Male Pop, Rock and MT Vocalist

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

A: Releasing my own music is a bit of an ongoing passion project. I don't expect to ever "make the big time" but I love what I do, and it's nice to be able to share the creative process with people I meet along the way.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: At the moment, I as in the middle of a writing project for a dance music composer and we have another 6 tracks to complete so a nice amount! But there's always room for more!

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

A: Stefan Kelk, he's a very close friend of mine, and a fantastic all rounder. His composition skills are amazing and his vocals are a raspy and cool. If you're not going to book me, I would recommend every time!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Personally, I'm digital, purely because when performing at contracts abroad and cruise ships, you can't take a whole studio with you. Don't get me wrong I love analogue outboard gear, but a plugin is a lot easier to carry around, and the results are still fantastic.

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

A: I promise I will always give my best and deliver again until you're happy.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The variety! I like being able to do something slightly different every day and with different people.

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

A: the most common is "Does that all make sense?" and the answer is always either, "Yup, no problem" or "Tell me about..."

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

A: That anyone can do it. They can, but I'm good at it because I've grafted for the last 20 years. If you don't love the craft, you wont keep it up. Anyone can do it, but they don't.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Firstly the normal stuff, what's the deadline, what's the style, who many takes or bvs would you like, but I suppose, How are you? You good? Hows your day?

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

A: Lets just have a chat! For starters I want to make sure that I'm going to deliver exactly what you're after, but more than that, I like to form lasting relationships with my clients. I want them to keep coming back and use or think of me when they need someone else in future.

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

A: Musically, I'd take a guitar and a big ol' box of strings, and then with the other 3, a multi tool penknife, a chess board and a length of rope I suppose!

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

A: I've been performing professionally for the last 20 years, been a studio vocalist, musician and producer professionally for the last 10 years, and I don't intend to stop really. I'll be doing this long after I should have retired, because I love the career, I love the jobs and I love the people.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: It's a bit of a mix. My taste has always been quite varied and so my style is too. I just like for music to have some passion and soul in it. So if it's a slow ballad or fast dance track, I just want to be able to feel something.

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

A: I think I'd like to work with Jack Johnson. The songs and albums he creates have a real authentic, kind community vibe to them that really appeals to me. Music at the end of the day, is about enjoying the people you're creating and performing with, so that people who don't can enjoy listening and watching, so for that I think he'd be a really good person to work with.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Just jump into it, and learn and fix as you go! It teaches you not only what works and what doesn't, but teaches you how to problem solve like a pro, and that's the most sellable skill you can learn!

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

A: Historically, I spent most of my time recording and performing Rock and pop, but in the last few years, it's been all about musical theatre. My pronunciation and diction are very clear, and with the growth into more modern Musical Theatre recently, it's meant that I've had a chance to shine where I really didn't expect to.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I think my strongest skill is probably my versatility. I'm a very adaptable musician and vocalist, and having worked in so many different genres of music for so long, I can more often than not get a feeling for what track needs in just a few listens.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: My voice is a bit of a hybrid blend of styles. This is from years of copying and imitating other artists and so the main thing I bring to a song is personality and character, while not compromising on accurate tuning and pitch.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I like to give the track a few listens through while reading the brief and any score or lyrics, and then just kinda jump straight into recording. I like to get 3 - 5 lead takes of a track to do a decent vocal comp, and then some slight pitch correction and a little run through an 1176 compressor to knit it all together. I then, for the most part like to add another 2 lead tracks, one panned left, one right, before moving onto any backing vocals I think might fit. If the client has given specific bv's that they want, I'll get them done first, but I like to try to deliver more than I'm asked to do, because everyone loves value for money!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I run a creative studio just outside of london with my business partner called Stave Studios. We use a custom build vocal booth running Blue Bottle and Octava Mics to a Universal Audio interface in our control room. We've luckily got enough space to experiment with recording both "in the room" and in a booth, so we can get a nice mix of captured sound to mix into our projects. This is great for choir stuff.

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

A: I love a bit of everything really. If it's good, I like it, but I have a particular love musically for, Cory Wong, Jack Conte, Cody Fry, Chris Stapleton, Jacob Collier... lots really!

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

A: I'm booked a lot to do lead lines and vocal arrangements. I really enjoy stacking lots of vocal layers and building a massive sound that clients can either use or bury in the mix to thicken up their tracks.