Hip-Hop Music Producer & Mixer

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

A: Probably the project I'm most proud of is the album Red Summer by Savya Worldwide out of Tulsa, OK. I did like 95% of the mixing and mastering on that album and the album has over a million streams, so I'm very proud of that one.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: It's the Holidays, so I'm more just working on my own fun stuff.

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

A: Unfortunately I don't.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both have their place, I prefer Analog for tracking on the way in and Digital for mixing in the box. It makes my workflow easy and recallable.

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

A: I can't promise you a Grammy, but I can promise you something you'll be proud of.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: The social aspect of it. You meet all kinds of crazy and cooky characters in this biz and there's no shortage of the more "Unique" personality individuals. lol

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

A: "How much an hour?" I try to hit them with the per song pricing, but then they never call back... When i do my Per Song pricing I typically work on it until the song is finished and that's what people don't understand, they want to spend the least amount of money possible just to turn out a mediocre piece of audio. I don't like putting my name on that kind of work.

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

A: The Hourly Rate... People think they can come in and bang out a song in an hour so they only have to spend $50 for that hour, but nobody really takes into account the hours and experience you've put into developing the skills to do their song so quick. It's rather annoying in all honesty.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What kind of sound are you after? Are you after something similar to X, Y, or Z, or are you looking for something completely unique and different?

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

A: Be decisive in your creativity, don't be afraid to commit to things during the production phase. It makes things a lot easier when it comes to sending your song for a Mix. Also NAME YOUR TRACKS USEFUL NAMES! Lol

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

A: I'd have to say my vocal chain. My Mojave MA-300, HA73EQ, LiN76, Comp 2A, and a good pair of headphones.

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

A: Ya know? It's funny really, in High School and one year after I did 3D Animation and did some competitions for it and placed 1st at State both years and 3rd at Nationals my second year, so that's what I was initially going to go into, but even during those classes I'd be thinking about music, listening to music while working on projects, so after high school I wanted to learn music production and after that it's been music ever since. I've been doing this about 13 years now. I don't have too many clients under my belt, but I have enough that I can say I've done WORK. LOL

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My production style is more dark, broody, cinematic, glitchy... I guess. My mixing style involves space and reverb. I like big, spacious vocals, it's kind of hard for me to like making vocals dry, but if that's what the artist wants it's what I do. lol

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

A: My dream artist to work with would be Clever or Post Malone, I love their sound and I think it'd even be an honor just to sit in the same room with them, not necessarily doing any work, but just to talk with them and learn.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Learn your hotkeys, and if you have to, edit them to make up some of your own.

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

A: A lot of Rap and Hip-hop stuff. I also work on some of my own stuff, a lot of electronic and rap stuff of my own, more instrumentals, but I write lyrics from time to time.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Tracking the artist is probably my strongest, but second is definitely mixing.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: When I'm producing I bring a fairly unique sound, some glitchy sounds, and whatever kind of sounds I find interesting for the instrumental. When I'm mixing a track I just recorded vocals to, I make them sound as Pristine as I can so you can hear every word clearly so the artist can get their message across.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: When I record I have a template setup to record the artist to the instrumental they provide, in my template I have options setup for reverb, delay, some mixing presets I put together already in place so when they hear the first take back it almost sounds like a finished vocal already. After the recording, depending on the artist, I do some vocal tuning with AutoTune or MetaTune depends on how I'm feeling. But after some tuning and mixing I can typically have a mix out to the artist same day, out the door.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I mix on Adam Audio A5X Monitors, I typically record through my Heritage HA73EQ with the Lindell Audio LiN76 and the Golden Age Projects Comp 2A, the primary microphone I use in my studio for recording others is the Mojave MA-300,a solid tube mic that works on most vocalists that come through my studio. I also have an ISOVOX 2 vocal isolation booth. All powered by a high end PC. I'm looking to switch to Mac for my studio work soon, but we'll see.

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

A: I love a lot of stuff by Post Malone, Clever, Some Kendrick Lamar, SiR. Those are just some of my favorites to name a few.

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

A: Recording Vocals to a 2-track and Mixing/Mastering the song.