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

A: I remixed the song "Windowlicker" by Aphex Twin aka Richard James. Weird footnote: I love that he's great friends with Taylor Swift and they do music stuff together! Anyhow, Richard reached out to me and told me that I should make it longer but he loves it and how raw it was and has had it posted on his website ever since. Also, I used to really love recording the Symphony in Tempe.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A remix, recording a string quartet locally, recording a folky acoustical album that uses brushes on the drums (old Slingerland kit), lots of percussion, a marimba, and even 2 timpanis! Also some audio recording stuff for Graphic/Instructional Design clients. And, of course, my own music. I recently had a Baby Grand Piano delivered to the studio so I've been spending lots of time loving weighted keys and the dynamics and warmth of a real piano!

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

A: Not yet but there are a few vocalists and producers I'd love to work on some songs with. I was scrolling around and found Yuuki Masters from The Shins and have a song I'm dying to show him and ask about mixing that I always tell people reminds me of.... The Shins!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both of course! I mostly explained up top about using analog and digital sources to create songs and soundscapes. I'm a Vibe Writer so whatever source makes sense for the song will be where I'll be heading for color, character, separation, and other sonics to create landscapes of joy!

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

A: I will treat your project like it was my own. I am loyal and honest.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The ability to work on my own time in a comfortable and productive environment. Also, working on music of all kinds in general is very rewarding and I am super grateful! Also, I love new gear! Sorry what can I say haha~

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

A: Q: How long will this take roughly? A: It really depends on how deep you want to go, how much material, etc. Q: Do you do mastering? A: Not per se. I can make a "soft master" but I think it's important to have a separate mastering engineer or service do the mastering to have a 2nd set of ears, and more importantly, who has the proper gear/space to create a master. I'm best up through mixing in post and making ready files/stems for a mastering house or service at a nice low -6 to -12dB so the mastering house will be really happy with you! :) Q: What instruments do you play? A: Guitar, Bass (also fretless and upright), Piano (I'm not Beethoven but I can make songs + real pianos!), percussion and some drum parts (for really great A class kit drumming I hire out), Dobro Resonator, Drum and Synthesizer programming, lots of stringed oddball stuff like Ukelele, Mandolin, Lap Harp, Kalimba, Bongos/Congas/Jembe/Timbales/Claves/Cabasa. Anything I need to in order to make the song.

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

A: That "anyone can do it". But then you hear the magic that some people can arrive at in their studios and it is amazing! I've heard a LOT of really fantastic session players, mixing artists, and more right here on Soundbetter and love it! Everyone has their forté. It's good to see this many artists represented however they land on the scale!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: If they are session players I ask them if they sincerely like the music. It's super important to me (that they say yes). I like to ask questions about the kinds of artists someone likes yes but ultimately I like to know what they think about and want to hear in the piece of music. Also as clear of an outline of what they expect from me as possible as soon as they're able. I want to know what really makes them work comfortably. I'll ask about their demographic, or what the purpose of the final product is. It may be viewed as a limitation but I am only going to work on things that I know I can nail and make the client(s) super happy about!

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

A: Be specific. Talk too much. Share examples, even if it's just you playing or singing into a phone. I'm good with some back and forth as needed and don't consider that a "re-do" by any means. I want it to be goo(ooooooooo)d!*great*

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

A: I am going to assume that this island has no power so I'm going with.. Acoustical 6 string steel string guitar Acoustical 5 string full sized bass guitar Grand Piano Drum Kit with percussion add-ons My National Squareneck Dobro Resonator

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

A: My career path has been a mixture of audio recording, graphic and web design, learning to play instruments, playing in bands, and making art. I've been at it for over 30 years. I started playing the guitar in the 3rd grade. Joined band in Elementary school, stayed after school learning piano and upright bass (the instructor only had a full sized upright so i stood on a chair ha!). It quickly turned from band instruments to electric guitars and drums, then foot pedals and 4-tracks. I lived through the early days of the Atari and Commodore 64, Atari ST, and early Macintosh softwares like Alchemy and Peak audio. Then Pro Tools which I still have my likes/dislikes about then moons later fast forward to today and there are screens, amazing hardware and software choices, controlling your hardware such as guitar rigs with Eventide software, etc. So great! But there has and always will be, in my opinion, just good songwriting skills and practices that transcend time and gear, and can only happen because of certain people and their ability to listen and understand what the music is telling them.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Groovy, Strong, Layered, Evolving, Big and Small, Dynamics, Attention to detail. Are these styles?? I've always been told that I have a unique guitar sound and have the ability to make really hooky parts~

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

A: Kathryn Calder from The New Pornographers! I love everything about her voice and musicality!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I realized at an early age that I was trying to play WAY too much on my instrument (guitar) and ultimately learned the "less is more" rule. It turns out that I was just hearing entire songs as opposed to parts and was compensating. So after learning this I started learning different instruments in order to complete my ideas. When you're making music, or anything really.. The tip: Less is more. You're making a burrito. You want to taste and experience everything. This may mean different things to different pieces of music. Be the music producer that hears that burrito. Also, never forget that a song that makes someone feel something no one will care about the Vocal Mic chain or how you placed that Mic... but their ears will, so don't screw up! haha~

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

A: Alt/Indie, Singer-Songwriter, Symphony players, String Quartets, Americana, Folk, Groove, Electronic, Soundtracks, Audio-for-Video

