indie/alt drums, Mixing

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a office studio, the room is sound treated and I use sonarworks reference for a flat speaker response. I currently do not use any outboard gear except my elektron analogmk2 for saturation and distortion. I use Logic Pro x with a "2023 m2 MacBook Pro", my interfaces are audient id14 and a presonus Quantum HD8 for drum tracking. I have a lot of plugins for various situations, but I find myself only using a handful of plugins most times, just because I know those tools really well. I have a shed dedicated to tracking drums, very dry room, and the drums sound very lively and resonate. I mainly record with vintage shells, but have a wide variety of drum sounds.

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

A: I produced and mixed a Full album back in 2019/20, and that is the best learning experience one can ask for

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

A: 100% effort and honesty, I won't take on your project if I don't believe I'm completely capable.

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

A: in General probably the Amount of time that goes in Making something great, sometimes it's a day, sometimes it's several months. Just depends

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

A: anytime your bringing someone in on project you've worked on for while, make sure you are able to explain your vision for the music and the end goal. it really helps to have as much direction as possible.

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

A: Darren King, Paul meany, Chad Copelin, Jon Foreman, Will Chapman, Dan Mayo, Paul Mabury

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

A: All around production

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

A: currently I work a full-time job outside of music, Ive been working on music in my spare time and weekends for 7 to 8 years, I just enjoy making music

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Drum Tracking: Typically I like to practice with the track before recording anything and just get a feel for the song and what direction it should go, Groove, Tone, Dynamics, and flow. once that's decided, I will go into the production phase and consider how many mics I need to setup(Typically 6-8 mics) tuning drums and dialing in the sound then recording, once recording starts my main goal is to get a perfect Take, once I achieve that, I usually have plenty of recorded material to comp the drums, i comp the drums, then quantize if needed, and then mix everything. Mixing: Start with project prep, get all files in the project, make groups and get organized, Take a break. if there is a Vocal I always start with the vocals, and build around it in no particular order. every song is different so its hard to say exactly how the song is mixed. I usually will start with a more creative approach and shift to a more objective mindset by the end of a project. Mastering:i have spent a lot of time crafting my own master channel strip for quick and objective masters. every master is different but the objective is the same, I try wrap it up within 20-30mins, and I always start with fresh ears. generally my loudness target is -6 to -14lufs -0.01Db Truepeak. my goal is to make the song sound good, not extremely loud.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: 95% digital simply because it is more accessible and cost effective, I love analog gear but the quality gap between the two is not that much anymore, aliasing is really the only downside of digital for me.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: precise and purposeful

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

A: Indie pop/alt, I like Juno synth sound design and indie drum sounds

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: definitely Drum production, and just understanding what a song/project needs.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Creativity and mindfulness of the song, always making decisions that are geared towards song flow, often times less is more and simple is better.