Guitarist songwriter producer

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

A: All of Have/Hold's work is near and dear to my heart. Our EP 'Wirewalker Falls', due out this year, marks a huge departure for us stylistically and it is the first we have produced with no one else at the faders. I can't wait for you all to hear it!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: My band Have/Hold has just had an EP and AA Side single mastered, they will come out in 2024, and we are just getting started on our next album. I am also producing an anthem for a special developmental school with a few of the teachers, an EP for a punk band, an acoustic duo's debut EP and an album for another band. There are always a few irons in the fire.

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

A: My brother Ryan Shields is on here as a session drummer. He's got chops for days, and if anyone can play it, he can. We also come as a bit of a package deal, so if you need drums and you want him to do it, I'll be the one doing all the behind-the-scenes dirty work.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. Both are tools to make sound happen, both have their advantages and disadvantages and it is pointless to close yourself off to either. You have to look for perfection and joy under every rock, and in every nook and cranny.

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

A: That the project is not over until it's over. That I am not here to impose myself on your tune, merely to help wring it out of you.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Making music is the most primordially, soul-quenchingly satisfying thing that I have found to do with my time. What's not to love?

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

A: Is this possible? Of course it is, we just need to figure out how.

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

A: That it is something you can do alone. Not only is that a lonely way to live, but your personal experience of the world is limited to what you already have. Other people have seen things, heard things, tried things, screwed things up, and been shown things that you don't know that you don't know, so if you're too stubborn to realise that you're not the font of all knowledge, then you're missing out on some amazing angles and directions that your music can take you in, and that's a real shame.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What they think the song wants from them. Where they think they can take it on their own. How precious they are about pulling it apart and putting it back together again piece by piece.

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

A: Don't be afraid to ask questions. This is your baby, and you need to be able to trust the person you're asking to help raise it. People like me work in this field because we're obsessed, so we love answering any question from the curliest to the most banal, and the more you let us know exactly what you're looking for, the easier it is to find. We're all in this together!

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

A: My L Series Yamaha acoustic, my SE2200 LDC, my Steinberg UR242 interface, my computer, and a notebook.

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

A: I've been playing in bands and writing songs for my projects and as a gun-for-hire for over 20 years. I've written hardcore records, experimental records, Coldplay-pop records, lo-fi folk records, down-tempo electro records, and just about anything I can get my hands on. Recording music is an extension of that urge to write and create, and listening and understanding sound machines has always been what my brain has wanted me to do since I first picked up a guitar when I was eleven years old.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Agile, attentive, detailed, passionate, and ultimately creative.

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

A: I would love to sit in on a record with Josh Kaufman. He makes some of the most finely-tunes, lush-sounding records today, and has a real command of the frequency spectrum that I admire. Oh, and I would give anything to be a fly on a Radiohead studio wall!!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Listen before, during and after every single thing you do. The only reason we are here is to make something to listen to, so if you're not doing that, then you're not serving the song. Get right in next to even the loudest snare or guitar amp and find the sweet spot, the mics are there to follow your lead, so lead from the front lines.

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

A: Guitar is my first language, so I have mostly worked in rock, indie, and pop. Acoustic instruments are my jam as a recordist, but conjured soundscapes are something that has been coming up in a lot of my recent work as well as listening habits.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Empathy. I know, as a producer, performer, or songwriter, that I am not the hero of the situation. I am at the mercy of the person who has come to me for help and the piece of music that has chosen them as a conduit.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Writing and producing music is a complex web of problem-solving exercises. I can hear a song, and conjure up a list of ways to approach it almost instantly. I am synesthetic and often make decisions based on what colour or image a part could, would, or should convey, which often leads me down unexpected, but ultimately fascinating aural pathways. Above all, I am here to serve the song and do so with the utmost attention to detail. Whatever the song needs, I will find it no matter how deeply buried.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Preparation is key! I like to spend as much time as possible on each mic on each source to capture the best performance possible. The more time you spend before you hit the big, red button, the less wrestling you have to do to make a track blow an audience away. I also like to be right in the room with the band, hearing what they hear and being as much a part of the physicality of a piece of music as I can, while setting my opinions aside and letting the song itself decide what it wants to be when it grows up.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My rig is spread out across a few different locations which I move across over various stages of the production process. I track drums with my trusty Presonus rig in my purpose-built space with an array of LDCs, ribbons, and classic broadcast dynamics. Mixing is usually at home through HS8s and/or a Genelec pair, although I do a little work at Wrangler Studios if the project allows.

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

A: I have always been a massive Radiohead fan, so anything a little bit left-of-centre is right up my alley. Josh Kaufman, Tony Visconti, Dave Friedman, and a few other heavy-hitters are usually my go-to producers for reference tracks, across genres.

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

A: Most of my career to date has been spent performing and writing with bands and artists. However, the last 5 years have seen me pivot to more production, mixing and record engineering, which is really where my heart lies.