Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love to sing, play and create.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Great sounds, fidelity etc are useless if the emotion and feel is not in the performance. Those things don't come from gear or plug-ins.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Pretty basic but it gets the job done. I work in Logic Pro. I record with a basic mic setup for guitars or vocals (condenser and dynamic) and use midi for synths, drum machines and beats.

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

A: As a singer-songwriter I like David Bowie, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Radiohead and Elliott Smith in particular. As a producer I like Aphex Twin, Brian Eno , Rick Rubin, Stephen Street, Nigel Godrich, James Blake and Daniel Lanois.

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

A: If you are into House Music I really liked singing for the artist Airbas,

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: To paraphrase Jon Brion I don't want to be analog or digital I want to be both. It really depends on the situation. I don't want to romanticize tape too much. Being a good musician and creating is something that comes from within Whether it's being recorded into a DAW or onto tape is less important.

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

A: That singers now all just use autotune and manipulate everything digitally. I don't. That writing a great song is something that can be done on command at any given time in a day or two. I certainly can meet deadlines and am not slow but it takes work to make good music. Both on my part and the collaborator's.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What their timeline is. When and how they plan to release the music. What their personal influences are.

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

A: The obvious one is to listen the sampler music I've uploaded here or go to my Soundcloud- Dahlia Fiend. I played everything on those records (minus acoustic drums) as well as recorded, wrote and sang on every track. That should give you an idea of what I can do. I would like the customer to understand that music is a creative process and if it is made heartlessly and mechanically it will sound like that most of the time. It I take on a project regardless of it's size I am going to treat it as serious as I would my own music and work very hard. I can only be me though. Not The Weeknd or Daft Punk or The Strokes. :) Although I love all those artists.

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

A: I started performing and recording fifteen years ago. Currently I am working on a covers album as well as an album of originals. I would like to do more session work in the future both as a singer and guitarist and hope that my music will continue to capture people's attention.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I listen to the artist's demo or track, ask them what sound they are going for, what bands they like, what music of mine they're heard. Then I spend some time creating and send back my ideas and we go from there. Inn general it is faster and easier to do a vocal where the lyrics and melody have already been written. When the artist is looking for a vocal, lyric and melody from scratch, the more specific they are the better and faster I can work.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Above all I want to bring honesty and truth as a singer and/or songwriter to whatever I'm doing. Regardless of genre, those qualities are what draw a listener in and they can't be faked. Of course they often are but once the new sheen wears off most of that kinda music disappears.

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

A: Well first off I'm gonna need clean power.....

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

A: Vocals over an existing track. Sometimes I'm asked to add or write melodies and lyrics which I love to do but I'm also comfortable with singing the song exactly like the demo.

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

A: Johnny Marr, so I could ask him questions incessantly about making The Queen Is Dead.

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

A: Alternative/Indie/Rock/Singer-Songwriter

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: My current electronic project Dahlia Fiend

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Alternative/Indie/Electronic/Rock

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I have my own sound and my own voice as a singer, musician and songwriter. My creativity is my strength.