Producer - Composer - Mixer

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

A: I had the opportunity to score a really interesting documentary film about the cigar industry called "Hand Rolled." The soundtrack is available to stream, and you can find the film on iTunes and Amazon.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: It doesn't matter. The song is all that matters. But if I HAD to choose... Digital. Collaboration across the country, speed of recalls and revisions, size and scope of sessions, and the "analog" sound can easily be modeled with today's current technology.

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

A: New clients are often surprised at the number of different elements I can help with on their productions. I can start with the nuts and bolts of the songwriting itself, build the track's groove and arrangement, play drums/bass/keys/synths/FX, write and notate for live instruments (from for example, a single cello to full orchestra), coach vocalists on their performance, edit and tune, and finally mix and master. But, I'm happy to do as few of those as a project requires... have a mastering house you love? Great, I'm happy to prepare premasters for them. Want me to just add strings? No problem!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm mixing a few songs for a long-time client for television sync opportunities, producing songs for a new artist from Nashville, and preparing to dive into a scoring project for a new Netflix show.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The music! I love that get the opportunity to work on all kinds of material. I never get bored with anything because I know it'll be something totally different tomorrow.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: How do you plan to distribute your music? What other artists are in the niche of the particular genre you're hoping to fit into?

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

A: Mac, Focals, Raven, keyboard controller, iPad.

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

A: I have a Piano Performance degree from Western Michigan University. From there I moved to Nashville and got hired by a large Jingle House on Music Row. I worked on lots of commercials... most famously, I did the sound design and was the voice of "Er" for the Clio winning Budweiser "Frogs" Super Bowl commercial. Then a move to LA to work on songwriting and production... I was signed to Sony ATV publishing and wrote a lot of songs with lots of co-writers like Billy Porter (Tony Winner), Gary Barlow (Take That) and Jason Blume (Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys). Since then, I've moved to the Sacramento area to raise a family and have worked with indie artists and bands, as well as scoring and writing songs for film/tv.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Keep that session organized! I color code the tracks in every session exactly the same way. Drums are blue, Bass is yellow, Guitars are green, Keys are orange, and Vocals are pink and blue depending on the singer. Use markers to show the song's sections. And start with a template for the routings, busses and effects you always use.

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

A: Pop, singer-songwriter, a little R&B, all kinds of genres for film/tv sync.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I'm able to hear the vision and get it realized fast. Many of my clients say things like "wow, I can't believe how fast that came together." Of course, the key is 'high quality work' in a short amount of time.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring a lot of experience in a lot of different genres. Because I'm also a songwriter, I'm sensitive to what the song is trying to say and able to keep that as the focus of the production and mix. Technically, I can bring a lot of clarity to your sounds and vision.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Because I've got a family, I'm pretty much a "day job" kind of producer. But, when deadlines loom, I'm always up for getting it done.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I'm lucky to have a building I designed on my property. It's sound proof and carefully acoustically treated so I can really hear what's going on in my mixes. My monitoring is by Focal... the Twin 6BE and Sub6. I'm running Pro Tools and Logic on a TrashCan Mac with the amazing Slate VRS8 as my interface and mic pres. For recording, I've got a couple of Slate's ML-1 large diaphragm mics and 8 of the ML-2s for mic-ing drum kits and all kinds of instruments. I love the flexibility of the VMS mic modeling system. And I'm using the Slate Raven touchscreen to be able to reach out and touch the faders and plug-ins. It's amazing what technology allows for these days compared to the giant consoles, slow tape machines and racks of MIDI gear I dealt with at the beginning of my career!

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

A: Oh man... that's hard to answer. Everything I hear has qualities that I appreciate and strive to attain. Jacob Collier is an inspiration, but he's on such another level it's hard to apply what he's doing. I love the modern pop simplicity of Ed Sheeran, and the rich orchestral complexity of Hanz Zimmer.

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

A: I do a lot of Additional Production and Mixing. A client will send me a fairly rough session that I'll clean up and add instrumentation... anything from drums, bass and synths to full orchestra. Sometimes that new track will go back to the client to record vocals, or I'll use the vocals they sent. Then I'll mix and master!