Mixing, Mastering, Production

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

A: Overall, I'm probably most proud of my solo albums, where I write, produce, mix, master and perform virtually everything. This music is me, unfiltered and just out there with no agenda other than to express myself and hopefully connect with people. All seven of my albums are on iTunes. Check out the albums, Murder Yesterday (for the more organic and sparse stuff), Fallborn (for the more rock side), Life on Earth (title track is one I'm especially proud of), Way Out (for the more esoteric and moody) and my most recent The Hero and the Pain (!!!!!!). That said, I'm honestly proud of everything I've worked on to some degree. I'm really focused on never "phoning it in" on the stuff I work on. For a broad view on the scope of my mixing with other artists check out these key tracks on iTunes: Colton Dixon - "In and Out of Time", "Through All of It (Acoustic)", "Loud and Clear" & "Where I End" John David Webster - "Your Revelation" Hey Violet - "You Don't Love Me Like You Should" V. Rose - "Love Shaped Heart" iRussi - "Lion" Julia Ross - "True Stories Vol. 1" Switchfoot - "This is Home" (with Andy Dodd) Javier Colon - "The Hard Way"

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Recently finished working on 7 songs/productions and mixes (with my collaborator Gannin Arnold) for Capitol CMG artist (and former American Idol finalist) Colton Dixon. The album debuted at #1 on Billboard. Also, recently turned in a final mix of a song we produced/co-wrote for Big Machine (turned Warner Brothers) recording artist, Laura Marano. You can also hear our more rootsy organic work on a recently released song called "The Hard Way", by Verve recording artist Javier Colon (1st season winner of The Voice). I've also been working extensively over the past few years with Julia Ross (a SoundBetter user!). very proud of her recent release "True Stories Vol. 1" which I co-wrote and c-produced with my partner Gannin Arnold (our production company is called BROKEN CITY).

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

A: I'm 41 and I've been doing this for over two decades. I began as drummer... man, I was obsessed with drumming! Within a few years I added recording and composing to the obsession and it's been a wild ride ever since. When I started writing songs, singing and really getting deep into production and mixing I felt like I'd found my life's work. As time went on I found myself not only making my own records but also having a desire to work with other artists. I enjoyed the challenge of navigating the tension between art and commerce (or maybe a more accurate description is, it's been a love/hate relationship!). I've always wanted to make great art, but I also wanted to make a living! For me, it just wasn't an option to do anything else but make music. This just kept expanding until one success led to another and I was juggling my own passion projects amongst working with major labels and well-known artists. The first two full length albums I co-produced went Gold (500,000 copies sold) and launched my career. This was with an artist named Jeremy Camp. Not long after that, a song called "Beautiful Soul" (which I had co-written/co-produced with Andy Dodd) led to a publishing deal with Walt Disney Music Publishing and my career launched and has been rolling ever-since.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Hmm... I can say this, for me it's all about hitting that sweet-spot where what is deeply artistic and instinctual intersects with what is objectively of high quality. I'm always striving to be able to deliver highly creative results, with an equally high level of dependability and professionalism. I'm really interested in psychology and brain science.... and these two traits above are often identified with being either left or right hemisphere dominant traits... I've wondered if the fact that I'm ambidextrous is some kind of hint as to why I love jumping back and forth between highly creative or abstract tasks and highly logical ones. So I guess I'd say that is my strongest skill: to be able to deliver creatively within certain constraints or parameters. When I look back at how diverse my career has been, this seems to ring true... but, you be the judge!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: My goal and passion is to bring a respect for artistry and the ability to clearly define how to bring out the best in a song, a performance, a production and a final mix/master by understanding how to achieve results that "just feel right" through a deep understanding of the technical aspects of making great music.

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

A: Yes, Julia Ross. An epic singer-songwriter that I've worked with extensively.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both! Because in my experience, that gets the best final result. The freedom and control of digital combined with the intangible (yet absolutely real and legitimate) qualities of physical gear (quality tubes and transformers etc.) is the best of both worlds. In my experience the unique sonic characteristics that analog signal chains (creatively organized and gain staged) provide, allow me to achieve that "magic" element that takes a song from very good to amazing. Our ears are analog, right?! I believe that deep down we respond emotionally to music that has been processed by analog gear in creative ways, and then captured at high sampling and bit rates for the final master.

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

A: No matter who you are, or where you're at in your artistic journey, I bring my best to every project.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: No matter what part of a project I'm working on... whether it's from start to finish, or just at the end (mixing/mastering)... I just enjoying bringing everything I am to it... every ounce of my intellect, passion, talent and experience aimed at making a song great.

