to work in. My answer depends on who I've been listening to, what I've been watching, what art I've seen recently.

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

A: That "producer" is synonymous with "beatmaker". There is a HUGE distinction. Producers CAN be beatmakers, but they need to really be a spiritual guide for the artist they are working with as much as they are a music maker. That is the definition of a real producer to me.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What do you want to make? Who's inspiring you right now? What are you listening to? What are you watching? (David Lynch can be just as inspirational to a musician as John Coltrane) What's in your heart? If you could make only one type of song, what would it be? Let's do THAT!

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

A: Make sure who you are working with is right for you to work with. Make sure that they care. People are all trying to make a quick buck on the internet, just jobs. Make sure it's someone who really cares, who understands you and the type of music you want to create.

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

A: I wouldn't need 5. I would need 2 - Ableton and my Upright Bass. That's literally my world right there.

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

A: Wow. I started producing on a Korg D1600. Go google that. I think J Dilla had one. "Digital Multi-Tracker". I've been producing really since I was about 14/15, starting on that. I found Ableton in college, it was really Arca who introduced it to me. I was playing guitar and bass in high school jam bands, listening to and playing The Grateful Dead and The Shins. Elliott Smith, stuff like that. I thought computer music was all Sandstorm, all just b-a-d. Lol. It was really in college when I saw that working with computers was amazing. Now they are the instrument, they are the canvas. You can be Phil Spector in Ableton, except everything is literally limitless, and you don't have to hire session musicians, and you hopefully aren't murdering anyone. I signed with Warner Chappell during my last year of college and moved to LA. From there I worked with Katy Perry, Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, Melanie Martinez, Young Thug, YNW Melly, Kiiara, Leona Lewis, SZA, Gallant, Terror Jr., Tinashe ... just so so many talented people. It was a beautiful time. I moved to Nashville after being in LA for roughly 3 years, and started a country project called 17 Memphis with the love of my life, Chelsea. We have recently relocated to be with my parents and support them through this trying time.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Stream of consciousness. Lightning. Fast and cosmic, not to sound too esoteric lol. Maybe like Mike Tyson if he was a producer. Beastly.

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

A: Most of them are dead. Bach, Thelonious Monk, Andy Warhol. Lou Reed. Like I said I love Glaive and that whole movement. Just fantastic. I typically love working with the artist(s) I'm currently working with the most. There's magic in everyone.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I have so many. One tip would be to absolutely follow your gut every step of the way and turn your brain entirely OFF. That's the best tip I have. If you can do that, you can paint your dreams.

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

A: I would say Pop music, but that's really what we call "Music" these days. I love Pop, I love Rap, I love Jazz. The type of music I really work on is music that is not status quo or boring or wants to trendchase. I work on music that challenges the status quo in some way, shape, or form. I affiliate myself with music that is disruptive. Music needs to be challenged, art needs to be messed up and torn apart and flipped and recreated and bent. I love finding a new beauty.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is listening. Listening to the music, yes, but mostly listening to the person I am working with. I want to know where they are now and where they want to go. So much of creativity is intuitive, and if we can all shut down our thought processes and tap into our inner creative flow/channeling, the song/music will literally feel as if it's just happening, which is of course the highest form of creating. Getting to that place is what I am best at.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring a song to life. Whether it's written and needs certain clothes to wear, or it's written as (or after) the track is being made, I need all production and dressing to SERVE THE SONG. Song first. No questions.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I love to get to the heart of who I am working with. I need to know about where their head is at creatively. I'll listen to recent demos they've put together, and also ask them who's inspiring them currently. I need to know the spiritual impetus and driving force behind what it is we are creating. Once that's ascertained, we can start to spitball ideas back and forth and get closer and closer to our creative goal, until we reach it. I like to work fast, I think creativity is like a lightning strike - just pure unadulterated stream of consciousness flow. No thought. All go.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Ableton is really the heart of my setup. Everything you need is in that program, and if it's not, it's in the VSTs you get to add on to it. I've worked extensively with outboard gear and own a ton of it, but everything is really in Ableton. I've played guitar + bass for about 20 years now (since I was 10), so those are always close by, I play everyday. I'm usually including live guitar and/or bass in all my productions. Upright bass has always been a love for me, so I play that everyday as well.

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

A: I am a HUGE Thelonious Monk fan. He really IS music to me. I love Glaive's stuff too, I think he is bringing something really fresh to the scene. Arca (Alejandro) taught me so much of what I know on Ableton. Burial and Four Tet are absolutely inspirational as well.

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

A: Production. I have been using Ableton extensively for over a decade now, and am extremely proficient in all aspects of beatmaking, production, and creative sound manipulation - using Ableton as the ultimate canvas to bring clients' ideas to life.