I love getting inside a song, finding tones and sounds that compliment and add to the vibe. I love supporting the vocal and lyric, which is why I've spent so much of my life working with great songwriters. I've spent almost 15 years playing drums for a songwriter who is also himself one of the greatest drummers I know, Hawksley Workman.
Send me an email through 'Contact' button above and I'll get back to you asap.
1 Reviews
Endorse Brad
Brad is very talented, creative, versatile and professional. We've worked on over 10 tracks during the 2020 year, and to each project Brad's provided a unique percussive pallet and sense of space that adds to the sonic vision of each song.
He is responsive and reliable and provides high quality recorded tracks. I definitely look forwarding to working with Brad on more projects to come, always a pleasure. 100% recommend his services!!
Interview with Brad
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I've been playing drums and percussion since 1996. I grew up playing in youth orchestra and band programs, and developed first as a classical percussionist, which I pursued in University. I think this had a profound impact on my tone and touch, and the lengths to which I'll go to find the right sound for something. Since 2007, I've been based in Toronto as a live/touring/recording drummer, engineer and educator. I've played with Holy Fuck, Donovan Woods, Kathleen Edwards among others. I've been at turns drummer, engineer and collaborator with Hawksley Workman since 2008.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I am, first and foremost, a huge fan of songs. I listen to a ton of music, and my focus in playing on a song is in elevating the entire piece of music - especially serving the melody and lyrics.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: It varies, but typically I get sent a file with mostly keeper parts and a click track (if applicable.) I track to what I'm given based on any specific instructions the artist may have, and then I'll send an mp3 for approval of the direction. When everything is complete, I'll send off the WAVs for the individual tracks, as well as a stereo drum mix, unless something else has been requested.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I mainly work in a small-ish, acoustically treated room. (For projects requiring BIG room sounds, I have a few outside studios I like to work in.) I have a huge array of drums and cymbals at my disposal, including vintage & new instruments from Yamaha, Ludwig, Pearl, Slingerland, Noble & Cooley, Istanbul and Paiste. I record with industry standard professional microphones chosen for each project, with preamps from Black Lion Audio and a Universal Audio 8. I do most processing in the box with plugins from UA, SoundToys, AudioThing and others. I work primarily in Logic X.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Jim Keltner, Brian Blade, Aaron Sterling, Jim Gordon, Steve Jordan, Josh Freese... Tchad Blake, Nigel Godrich, Daniel Lanois, Blake Mills.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Remote recording and recording in other studios. Typically singer-songwriter type projects with folk, country, roots, rock and pop touches. I typically do drums and percussion as I hear it, unless given a specific directive from an artist or producer. I usually provide a couple of alternate take directions, and I deliver clean, properly edited & aligned tracks in the requested format.
- Live drum trackContact for pricing
- PercussionContact for pricing
- Mixing EngineerContact for pricing
- EditingContact for pricing
- Time alignment - QuantizingContact for pricing
Turn around within a few days, 1 revision included, additional changes can be negotiated. Larger project terms and rates can be discussed.
- Hawksley Workman
- Kathleen Edwards
- Andy Shauf
- Classic Ludwig metal snares
- Noble & Cooley
- Pearl
- Ludwig drums
- Yamaha drums
- Istanbul cymbals
- Apollo interface
- Black Lion preamps
- a variety of professional microphones.
