Music Producer & Engineer

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Are you willing to listen to and accept feedback on and alternative versions of the song you initially wrote? Are you willing to change lyrics in order to help your song make the most sense or to help increase its “singability?” Also, what songs do you want your song to sound like?

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

A: Always have an audio recording of your song and a pdf document of your lyrics

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

A: 1. My laptop, my Two favorite mics, 2. Blue BB mic and 3. a Chinese off brand mic that is a grand secret in the music industry, 4. my focusrite scarlet interface and finally 5. my Takemine Acoustic guitar.

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

A: My career path is simple. I’ve been playing and singing for worship oriented churches across the nation since I was a teenager and from there learned songwriting and music production, starting about 10 years ago. I’ve helped friends for free over the last several years. I had not been paid for production until about 3 years ago. Since then I’ve worked with other producers, taught classes on music production, and produced tracks for some very talented artists. It’s been a powerful journey.

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

A: Always have an audio recording of your song and a pdf document of your lyrics

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

A: 1. My laptop, my Two favorite mics, 2. Blue BB mic and 3. a Chinese off brand mic that is a grand secret in the music industry, 4. my focusrite scarlet interface and finally 5. my Takemine Acoustic guitar.

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

A: My career path is simple. I’ve been playing and singing for worship oriented churches across the nation since I was a teenager and from there learned songwriting and music production, starting about 10 years ago. I’ve helped friends for free over the last several years. I had not been paid for production until about 3 years ago. Since then I’ve worked with other producers, taught classes on music production, and produced tracks for some very talented artists. It’s been a powerful journey.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Like a Christian Michael Buble but with a Nick Jonas vibe as well.

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

A: I would love to work with just about any modern pop/soul group because that is a genre that you can always learn more about and learn from, but also I feel like I can contribute to the style.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: if I have to choose just one too it would be to go slow. That doesn’t mean procrastinate, but it means to not be in a hurry when you’re producing a song, especially if you’re stuck. Being stuck means you need to go get a coffee with a trusted musical friend and discuss other music with them, or that you need to go listen to a whole album of another artist and get lost in it. There are many other solutions to getting stuck but mainly it’s just Do Not Rush the song or the process of writing, arranging, and producing.

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

A: Christian pop/rock and modern gospel

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Probably songwriting/arrangement process

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: 10+ years of experience in musical arrangement, collaborative songwriting, and creative mixing.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I start by getting to know the song and lyrics to the song. I want to grasp the idea and vision that the artist has for the song before I go to work tearing it apart and trying to “improve” it. Many times producers just want to take your sound and immediately recreate it, this can be really good or terribly bad. We should move slower in this first process. NEXT, it’s good to create some sounds and/or progressions for the first demo ideas for the artist to hear and allow them to be part of the process of correcting the course of the song and producing their song. Finally, it’s time to get to work on the steed course. Complete the mock vocal to guide the track, complete two or three instruments in the overall arch of the track. Make sure the bridge and/or 2nd chorus are compelling, and create an interesting ending that fits the song and makes the song unique. Go Back! Give the song more body all through out, add more sounds and transitions, replace certain bars of music with different beats or musical complexities. Mix the song in depth, repeat mix checklist, start Pre-Mastering... send to a mastering engineer... put song on platforms around the world to be heard and enjoy by the artist’s new audience!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: The studio here is in my church. I have a professionally constructed vocal booth, sound paneling on the wall, multiple external effects on my rack, I run Logic Pro X with the most recent update, I have some of the highest rated mics in the industry, and more.

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

A: All pros will inspire your creative process if you follow, watch, and listen to them, but some of those who have influenced and inspired me are: 1. Timbaland, (obviously) he’s incredible. His team is so cohesive and they work together like magic. I’ve completed his MasterClass and I will probably go through it again. Amazing track making processes. 2. Ryan Tedder, Ryan is an unbelievable musical mind full of simple and complex ideas, and the simple ones sometimes make hit songs faster than the complex ideas. His forte is a pop/rock tone but has a very modernized vibe to it. Fusion is the name of the game these days and Ryan Tedder knows the sound and elements to make that happen, that’s what I follow him for. 3. Vito Di Giovanni, not many people know about Vito but that’s part of his quality is that he’s not trying to get known, he’s just trying to help churches, Bible colleges, and Christian artists who need music produced at a reasonable price. Vito has been a producer for close to 15 years. Starting in live production I am influenced and inspired by his ability to engineer perfectly, yet dynamically. Most producers are not strong engineers, but that is what I shoot for daily.

