Country Producer

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

A: My most recent work with Sarah at Wildfire Stories. I produced her song "Leaving" from start to finish and I think it turned out so great. She poured her heart into the lyrics and the vocal and I was glad to get to work with her.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm currently doing a package of guitar vocal demos for a local songwriter. He is recording the vocals and I am recording instrumentation, mixing, and mastering.

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

A: My friend Brett Trout is one of the best writers I know if you are looking to have a song written from scratch. He and I write together all the time.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both! There are benefits and cons to each and I use each on a daily basis.

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

A: I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you are happy with your tracks. It's more important to me to keep a good relationship than escape with a buck.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love getting to engage in the creative process with many different people, be it my clients or other musicians I'm hiring to play.

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

A: "How much will this be" is an understandably common one, but the answer just depends on the project. I can do my best to adapt to most budgets, but you will always get what you pay for, or better yet, you won't get what you don't pay for.

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

A: That I only do masters, or only demos, or only guitars etc. Honestly, if you need anything studio or production related, message me and we'll figure it out together.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: To make the most of our time, just be ready with your song and an idea of where you want to take it. (Examples of other songs are great!)

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

A: Just don't be afraid to reach out. I don't mind jumping on a phone call or a Zoom call if needed to talk about a project you have in mind.

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

A: My Martin acoustic (because I'll have time to write some songs) my Computer, Interface, my Lauten microphone.... and probably a coffee pot! Everything I need to keep doing what I love.

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

A: I've been writing songs for nearly 20 years, and producing for almost as long. I started on a MacBook with GarageBand (singing into the computer microphone lol) and slowly learned everything thing I could from everywhere I could learn it. In 2017 I officially launched as a business and can't wait to see what else is in store.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is to simply serve in the way each client needs to be served.

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

A: I'd like to work with the next big hit! (don't we all, haha) but honestly, I'd like to work with anyone who's passionate about creating great, original music.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: If anyone plays a lot of acoustic instruments like I do, you can get a rack mount tuner (I have a Korg Pitchblack) and route an analog out from your interface and create a send from your mix bus so that you have a tuner that's always on and always listening. Efficiency up!

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

A: Mainly modern country, which is now spread across traditional, rock, and pop genres.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I believe efficiency is my best skill. I can create high quality tracks that satisfy clients very quickly, and in doing so I'm able to offer services to those on tighter budgets.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring a perspective of operating in all areas of the song creation process. If someone needs help with lyrics or melody, I'll gladly give my take on it. Also, my knowledge as a mixer helps me create guitar parts and tones that blend well and stand out when needed, with hopefully little to no mixing needed.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I'll start with a worktape or voice memo sent in by the client, then create scratch tracks to confirm tempo and arrangement. I'll build the production out with all the instrumentation it needs, whether played by myself or sending out to session musicians (on Soundbetter). Then vocal production, editing, mixing and mastering.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I run Pro Tools Studio on my Mac Mini Pro M2. Have several outboard preamps for signal coloring, and EQ and compressors for either mixing or front end recording. For guitars, I run a Morgan RCA35 into a UA Ox Box, but also have a Kemper Profiler for other amp options.

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

A: Nashville session guitarist Justin Ostrander (check out his Youtube channel) has helped me be really intentional about the guitar parts I create, supporting the vocal and other instruments, and being careful to not distract.

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

A: I do a lot of different things, from services as small as vocal comping and tuning, to entire productions for master and release. The most common is probably session guitar playing for other producers.