Producer & Beat Maker

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

A: The latest album that I just released is the project I'm especially proud of because I did it alone. I was the producer, the beat maker, the artist, the master engineer, the branding manager, etc.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I just finished with my album that I shared on Spotify and other major streaming sites. Right now, I'm working on my next album as well as other artists' tracks in the Philippines.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I came from the analog world but I now enjoy the flexibility and creativity the digital world brings to my process.

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

A: My promise to my clients, as always, is that I'll be open to their ideas and visions and, in fact, I'll put it above anything else most especially if I can see the potential to it. I also promise that I'll put my knowledge, skills, and experience to good use and help you come up with a better version of what you are planning to do.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I like the fact that I can create something out of nothing by simply manipulating digital sounds that a piece of hardware and software can produce. The fact that this is the only thing you need to produce a hit makes me love my career more.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: Clients mostly ask about my experience and how flexible I am with my rate. My answer is always the same when it comes to my experience and when it comes to my rate, flexibility is the key.

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

A: One of the biggest misconceptions about me is that I'm a serious type of guy. Although I take my craft and career seriously, I'm a fun guy to work with although my face doesn't always show it.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I always ask about their ideas and vision about the project they want me to handle with them. It's important to me to see their own vision as it makes me understand where to go.

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

A: If you're a new artist who are looking for a beat maker or music producer and you don't have much experience or budget, consider working with an emerging producer or beat maker as well. The two of you dream of achieving something and that makes your goals aligned instead of being driven by money. Working with new and emerging beat makers and music producers doesn't mean they don't have the skills yet. So you just need to check their samples and demos so you can spot a highly skilled new or emerging beat maker or producer.

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

A: I'd take my Mac with my DAWs, my AKAI MPK Mini MK3 which super portable, my trusty studio headphone monitor, and my table and chair. That's all I need.

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

A: I started working with instruments when I was in elementary school. My father bought me a guitar and I don't know how to play one so I learned by myself using a guitar book. During high school, my band doesn't have a drummer so I learned to play by myself and the problem is solved. During my college days, I started working with professionals in the Philippine music industry as a sessionist, handling multiple instruments on a given gig. Then, I shifted to producing music digitally using DAWs and MIDI devices. I love the accuracy that digital music production brings to the creative process and I fell in love with it.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I'd like to think of myself as an artist and producer who creates music that flows from your ear to your heart. Technically speaking, I want my tracks to sound fluid and not too dry or too crowded. I like to marry instruments and vocals together that creates fluid sounds.

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

A: I like working with artists who are flexible. I don't care too much if you have an idea or not about the song you want to share with your followers. If you are flexible enough and open to ideas, you can explore things you haven't considered yet and you are doing your followers and yourself a huge creative favor.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Use your ear. Of course you should already mastered the tools and skills needed to produce beats and music but you really have to use your ear if you want to create something great for your audience and clients. When you use your ear, you can hear things that are already there and not already on your track that you think will add beauty to your songs. When you use your ear, you can mix and master tracks with ease and you can be more creative. The only way to consume a song as an audience is by listening to it, so I don't see any other way to produce world-class tracks than using your ear as well.

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

A: Mostly, I work on hip hop and R&B, but I can also work on pop, rock, metal, and country as I love songs on those genres.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Being organized is one of my strongest skills. Although my creative process is all about letting the music come to me, it doesn't mean that I have no organization or process at all. I'm super organized when it comes to keeping my tracks and my ideas that I'll be using for a particular song and I have ways on collaborating with clients remotely.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I have a very powerful skillset when it comes to beat making. I learned how to play the drums when I was a kid alone and I understand the overall dynamics of playing percussions. I can also play multiple instruments with deep understanding on how each instrument works. Combining all of the things I mentioned, I can create a full song from scratch that my clients can use for their lyrics. Once done, I apply my mixing and mastering skills to make up a full, shareable song.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: When I produce my own tracks as an artist, my process starts with planning what my album or song is about. Then, I break it down to pieces by focusing per song and then per track. When I'm working on a particular piece of music, I have no fixed process as I let the music come to me. Sometimes, I start with the beat, sometimes I start with the chords or melodies and work my way up. When I'm working with clients who have some idea about what they want, I develop the song from there. I also share my suggestions and I start working on their projects.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I own and run a working ranch and I built a home studio that will allow me to work from the comfort of my home without being disturbed. My set up is mostly purely digital and I own a MacBook M1 where I have my Ableton Live installed and I pair it with my go-to weapon—the AKAI MPK Mini MK3. These, plus my studio monitors, are the only thing I need to produce world-class beats and music.

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

A: Metro Boomin, Timbaland, Rick Rubin, and other top producers inspire me. The more flexible a music producer is, the more I get interested in picking their brains through their work.

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

A: The most common projects I handle with clients is more on beat making and music production. Most of the time, my clients already have a set of lyrics and an idea on how they want the song to be arranged. By combining their ideas and my experience, my clients and I always come up with a professionally produced beat or song that they eventually share on Spotify and other streaming apps and sites.