Music Producer and Songwriter

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

A: The time and effort it takes to make a great production. I would say 20% of my job is 'the fun part' and 80% the grind to making your track sound sophisticated and polished. There hasn't been on project on Soundbetter where my average price per hour was more than $5. That's how much I put into it! But that's my problem and not yours!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: If you haven't told me this in your opening, please include the following: - Who are you? - How many songs do you need produced? - What you want to achieve with them? - Please can you provide previous work or references so I can hear? - Do they also need to be mixed and mastered? - Do you also need to record them in my studio? - What is your budget? Not always appropriate, but if your budget is low, it's often good to say what it is in your pitch. I've said yes to things lower than my normal rate due to being less busy at that time. So chance it!

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

A: - Have references of what you want to go for. Understand what you like about those references and clearly tell you producer, such as, 'I like the claps in this track, but I like the way the vocals sound in this track'. It really helps you get the product you want!

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

A: 1. Computer/Laptop - absolutely central to anyone producing music! 2. Piano - my thinking about music stems through the piano. 3. Monitors - got to have some solid monitors to hear your music really clearly! 4. Universal Audio Apollo interface. UA make incredible gear and an interface allows me to plug in a microphone and connect my computer to the speakers. 5. My U87 microphone. This microphone has been used for thousands of hit records and still is being used today. It's a pricey bit of kit so hopefully won't get wet on the island!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring all the music - drums, guitar, pianos, synths, bass etc. I can orchestrate a great production around your track and mix it together. I can also connect us up with session singers if you need someone to sing on your track if perhaps you're more of a writer than performer.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work in a complex of soundproof studios in North London surrounded by other amazing producers. Which, if you chose to come in, has communal kitchen and clean toilets (a lot of studios tend to be grubby, which I think is disrespectful to the client, but these have a cleaner every day) Gear-wise: Monitors: A pair of PMC Twotwo 6 monitors A pair of KRK VXT6 Auratone Mixcube Interface: Universal Audio Apollo Firewire - all the Universal Audio Plugins Outboard: 1073, API 550A Mic: Neumann U87 Austrian Audio OC18 Keys: Arturia Keylab49 Prophet 6 OB6 Software (everything): Logic Pro X Fab Filter Soundtoys UA Waves iZotope RX8, Ozone Spitfire Audio Native Instruments Serum Sylenth Diva etc. etc. Macbook Pro 16 Inch 100% full spec (64GB RAM etc.)

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

A: I grew up in bands and played the main stage of the IOW festival at 16 years old. I then studied (classical) music at Durham University (top place in the UK to study music). At University I was in a band and we toured the UK playing O2 Academies, The Sage Gateshead etc. After University I realised I loved pop music and started messing around on Logic. I got a job at an artist development studio (previous clients were Ella Eyre and Becky Hill) and after a couple of years, took the decision do music full time and take on my own clients. I work a lot with Universal Production Music on my own music and this gets played on TV and adverts around the globe - recently my tracks have been played on Sky Sports (Premier League), BT Sport (UEFA Champions League), BBC One (Dragons Den), CBBC, BBC Sport (snooker across BBC One, Two and Four), ITV (Eat, Shop, Save, Tonight Programme), Channel 4 (Big Brother Best Shows Ever), CBS (UEFA Champions League), BBC World Service, Heart FM, Capital FM and Love Island Finland.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Your style. I work for you and I make products to satisfy you, not me.

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

A: MNEK Because he's the most incredible songwriter AND singer. He's a producers dream as he offers so much I can't do!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Side chain compression occurs in nearly all my projects. To put it simply, it's when one part of the track moves out of the way to accommodate another part. It creates that pumping motion we often hear in tracks. The most common place this occurs is in dance music with the kick drum against the bass. If I was to make this a juicy tip, I'd say it's sometimes awesome to create 'ghost' kicks. Create a kick track and set it to 'No Output'. Apply side chain compression on a part of your mix against the ghost kick. You can then have the sound of something pumping in your track, but without the kick sounding. The Chainsmokers do this a lot. If we work together, I will tell you everything I've done in the project if you're interested - my parents were teachers so I am naturally inclined tell you everything I've ever learnt!

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

A: Pop, RnB, Disco (retro stuff like Dua Lipa and The Weeknd at the moment), EDM and ballads are what I'm doing most of at the moment. Though I can do trap, rap, grime

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Good communication is a strong skill of mine, which is fundamental to being a good producer. You can't just take a track away, not talk to someone and then a few weeks have the finished product. I see this happen with producers all the time. It's important to check in with the client regularly, always take all their feedback on board and work out how you're meeting their goals.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: You do not have to upload any money to Soundbetter until you're certain I'm going to deliver for you. This is my guarantee, which has worked 100% of the time so far. We'll riff out the song, whether thats you sending me ideas, me writing a backing track etc. I'll then send you something back and only when you're like, 'okay this is guna work' do you have to start the process. I'll work for free up until that point. I'm that certain you'll get something you like. We can chat via the chat on here, or I often have Zooms with my clients (depending on how they like to work). And I'll keep working until you like your song! It's as simple as that, as I have the 'please like me' gene I always end up over working on every project anyway!

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

A: I was lucky enough to meet Jonas Blue (billions of streams) at Abbey Road Studios where he walked me through the Logic file for his chart success, 'Mama'. He is super and taught me a few tricks! If I was to say anyone else, I'd go with anyone musician I've met with the drive to pick themselves up and try again. Music is highly competitive, but you can achieve if every day you focus and constantly work out how you can learn more. There are more naturally talented musicians than others, but successful musicians are those that despite all the compliments can go, I'm still not as good as I want to be yet.

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

A: What I do, day in and day out, is turn people's song ideas into reality. We all work in different ways and I can adapt to any way you want to create. For example, my first client on Soundbetter asked me to write a backing track for him to write a song to. We went back and forth having fun, creating the track, which he then toplined a vocal on. He (all the way from Brazil) sent me the vocals and I mixed and mastered the track for him. Whereas my second client on Soundbetter, sent me a Logic file with a little synth idea and lyric sheet and asked me to produce the track and source a great vocalist for it! I will adapt to your way of working and get you something you're really proud of. Hit me up for fully produced track, backing tracks (see my genres!), songwriting, piano work, string work, vocal editing.