Session Guitarist

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

A: This isn't necessarily related to session work but I recently completed my first 10 modules of a 7 String Guitar course called "Life On 7 Strings" as well as a Life On 7 Strings primer mini course. I also did a 6 string version based on the same methodology.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: My next album!

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

A: Not at this moment.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital. I can't imagine what it would've been like or where I would be now if I had today's technology when I was first starting out.

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

A: I'll give you my best. I won't withhold any portion of my talent but also won't overplay and will give the song just what it needs.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Being in the zone or flow state.

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

A: Q: Can you do the guitar work for my song? A: Yes

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

A: Well you know the old joke about what do you call a guitarist who just broke up with his girlfriend? Homeless. For me that couldn't be more further from the truth. The perception of musicians being lazy still exists when in reality we most likely have to work twice as hard to fight the uphill battle that is the music industry. In my professional career I've made a point to strive for punctuality and dependability to not give credence to these stereotypes. I'm selective in the musicians I surround myself with and try to limit my time around those who are jaded and possess a negative mindset.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: 1- What genre does your music fall under? 2- Name at least 3 guitarists that you would like my tracks to be "in the style of". 3- What is the overall sound or sonic spectrum that you're wanting... clean and sparse on one end and heavy / driving on the other? 4- What deadline are you shooting for?

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

A: The more you're able to articulate the big picture of what you envision for your song(s), the better I'm able to supply the right parts that will help bring that into reality.

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

A: A solar generator such as a Jackery, An iPad Pro loaded with Logic Pro for iPad, An interface such as my Roland Go Mixer Pro, My Fender Big Apple Strat and My Fender Acoustasonic Strat.

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

A: I strummed my first chord at age 11 and from that point there was no turning back. Within that first year I forced myself to go onstage and perform in talent shows or wherever and get used to feeling at home on stage in front of an audience. In my latter 20s I switched to teaching guitar full time and that became my main occupation for close for about 20 years with performing, session work and my own projects mixed in. I also studied Recording Arts at Northern VA Community College at one point. About a decade ago I began to gradually transition back to performing and just this past year (2023) made the full transition from guitar teacher to live performer as my occupation, touring the US in two prominent tribute acts. I also have 5 albums in my discography, 3 under the name Attic Symphony and my two latest under Robert Bussey along with some singles. I'm set to begin work on my next album release that will be entitled "If These Strings Could Speak".

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Rock Guitar with A Symphonic Flair.

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

A: Hans Zimmer. I would love to see what he would extract from my musical brain.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Having my studio set up in an apartment forces me to work at low volume. That is actually my secret sauce to getting a huge sound out of my mix. If I can get a huge sound out of a mix at bedroom volume, then chances are when I blast it on my car system it's going to sound phenomenal!

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

A: Instrumental Progressive Rock

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Composing.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Guitar goodness!!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I can't stress enough the importance of having a good reference track and a good ear to pick apart the instrumentation contained therein and how they sit in the mix. My own original music will often start out as a fingerstyle composition that I will track and build the full arrangement upon. In using Session Drummer in Logic Pro, I will mark where any time signature changes occur in the time ruler and then manipulate the features to get the exact drum performance I want, then let the guitar stacking begin! If I'm tracking for a client I will send them a rough mix of how I envision the tracks to sound for their approval and once everything is edited and finalized, I'll set the levels to -12db and upload the stems to Dropbox. For my own project, I'll do a full scale mix down of editing, automating, panning, eq... all of the things right down to the final mastering.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio space takes up the entire living room of my apartment. It's quite minimalist and I do most of my recording "in the box" using Logic Pro and Guitar Rig 7 as my main plug in. I have a considerable assortment of pedals such as the aforementioned String 9, a Foxgear Echosex Analog Delay that emulates the Binson Echorec made famous by Pink Floyd, a Tech 21 Acoustic Fly rig, and a TC Electronic Dreamscape which can add a nice light flange to the String 9 in particular. There's more I. can add but you get the picture.

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

A: Steven Wilson, TesseracT, Vola, The Contortionist, Katatonia, Alan Parsons, Kate Bush and Pain Of Salvation.

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

A: My most recent session was for a Symphonic Metal client in which I built a complete guitar arrangement on the drum track he sent to me. This included stacked 7 string guitars, an orchestral arrangement using my Electro Harmonix String 9 Pedal, some slide guitar fills and a guitar solo. He then had a bassist add his part to complete the musical arrangement. Due to the fact that I paid close attention to the detail in his drum composition and letting that inform me how to build the guitar arrangement, the metering of the lyrics fit perfectly when he had his male and female vocalists add their parts. He then sent that to his engineer and the end result is the song Radium Ghost by Von Vorrath that you can stream on Spotify.