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

A: In mixing and even mastering, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of subtle artistic and technical decisions that are made to achieve an epic final result... even in a relatively simple production. The way instruments interact sonically is incredibly complex and is often under-estimated! It's not just about balances and levels, it's about how an engineer uses their experience and their tools to tweak the subtleties of how we perceive sound relative to dynamics, frequencies and harmonics... and how all of that translates into how a song effects the listener. Another more new misconception that I've noticed is the prevalence of producers using a bunch of plugin presets to tweak instruments and achieve a mix or master. This can be a solid place to start, but those presets don't know what sound you've recorded! It's a blind way of approaching one's art. There's no replacing what an experienced and artistically minded engineer can bring to a track!

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

A: My advice would be to really consider your goals from a personal place: avoid making fear, ego or insecurity based decisions with your work. This will sound like a biased suggestion, but I feel that if you have some budget to work with, the two areas where hiring an outside "ear" will make the most profound difference is in A&R (i.e. an outside ear during your process) and at the mixing/mastering stage. With home digital recording at the high level it has gotten to, if you're meticulous you can create a great production on a low budget. To raise the bar on this work you've done, bringing in someone with experience and expertise in the A&R and the mixing/mastering roles can REALLY elevate your final result in stunning ways. I've experienced it myself in my early days having worked with Chris Lord Alge and Jack Joseph Puig, and it's something I enjoy bring to my clients. That extra mile at the end that totally exceeds expectations.

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

A: Damn this question! Why does it have to be a desert? Why not deserted? No people is ok, but hot too?! Okay, I'd go with my vintage stuff and I'd take the question seriously and assume there's no electricity. So, I'd take my grandma's 1948 Martin acoustic guitar and my Gibson 1966 Country Western model acoustic guitar. My 1910 Steinway upright piano. My Herman Miller Aeron chair (don't want back pains on this friggin' island)... and my Gretsch drum kit.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: You can google to your hearts content and find endless technical information, but I think the most valuable tip I could give is to become attuned to your own artistic instincts. I call this "the drip and bubble". As we engage in our work, thoughts drip from our mind and feelings bubble up from our gut. A thought might be an ideas or an awareness of some technical issues that needs addressing. A feeling might be a nagging vibe that something just isn't quite subtle or aggressive enough, or doesn't seem complete, or isn't hitting the right emotional buttons. These are our instincts speaking to us from our intellect (the drip) and from our emotions and/or subconscious. This is the most powerful and unique tool we have. So, my advice is, stay calm and centered. Try to get your ego out of the way and put your insecurities aside, then pay close attention to your Drip and your Bubble. Follow through. Listen and be willing to keep at it until the Drip stops dripping and the Bubbles stop bubbling. THAT is when you know your work is ready for the world.

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

A: Anything and everything: pop, singer-songwriter, electronic/EDM, rock, hip-hop, country, Americana, metal... I pride myself on disappearing into a genre and truly understand what the aesthetic is all about and expressing myself through it in a way that is aligned with my clients goals.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I want to get inside the head of the artists/producers/musicians I work with. That said, I also enjoy flying blind and going through a discovery process. I'm malleable. I just want to make the client ecstatic and exceed expectations. At the core, it's an artistic collaboration, and there are no "rules" for that. This means I'm equally as open to getting a bunch of information and/or direction up front as I am having someone say "Do your thing!".

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

A: This list could probably go on forever! I'm always pulling inspiration from music, (even music I don't like helps me understand what not to do, which is inspiring in its own way!). I'm a bit genre-blind when it comes to what I like... I just like anything that feels authentic. You know it when you hear it! To get more specific though, as an artist myself, I've been inspired deeply by film composer Thomas Newman and by Jeff Buckley, Chris Cornell, Rufus Wainwright, (early) Sting & The Police, Blind Willie Johnson and the production and engineering work of Rick Rubin, Jack Joseph Puig, CLA, and T-Bone Burnett.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Not gonna lie, I love myself some quality analog gear, so I've collected quite the collection of hardware that always gets used on my work. That said, the digital realm has become glorious... so, I don't discriminate! I really enjoy marrying the digital and analog worlds to achieve a sound that has a sort of visceral humanity to it. The best of both worlds. I've carefully chosen my analog gear for each piece's ability to add something that--in combination--I believe, transcends what can be done "in-the-box". A few key units are, SSL summing, the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, MAAG EQ, the Dangerous Master (the M/S widening on this murders plugins), pretty much all of Kush Audio's units, The Black Box (amazing tube saturation) and the Lavry Gold A/D convertor, to name just a few. If you want your mixes big, wide, punchy and harmonically rich, I'm your guy!

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

A: I started out as a drummer and early on became obsessed with producing, engineering, performing and mixing all of my own work as a singer-songwriter. This foundation led to working with other artists. So I end up pulling from those skill-sets all the time. Whatever is needed! I'm a big believer in the fact that the sonic identity and texture of a production or mix is a huge factor in how it comes across emotionally, so I'm always paying close attention to that aspect of things. Music is my passion, my hobby, my work and my play! This is why I wanted to have a presence on SoundBetter, I just want to fill every corner of my time helping artists--signed or indie--achieve the best possible end result.