Sound Design & Writing Scores

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

A: Ben Burtt, John Williams, Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko Shimomura

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

A: Post-Production Sound for Film; Mixing; Music

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: When recording vocals, make sure the vocalist has reverb in their headphone monitors. This prevents them from subconsciously forcing their voice to carry and hindering the performance.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Post-Production Sound: 1) Create spreadsheet with sounds needed, timecodes, dialogue file names, etc. 2) Add dialogue and any pre-existing sound effects I can include. 3) Foley. 4) Mixing. It's a bit more nuanced than that, but it's a sufficient summary.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: 2017 Update: Digital. It's simply more practical both live and in the studio. The SoundCraft Performer and A&H Qu32 have changed my life.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Computer: I switch between my Macbook Pro and custom Windows PC. DAWs: Pro Tools, Sound Forge Pro Audio Interfaces: Focusrite Solo, Tascam US-1800 Headphones: Grove SR225s* Monitors: Mackie CR3s

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: My own personal music.

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

A: Color One LED(s), DMX Cable(s), Lighting Console, Power Generator, Gas. Basically I'd program a SOS signal.

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

A: In 2010, I decided I wanted a career in composing music for film, television, and video games. To start, I began using my brother's keyboard (which had been lying around unused) and recording into audacity with a simple headphone-to-microphone port patch. In 2013, I attended Pinnacle College to better the technical side of music production, picking up plenty of other skills along the way. I am now familiar with mixing music, sound design (foley, editing, etc.), recording, live sound, and the like. In 2016, I was hired with PSAV in Downtown Sacramento as an Audio/Video Technician. Most of my work has been at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento and the Sacramento Convention Center.

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

A: The Pinnacle Weekly Podcast. This was a podcast I created, produced, and hosted. I conceived it with the idea of giving myself and classmates more experience in a studio environment. Key goals included rotating the Recording Engineer role every week, promoting the music of myself and my classmates, gaining experience in the producing aspect of an audio production (booking guests, keeping schedules, etc.). It ran for 11 episodes with moderate success among my classmates and the Pinnacle faculty. While I do wish it had been more successful, I am proud of what we did and gained plenty of experience from it.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Sound Design: Finding creative ways to simulate/emulate an on screen object. (My favorite example is turning a the sound of a snoring man into a pulsating engine sound) Music: Breaking out of my comfort zone with my writing style and realizing just how much I don't know, which is both daunting and exciting.

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

A: John Williams. Because Star Wars. That's why.

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

A: Orchestral and Metal