Rock/Metal Session Drummer

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio setup is constantly evolving with various upgrades but as it stands the setup consists of : - Desk : Glorious studio desk - Monitors : Kali LP6 - Mixing surface : Behringer X-Touch Compact - PC : HP Pavillion (16Go of RAM, multiple 1To SSD's) - DAW : Cubase 13 Pro - Interface : Audient EVO 16 (8 channels) - Preamp's : 4 Neve 1073 style pre's (Warm Audio WA73) + Audient ASP880 (8 channels) - Mics : - Shure BETA 91A (Kick in) - Shure BETA 52 (Kick Out) - Sennheiser E602 (Kick out) - 2x Shure SM57 (Snare Top/Bottom) - 3x Audix D2 (Toms) - Sennheiser MD421 (Floor-tom) - 2x AKG C-214 (Overheads) - Lewitt LCT 140 Air (Hi-hat) - 2x Lewitt LCT 040 (Spot mics for ride/china) - 2x Lewitt LCT 240 (Stereo Rooms) - 2x SE Electronics X1A (Stereo Rooms)

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

A: One of the projects I am proud to have worked on is the full length metal album "Your Life Is Yours" by the french band Supremacy. I had the chance to record in one of the best studios of the country with the same gear and engineer as Joey Jordison for his project Sinsaenum.

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

A: I have worked many times with Danny on soundbetter and I'm happy to say we are now good friends! Definitely recommend him!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I am currently running a full digital setup for practical reasons (space and price) but I do love the classic sounds of outboard gear that I often have as plugins such as the Neve pre's and different outboard compressors (CLA-Teletronix).

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

A: I promise professionnal quality tracks provided through great gear, great playing, great source tones, great mics, and a very strict process on my end as to what I think is tight. Editing drums properly is also a huge part of a professionnal sound in my opinion.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I really love working with awesome musicians all over the world. It still blows my mind that I can make music with people in America, Asia, the whole of Europe all from my little studio at home! Also, recording drums is a passion of mine and I'm always looking to evolve my sound.

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

A: I think the most common question is if my style fits their song and if I would be comfortable playing on it. Most of the time my playing definitely fits as I believe my clients contact me specifically for rock and metal drums.

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

A: I don't think there are any misconceptions about what I do as it is quite clear on my profile, however I do believe that most of my potential customers don't realise that I offer MIDI drums as well!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Some of the questions I like to ask are : - Is it possible to hear a demo track before sending an offer ? - What style drums are you going for (keep it simple, over the top, old-school tones, modern tones) ? - Could I have a drumless track + drums only track (if there are scratch drum tracks) ? - Are there tempo/time signature changes ? - When is the project due ?

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

A: I would advise to check out my YouTube channel to see my setup, my playing and style!

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

A: I would need some sort of a drum kit but I think that would make up for 5 pieces of gear alone!

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

A: I have been playing music since I was a little boy, first piano, then guitar and I finally set my sights on the drums! I have played hundreds of gigs and recorded songs since my teen-age years. After getting a masters degree in business at the age of 23, its only after that I decided to go full-time in music working on teaching, gigging and what I probably love the most : remote session drum recording.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I would describe my style as simple but very effective. I also believe I have a good flow on the drums between my beats and fills with linear drumming patterns.

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

A: I am happy to work with any kind of rock-metal influenced artist as I love to make music with new people!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: My greatist tip for drums is to set up room-mics to get a massive sounding drum tone. Parrallel compression is also a must to get slamming drums in a modern production.

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

A: I mainly work on rock and metal music as this is what I'm truly the best at. However I have a lot of experience in other genres as I play live professionally for corporate events/weddings/partys with styles such as : pop-rock-funk-soul-blues-disco-jazz-latin-swing.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is my precision in recording. I play very tight!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I like to think of myself as a feel/groove drummer. I know how to keep things simple to suit the song as well as going over the top when needed. I think I have a good overall view of the intentions of a song and view it from a producing perspective as well as a musical one.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: The first thing I do is listen through the track and make notes in my DAW and a chart. Programmed scratch drum tracks help with getting the vibe right although I am also happy to write a full drum part from scratch. I then choose which drums/cymbals/mics will fit the song best and adjust my setup accordingly. I then set my levels and check my tones before recording the full song. I pretty much always aim for one take performances to keep the flow and attitude of the parts consistent. This means I work through the track enough to get a clean 1 take recording with no comps. I then send out a rough mix to the client to make sure they are happy with the drum parts themselves and once approved I do some editing before exporting the multitrack and sending it over to the client.

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

A: Most of the work I do for my clients is remote acoustic drum recording. That means my clients send me a track (with or without drums) and I will either write and record a full drum part or stick to what is in the demo with some of my own sauce on it. Once the parts are approved, I send out an edited multitrack of the raw drums. I can also send mix-ready drums if needed.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am currently preparing for a full length metal album by the french band Hanibal Death Machine. I am also constantly working on upgrading my studio setup and getting the best tones possible out of my drums!

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

A: My drumming was greatly influenced and inspired by some legendary metal-drummers like Mike Portnoy, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, Chris Adler, Mario Duplantier as well as the great rock drummers such as Taylor Hawkins, John Bonham and Chad Smith.