Session drums and perc

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

A: Saints and Sinners by Matt Maher. The record was a lot of fun to play, and the whole tracking process pushed me further than any other project I've done.

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

A: Be honest with me. There's no way for me to help you get what you need if we're not honest every step of the way.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I'm in a somewhat small 3 room studio, but luckily there's a shelf for all the drums! All A/D conversion is done through Apollo converters, and there's plenty of hardware and mics to go around. My favorite part is being setup to record/use acoustic AND electronic drums!

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

A: Steve Jordan, Dan Needham, and Bonham are among my top drumming influences (Gadd is kind of a given). Lately I've been real into the things Ash Soan is doing. Daniel Lanois and Jay Joyce are always on my go to list for listening.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Analog...in a perfect world. There's a certain warmth, uniqueness, and commitment that comes with analog. Each handmade pre will sound unique to itself. Mostly, unlike digital, you have to make a musical decision and commit to it on the spot. That does something to your mentality while playing.

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

A: I will go the extra mile every time to get a track worth printing forever.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: People. I like meeting and working with people. Those relationships are at the base of every musical experience I've had.

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

A: Is it ok for me to ask you to try this idea? My answer is always yes...unless you're wanting double bass under an Adele song. That, I cannot do.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Who are you listening to? How can I help you best? What moves you musically?

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

A: Acoustic guitar, my vintage Slingerland kick drum, Istanbul Agop 15" medium hats, any black beauty snare, and drum sticks.

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

A: Art has always been a passion. It started leading me on a path to Industrial Design (designing anything from cars to cell phones), but music took over. Music can do that. It's powerful enough to make a man want to walk away from everything to pursue it with his life. At least, that was my case. I've been living in Nashville now for 10 yrs., and I was able to call music my sole profession starting 6 years ago!

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

A: I mean, who wouldn't want to work with Sir Paul McCartney?! I'm sure it would be a great experience to work with someone who makes such great music without even breaking a sweat. There's no doubt I would leave that gig beyond inspired and full of knowledge I would never have otherwise.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: If it doesn't make an impact, consider the impact of removing it from the song. Example: if compression doesn't make the texture better, don't use it for the sake of using it.

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

A: Living in Nashville, I mostly work on country, CCM/Worship, and a little rock mixed in. When that isn't going on, I write music for licensing to different media formats.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Tambourine. Definitely the tambourine.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I'm a guy who will take pocket over flash any day. BUT, I do love the chance to use some chops. Actually, the most important thing to me is to find a "musical home" in the song to drive the melody while keeping it the focus of the song. Basically, my biggest desire is to serve a song by playing exactly what's needed.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I like to start out listening to the song with the artist's input in mind. Once I feel I have a good understanding of the direction the artist wants to take, I will start laying down some ideas to try and get into the creative space of the song. From there, I send a raw 2 mix to the artist to make sure they're getting what they want. Before sending final iso tracks, I always make sure to edit the audio to fix any minor issues.

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

A: The things I get called for the most are tracking the drums and creative perc parts. Everything from country (and demos) to rock, CCM, Indie, and pop. I can't get enough of any of it!