Composer, Sound Designer

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

A: Really proud to have done some audio post-production work on Hikaru Toda's award winning documentary Of Love & Law. The story follows two LGBTQ+ lawyers in Japan working on human rights cases, showcasing some of the struggles that people face in our society. I highly recommend giving it a go, it's very inspiring and eye-opening.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The moment when everything starts falling into place and I feel a sort of sync with the project at hand. Walking around within a game and feeling the atmosphere come to life, elevating a certain scene in a film, so that it reaches the dramatic intent that the director was after, these moments are magical. It seems as if as soon as I feel this 'sync' - going forward becomes natural, I don't need to actively think about what to do next anymore, rather just let it flow out.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Try and set some limitations. When it comes to games, what I like to do is envision a band, orchestra or ensemble that is playing the soundtrack, think about what sort of instruments they are playing and try not to deviate far from the original concept. I think it's all too easy to get lost in all of the plug-ins, virtual instruments and similar stuff, in return getting something sounding inconsistent and over the top. I really believe limitations induce creativity and help you find your own voice. The same applies to plug-ins, better to have a few, but really know how to use them. Fun fact - Tom Morello only has around 6 or 7 pedals in his arsenal and never changes his amp setting (he set them way, waaay back and stuck with them). This and a lot of practise led him to really know how to use them and get the craziest, most unique sounding guitar tones.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: When writing music I like to create a 'canvas project' where I'm trying out wildly different ideas and seeing what works and what doesn't. These projects can sometimes contain hours of music. Then after the client and I feel that we nailed it, I tend to lock in the instrument selections and use them as a frame for the rest of the project.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital is cleaner and more high definition, that's a fact - it simply introduces less noise into the signal path. But there is something about the warmth and colour that analog equipment provides, that's why so many digital plug-ins try to emulate analog sounds. In my view one of the biggest advantages analog equipment provides for producers is quite simple - it forces them to use their ears, as most of the time you only have some knobs to turn and really have to listen to the changes, as opposed to seeing visuals representations on a computer screen when using digital plug-ins.

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

A: I will be 100% dedicated to your work, responsive, professional and never take any change of direction personally.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I like to know what is the message we are trying to say? What drives them to do the project and generally why are they doing it in the first place? What are their favourite sounding works by other artists? How do they want the music and sound design to feel?

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

A: I've been in bands and writing silly songs ever since my early teens and eventually emigrated to London at the age of 18 to try to 'make it' with my band. I have no idea why I never considered it before, but when I finally learnt that I can make music for media everything sort of clicked together, the two main passions of my life collided - my love for music and story telling. I started actively learning how to use DAWs, which led me to graduating University at SSR London in 2017, where I learnt so much about producing music, recording techniques and so on. It was around this time when I took a leap and together with some like minded individuals founded our own Audio Production house by the name of ORO Audio. Ever since then I have been steadily at work, sort of taking lead on game audio, as being an avid gamer, I have a deep passion for the medium. By the way, I'm still in bands, that will never go away.

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

A: Massive fan of Playdead games, working with them would be a dream come true. Talk about making an atmosphere, wow!

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

A: I try and work to not be type cast. In a lot of the work that I do I see a lot of similarities to being an actor, I like being adaptive and to dig deep into research for each individual project if the time allows it of course.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Thematic, atmospheric writing. I'm good at setting the tone for a scene and feeling what could work for the project at hand.

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

A: There's a lot! Terry Riley, Steve Reich, John Adams, Hauschka, Howard Shore, Christian Henson, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Gustavo Santaolalla, Sun O))), SOHN, Nils Frahm, Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Thomas Newman, James Horner, Bernard Herrman, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, John Williams, Austin Wintory, Johann Johannsson, Brian Eno, Jasper Kyd, Jason Graves, Chris Remo, Darren Korb, The Meters, James Brown, The Smiths, The Cure, The Beatles, The Battles, Nirvana, Butch Vig, Elder, RATM, Shostakovitch, Arvo Part, Bill Withers, Primus, Fleetwood Mac, Tame Impala, Django Django, Mac Demarco, A Tribe Called Quest, Outkast, AC/DC, Knower, Pixies, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Hendrix, Funkadelic, Louis Cole, Kurt Vile, Emma Ruth Rundle, anything on KEXP and so so many others... this was fun though!