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Playing very unique guitar sounds/lines. Bass lines too. I come up with pretty solid and nailed bass lines super quickly. Past that, there are many other skills but mixing, salt and peppering mixes, and songwriting would be my strongest skills. I work really well with others! Also, I return messages and act quickly.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I've been called a "nuts and bolts" guy because I really get into the process of songwriting. Like "leave everything at the door, we're not leaving til we have something amazing" ha! From an early age (3rd grade) I started playing guitar and I saw how it made people feel about me. People who might've not approached, approached. Others that may have had mixed feelings about you, didn't. Especially when you were kind and cool to them about things. This is when I first figured out that music is the language of the biggest and best way to reach and speak to people. And since then, to quote Larry Mullen Jr of all people, "It's a musical journey." I bring real instrumentation and feeling to a song. Let the music weave what it demands. If it demands it then there will be double tracking! There will be real instruments! There will be forced limitations, or intentional accidents. I like the Brian Eno Oblique Strategies set of musical principles. It may seem too "Frank Zappa" to some but there is merit here. I also really really love playing guitar! Late, loud, and alone! And dressing up a simple idea into something more is my specialty~

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I tend to start writing with very simple primitive shapes like a guitar and vocal, piano part and upright bass, evolving synths and Ebows, or just whatever key parts carry the song nicely and will likely send a few versions of that to a client before going further just to make sure sure double sure we're walking the same path. From there I'll add more parts as they seem fit then build the song idea up in sections as I mute/solo parts and preview different iterations. I will typically build a song up using the strings from Logic, for example, but will ultimately always favor and opt for expert players from the Symphony, string quartet, a stray live horn section, or a drummer that is mucho better than myself. I'm lucky to know lots of talented and capable session people and feel that many times live real players are the way to go for nuance, expressiveness, character, and 'human-ness' I mean, unless we're talking about a synth then there's that. From there, it really depends on what I'm working on as to where things end up next. All part of the process, and I love it! And I love having people be pleasantly surprised in whatever ways I can with their songs and ideas! I think my style of songwriting involves an appropriate mixture of organic/acoustic elements that are recorded with microphones and nice mic pres along with the electronic/digital counterparts that include software synths, "in the box" mixing techniques, and plugins lovely plugins ha! I have a Tascam DA3000 1 Bit Recorder that has fantastic recorders to do quickee soft masters so I like to do some previewing through it if I plan to record to it, especially for a final. Other than that, I'll either send stems or individual files/tracks however the client and I decide. There are tons of options and they transcend pretty much evert DAW choice if you export correctly.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: 2 rooms. One live, one recording/mixing gear. I still end up with an acoustical guitar at the kitchen table writing stuff down. Apogee Symphony MK2 I/O 16x16 with various input paths of Mic Pre/EQ/Compression to get proper gain structure and make mixing smoother and easier! I run a dual Slate Raven MTi2 displays in a Core desk with around 7ft of screen real estate altogether. I am running a brand new Apple M2 Mac Studio Ultra on Sonoma OS (love it so far!) I use Logic Pro X. I do carry a few key pieces of outboard gear into Logic but mostly mix in the box and stick to mixing because I don't have proper gear and believe it gets more justice with a fresh set of ears. Some of the live equipment in the studio: Baby Grand Piano, PDP Drumkit, LP Bongos/Congas, lots of different percussion instruments, 3/4 Acoustical Upright Upton Bass, Clevinger Electric 5-string Upright Bass, fretless bass, acoustic and electric guitars, 1976 Fender Twin Reverb Silverface, Roland JC-120, 1981 Ampeg stack (top 4x10 w/horn, bottom 1x15) with Hartke HA3500 Basshead, various mics Avantone CV12BLM, Slate ML1 VMS, Matched pair of Ribbon Condensers, 421, AT4040, TLM103, 57s and 8s. Also Mandolin, Ukelele, Lap Harp, Kalimba, Toy Piano, and more. Auralex treatment/bass traps and moveable baffles for placement as needed. Some diffusion up top as well. It's all about placement and ears. My monitoring system is a Slate Control designed by Paul Wolff of API, pair of original Adam A7s and Sub 10, and a pair of Avantone Mixcubes. Guitar Rig is Mission Volume, Xotic Wah, Strymon Big Sky, Line6 DL4, GigFX Pro Chop, GigFX Mega-Wah, 2 Eventide H9s with Mission Expression pedals for each and H9 app control, Eventide Eclipse, TC Electronics Finalizer Some software includes: Roland Cloud Premium Subscription (amazing!) Reason Spectrasonics Omnisphere Spectrasonics Keyscape Sylenth Synthmaster 2 Animoog Minimoog Arturia Suite Arturia Buchla Arturia Pigments Soundtoys Suite Waves Baby Audio

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

A: First off one of my favorite bands: The New Pornographers!! :) Flood, Brian Eno, Steve Albini, Daniel Lanois, Carol Kaye, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, Quincy Jones, Dominic Miller, Hector Zazou, Robin Guthrie, Bill Nelson, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Thomas Dolby, Aphex Twin, Neko Case, Emmylou Harris, Tal Wilkenfeld, Gail Ann Dorsey, Curtis Mayfield, David Byrne, Bebel Gilberto, Henry Mancini, Yello, Perez Prado, Motown, Anne Dudley, Steve Diggle, Amanda Palmer, William Orbit, Peter Kruder, Tony Levin, Ambient works, DJ sets, Soundtracks, Norwegian Shouting Choruses.......... too many to list!

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

A: Songwriting, creating a song from a vocal line, recording symphony players, track timing and editing for audio-to-timeline, mixing