Sound design, Music Production

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

A: I have been playing instruments all my life, I didn't get to start recording and producing music until 5 years ago and I have had my ears glued to the speakers since. My career path is to be a completely independent artist and would like to freelance regularly, however, the thought has crossed my mind to either begin or join a sound library.

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

A: My favorite project thus far was a project that I received from a client that was just a basic rock song. It was composed very well with everything coming in at the right times and the vocals were creative. There were ZERO effects processing applied to the song so my job was to do the mixing and mastering of the session. Meaning EQ, compress, add time-based plugins, layer sounds, add effects, automation, and much, much more. I managed to get all of it completely finished in a little over a week and received fantastic results. I will add that what made the session so smooth was the recording process my client put behind it. The recording process is the backbone to your song, everything else is just meat.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am currently working on a full-length song that will probably be grouped as hip-hop.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Unfortunately, not yet.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I enjoy analog, it can be easier to work sometimes, however my current setup is mostly digital and you know what? That's awesome too. I am a friend to both.

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

A: You will never be unsatisfied with my result. I consider my talent a gift to you and I want nothing more than to help someone find themselves in their own creativity and individuality.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love every little Hz of it. I would peak my threshold for another db. I love doing this more than eating and sleeping.

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

A: How much experience do you have? I have done roughly a dozen full tracks each for video games, commercials, film scoring and post-production, full-length CD worthy songs, and mixing and mastering sessions.

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

A: The biggest misconception is very easy, nothing. A lot of outsiders who do not understand the processes of production think it should take less time or be more bombastic. This is not the case at all, though. I've spent gobs of time on one song before trying to tinker and make everything fit and keep the track moving. Some things vary, some things come easier, some harder. The biggest thing to remember is that you are going to get whatever quality you want from whatever money you are paying, if that person is reasonable with their skill level. My goal is to always be reasonable on pricing, I know I have some listed, however, I will most likely always give you an estimate after a discussion and layout of your project.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is the genre? What is your style? What emotions are you trying to convey? How much experience do you have? Can you sing that again for me after you drink this honey water?

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

A: Look for someone who is able to give constructive feedback as well as receive it and take in considerations. Communication is important when discovering your sound as an artist and it's imperative that both parties communicate and agree on the same image.

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

A: Edible guitar, largest notebook in the world for writing and wiping, iPad with a hard f*cking case for music and recording, a Mic duct taped to a hatchet for, you know, survival, and I would probably bring bongos.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Experiment, you're a scientist of music and sound.

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

A: I have worked on mostly every type of genre and am completely confident in my ability to perform many tasks.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Sound design and mixing. I love composing/writing a new song with sounds nobody's really heard but a lot of people are familiar with. When it comes to mixing/editing a song, I love designing and fine tuning and editing an original composition. I love throwing different effects on instruments to really individualize a tracks sound.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Motion, creativity, originality, compositional fundamentals, extreme skill and patience.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: When composing I typically develop a small melody, then drum groove and I simply make it grow from there. A lot of the time, I find that it is best to work from the tail end of a song where it will be the loudest and most climactic and then create the beginning sections after I've created something really groovy. When mixing or editing a song, I listen to the song on many platforms before I even begin the work, like stereos, car stereos, phone speakers, laptop speakers and my monitors and headphones for two reasons: 1. To get a fluent understanding of the songs sound and what it may or may not be lacking sonically and 2. To understand the songs motion as a whole. Me allowing my myself to listen to a track repetitively before applying major edits allows me to discover what should be present in the track.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Walking into my studio, the first noticeable thing is the acoustic treatment applied to the walls for a tighter sound when producing/editing/mastering. The next things you might notice would be all my instruments, I have guitars on the walls and a piano, keyboard and cello "hangin'" around. Next, I have two Rokit5 studio monitors and then, of course, my computer and interface where all the magic happens.

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

A: All music inspires me, I aim to soak in as much as I can to diversify myself culturally.

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

A: The most common type is hip hop and dance. My favorite is Rock and Orchestral.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I wear many hats. I personally create, hip hop/beats, electronic, instrumentals, orchestrations, rock/heavy rock/metal, acoustic, and chill productions.

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

A: This is too difficult of a question, haha. I think my most frequented would be Yann Tierson. Why? Because I want to be that guy, hes cool as hell.