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

A: The most common work that I do for clients is Music & Lyric Arrangement as we move forward in the recording and production process. Finding the right guitar, piano, synth, and/or orchestral sound for an Intro; adding the right instruments to the first chorus; making sounds that fit in the transition areas between the major vocal performances of the song - all of this and more makeup the majority of the work I do with a client.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Are you willing to listen to and accept feedback on and alternative versions of the song you initially wrote? Are you willing to change lyrics in order to help your song make the most sense or to help increase its “singability?” Also, what songs do you want your song to sound like?

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Like a Christian Michael Buble but with a Nick Jonas vibe as well.

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

A: I would love to work with just about any modern pop/soul group because that is a genre that you can always learn more about and learn from, but also I feel like I can contribute to the style.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: if I have to choose just one too it would be to go slow. That doesn’t mean procrastinate, but it means to not be in a hurry when you’re producing a song, especially if you’re stuck. Being stuck means you need to go get a coffee with a trusted musical friend and discuss other music with them, or that you need to go listen to a whole album of another artist and get lost in it. There are many other solutions to getting stuck but mainly it’s just Do Not Rush the song or the process of writing, arranging, and producing.

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

A: Christian pop/rock and modern gospel

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Probably songwriting/arrangement process

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: 10+ years of experience in musical arrangement, collaborative songwriting, and creative mixing.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I start by getting to know the song and lyrics to the song. I want to grasp the idea and vision that the artist has for the song before I go to work tearing it apart and trying to “improve” it. Many times producers just want to take your sound and immediately recreate it, this can be really good or terribly bad. We should move slower in this first process. NEXT, it’s good to create some sounds and/or progressions for the first demo ideas for the artist to hear and allow them to be part of the process of correcting the course of the song and producing their song. Finally, it’s time to get to work on the steed course. Complete the mock vocal to guide the track, complete two or three instruments in the overall arch of the track. Make sure the bridge and/or 2nd chorus are compelling, and create an interesting ending that fits the song and makes the song unique. Go Back! Give the song more body all through out, add more sounds and transitions, replace certain bars of music with different beats or musical complexities. Mix the song in depth, repeat mix checklist, start Pre-Mastering... send to a mastering engineer... put song on platforms around the world to be heard and enjoy by the artist’s new audience!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: The studio here is in my church. I have a professionally constructed vocal booth, sound paneling on the wall, multiple external effects on my rack, I run Logic Pro X with the most recent update, I have some of the highest rated mics in the industry, and more.

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

A: All pros will inspire your creative process if you follow, watch, and listen to them, but some of those who have influenced and inspired me are: 1. Timbaland, (obviously) he’s incredible. His team is so cohesive and they work together like magic. I’ve completed his MasterClass and I will probably go through it again. Amazing track making processes. 2. Ryan Tedder, Ryan is an unbelievable musical mind full of simple and complex ideas, and the simple ones sometimes make hit songs faster than the complex ideas. His forte is a pop/rock tone but has a very modernized vibe to it. Fusion is the name of the game these days and Ryan Tedder knows the sound and elements to make that happen, that’s what I follow him for. 3. Vito Di Giovanni, not many people know about Vito but that’s part of his quality is that he’s not trying to get known, he’s just trying to help churches, Bible colleges, and Christian artists who need music produced at a reasonable price. Vito has been a producer for close to 15 years. Starting in live production I am influenced and inspired by his ability to engineer perfectly, yet dynamically. Most producers are not strong engineers, but that is what I shoot for daily.

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

A: The most common work that I do for clients is Music & Lyric Arrangement as we move forward in the recording and production process. Finding the right guitar, piano, synth, and/or orchestral sound for an Intro; adding the right instruments to the first chorus; making sounds that fit in the transition areas between the major vocal performances of the song - all of this and more makeup the majority of the work I do with a client.