I'm here to serve your song. No ego. Let's make some music!
Accomplished pro drummer & clinician with 12 recorded solo albums.
Freddy Charles is a world-renowned drummer, he is a highly accomplished musician operating as a one-man act with an impressive portfolio of twelve albums to his credit. Currently based in Los Angeles, he is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for his Blues/Rock sound, infused with subtle influences of Jazz and EDM. Freddy takes on the entire process of recording his music, acting as his own engineer and producer, which affords him complete artistic autonomy over his musical vision.
Freddy’s musical journey began as a drummer, this solid rhythmic foundation allowed him to build his skills in guitar playing, songwriting, and music production. Renowned worldwide for his drumming expertise, Freddy’s unique style and artistry have cultivated a dedicated fanbase since the early days of his career. His music gained national prominence when several of his songs were picked up by Sirius XM and broadcast nationwide, alongside featuring in various independent films.
Recently, Freddy introduced his latest album, “Prewar Blues.” This collection of songs defies genre boundaries and stands as a testament to Freddy’s multifaceted talents, representing the culmination of his extensive career dedicated to crafting entirely original music.
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Interview with Freddy Charles
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Lots of various projects for artists as well as my new solo EP from me.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: No.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: At the end of the day, digital is just easier to work with and you can get it to sound very very close to analog.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: That I will deliver my best for you.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I do what I love everyday.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: The most common questions are basically, can you make it sound like this or can you make it sound like that, and my answer is I can try.
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: The biggest misconception of what I do is that it's boring because most of what I do skews more towards the simple side of playing rather than the more technical and flashy. However, it is completely untrue because the hardest things to play are the most simple.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: The main question is just kind of to give me the direction that they're looking for like, sounds like this, some reference tracks. Something so I can deliver them exactly what they want.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: I believe the most important thing, even beyond the level of ability because I think there's a lot of professionals out there that could deliver good work. The ease of working together, how is the communication, how is the working relationship, that's the most important thing.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Being that I am a multi-instrumentalist, my style fuses rock, blues, jazz, and electronic music. It's very diverse.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Again, Eric Clapton, Paul Rogers.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Yes, I prefer to keep it simple. I think it's very easy to get wrapped up from all the technical gimmickry out there, there's so many different tools and I just like to keep it very simple setup which sounds good.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Mainly rock music.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: My ability to work with people.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: What I try to bring to a song is exactly what it needs and is required to make the song the best possible version.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: I require the client to send me a rough demo of the track. I'm perfectly fine if they have some programmed drums in there just to give me an idea of what the groove to be or if they're looking for me to completely offer my suggestion I do that as well.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: My studio setup is a proper working recording studio which I have multiple drum sets, various different microphones, all kinds of snare drums, cymbals and everything needed to produce the best quality sound for my clients.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: I'm inspired by so many music professionals, the list is very very long. One of the main ones is Eric Clapton for his professionalism and sonic identity.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: The most common work I do for my clients is rock and singer/songwriter style music. I typically record several songs for each client. They're usually working on a demo or a release and I'm hired to do the drums for those tracks.
I was the Producer in this production
- Live drum trackAverage price - $100 per song
- Kits from Gretsch
- and vintage Ludwigs
- as well as a multitude of snare drums. Mics are Shure and Audix. Cymbals are a variety of Sabian.
