Mixing, Recording, Producing

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

A: This past fall I worked with Jordyn Walker on a Bros Landreth tune called "Made Up Mind", which takes their classic track and puts a pop country sound on it. There are many scratch tracks of my poor vocals on it, which Jordyn replaces and gives it the character that the track deserves. I was the producer, mixing engineer, and actually (not normal) the mastering engineer on this track, due to such tight budget issues (her first release).

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I just finished a single with a country artist, and am mid project on three seperate EPs. One is a blues thing, one is a singer songwriter album, and one is a singer songwriter EP. I'm very proud of the work on these, and excited for their releases later this year and early next year.

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

A: Not currently, but I know many people locally that I would be happy to recommend for various things.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital, because recalling is not fun, and generally most plugins that I own are very catered to the things I typically need. However, pushing a fader is pretty dang fun. (reason 10000 I love the Avid S6).

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

A: If you don't like the way your mix turned out, I will always work on it until you are satisfied with it.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love the people meeting. You run into so many creatives, that are truly just out to learn something new and express themselves. I learn so much by talking to artists, producers, and fellow engineers.

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

A: How'd you get your start? I mixed live sound basement shows at my undergraduate, and the audio bug infected me, and ultimately placed me in graduate school. Why Tennessee? I grew up in Iowa, and as much as I loved it, the music scene here is a touch better...

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

A: Many people see the lack of credits and whatnot as a sign of immaturity in the industry, but I truly believe that it just fuels me to work harder than every other person in my area. If for any reason you don't like the way your mix sounds, I will do my best to correct until you can't stop singing along every time it comes over the speakers.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What are your production influences? Who do you listen to? Who would you like to sound like? Where are you based? Are you open to rerecording parts if needed? Is this within your budget? What are your other recordings like? What do you like about them? What don't you like about them?

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

A: I am totally fine if you don't choose to hire me. But PLEASE don't use AI Mastering software. It sucks. Horribly.

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

A: I would take a Shure SM57 (duh), my Mac, some Adam SH3's, my Nektar MIDI keyboard, and a really comfy rolling chair.

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

A: I might be new to the industry, but that will not stop me from learning as much as I can as fast as I can. Having only started five years ago, I came from a musical background that greatly kickstarted my career as an audio professional.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is based heavily off of Josh Gudwin and Ian Kirkpatrick, but caters in some of the more "girl-pop" sonic qualities, as seen with Zara Larsson or Fletcher.

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

A: I would love to make a record with Tate McRae. Her sound is so unique to when she started, and she pioneered the way that many people like me create a ripping yet intimate synth sound.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: One of my favorite not-so-secret tips is to mess up a reverb return just for fun. Whether it be a smashed distressor, a tremolo, or some other various "Josh Gudwin Effect" it livens up a sound that might not have had life otherwise.

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

A: Being mostly around other students, I typically find myself working on Singer-Songwriter material, but as of late am trying to transition into my more comfortable genre of pop. I have extensive background in Logic Pro X and Pro Tools, and value each for their own unique capabilities.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I am always willing to work through the creative process and take the time to nurture an idea, but do so very efficiently. I am very quick and hard working on my client's projects, and hope to bring ideas to life as fast as people talk about them.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I have a unique background as I played high level trumpet professionally, touring in Europe and Africa in various bands, such as Wind Ensemble, Jazz Bands, as well as smaller "yacht rock" bands. I pull from a larger bank of harmony knowledge paired with an intense study of mixing practices that allows me to gel with anyone in the room.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: This depends from project to project, as if something is remote, I like to kick it off with a phone call or facetime and dig into what the artist is thinking for a sound, and usually challenge them to send me some reference tracks for the production inspirations, and base a sound out of that. If I can record the instruments myself I will, but can always accommodate especially if the project is a tight budget. My favorite projects, however, are when I have creative liberties to add, take away, or replace some sounds as I see fit (without skewing the original vision of the project).

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have my own studio, but currently utilize a Genelec 7.1.6 room on campus with an Avid S6 control surface. When I'm not in there, I like to mix in MTSU's studios D and E, using Adam's SH3 monitors, which have WAY more dynamic range than any other speaker I've heard to date (affordably speaking).

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

A: My favorite inspiration is from Reve based in Canada, and the stereo mixes that Kyle Mangels did for her "Saturn Return". However, I always love to listen to a great recording of a track done locally, whether it's RCA studio A or something in a bedroom.

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

A: I mostly do mixing, but I rarely shy away from whatever a client might need.