Producer and Mix Engineer

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

A: Getting to work with Eddie Kramer was a huge milestone for me. I grew up on all those records he worked on (Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones. I was hired as a session musician to play on a track that he was producing for another artist. He brought such a great energy to the session and really made everyone feel comfortable. I definitely learned a lot from that experience.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I've always been an analog guy, the digital stuff continues to get better and better, but they never quite seem to reach that special, hard to describe quality that a good piece of analog gear can bring. However, I think any good producer/mix engineer should be capable of using all the tools at their disposal. "Analog is always better than digital" isn't necessarily true, it's just about finding the right tool for the job.

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

A: I promise to give each project my full, undivided attention, and to treat each project as if it were my own. Hiring people to work on your music can be a big financial strain, and I want each artist to know that I don't take that lightly. I have a responsibility to give each song my all, and I won't stop until it's the best it can be.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Getting to make music for a living is the coolest job ever, duh!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Sit back sometimes and stop trying to produce with your hands. Listen to the track and let the ideas come to you before you even think about touching anything. I think some producers think they're wasting time if they're not constantly doing anything, but I disagree. Sometimes catching an idea is a bit like fishing, you need to be patient.

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

A: I tend to work on pretty much anything in the pop and rock worlds. Indie-Pop, Dream-Pop, Bedroom-Pop, Alt-Pop, Psych-Rock, Alt-Rock, Hard-Rock...

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Well of course there's all my experience playing instruments, playing in bands, working with artists in nearly every genre... But I think most importantly I bring a true love and passion for music. It's easy to lose sight of that passion for hearing music when you're trying to make a living out of it, sometimes you need to put yourself back in the listener position and just try to go off the things you love to hear.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Everything's about serving the song. As soon as I'm sent a demo/idea (or have one of my own) the first step is figuring out what the core of the song is. Often times that's the melody + lyrics, so I'm thinking 'What is the song trying to say?', 'What emotion is the listener meant to feel?'. Then everything I add is about enhancing that message/feeling. It's important never to get too caught up in the technical aspects of producing and mixing. For example, on the mix side, sometimes having a perfectly clear, shiny mix can actually take away from the emotion that the artist was trying to portray.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: In the past I always relied on external studios to do any kind of serious recording, and then would have my tiny little bedroom studio at home to try out ideas. Recently though I turned my entire basement into a large, pro level home studio fully capable of both recording and mixing.

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

A: I've always been tremendously inspired by Kevin Parker (Tame Impala). Growing up I always assumed that making music required a large team of people. Seeing someone like him go through the entire process on his own, from writing to recording, producing and mixing was a huge inspiration.

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

A: I'm most often hired by artists looking for help producing or mixing their songs. My experience as a multi-instrumentalist allows me to not only come up with arrangement ideas, but to record them myself as well. I can record everything from guitars, bass, drums, synths, drums... So I'm generally hired to create something truly organic, not loop based.