Songwriter, Producer, Vocalist

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

A: A project I am especially proud of was my first song signed to a big company in the SYNC world. I had a song brought to me that had been written and demoed via a writer (non musician, exclusively lyrical) who used an AI service to communicate her musical vision. When I heard the demo she sent me, I could hear the bones of it and felt good about what the song could become. It just didn't connect on a human, emotional level. There were parts of it that were awkward and it needed a lot of love to make it into something that could compete. My role on this project was to be the finalizing writer, and the vocalist. I was given the freedom to change what I felt needed changing (in the lyric and the melody) and was given total control over the vocal production for the song. This project came with another obstacle in that I was not allowed to use ANY corrective tools for pitch or timing, I had to send my stems out 100% RAW. I have worked hard to be a good vocalist but to not be able to use any pitch correction whatsoever was a new challenge for me. The song was my first song with that specific SYNC team and it was acquired by PUSH.AUDIO shortly after completion. That was a big win for me and the team.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I am currently working on a project with an artist that has struggled to record songs with a steady metronome. I felt that the best next step was to break it all the way down to using an acoustic guitar, her voice, and a good microphone. I felt that by getting a few songs done that way, and making them sound great (Americana/country type music) would build her confidence and allow her to continue working with a metronome for future multi tracking production opportunities. I have also been in a shift with my work as "marshel", until now, everything has been done by myself and my co-producer in the band. We were filling all of the roles. We recently started playing full band shows at club venues and brought on a couple of new people to fill the live band out. It worked so well that we're starting 2025 with a band recording approach. This gets me excited because its allowing me to give so much energy to what it is I want to be in that project as an artist and allows me to experience the creative influence of other trusted musicians in the process of producing these songs.

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

A: I am brand new to sound better, I had a client I met through friends who told me about SoundBetter and recommended to me that I would do well on the platform. So I will answer this question again after spending some with SoundBetter.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Seeing that I was born in 1995 and by the time I was interested in recording DAWs were king, I would say digital. I love the allure that analog carries with it and I become increasingly interested in utilizing hybrid setups but for me, learning digitally has allowed me to get a decent idea about all kinds of gear without having to spend thousands and thousands to do so. I also love being able to see my project in front of me in a DAW, its hard to even imagine what multi-tracking songs without a screen to use as a map/guide would be like.

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

A: Honesty and resilience. I will be straight forward with them about where we're at and what needs to happen in order to get to where we want to be. But I will also stick with them along the way. Its what my mentors have done with me and I want to share that gift with the people who trust me with something as intimate as their artistic voice and creations.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: What I love most about all phases of music creation is that nothing stimulates me, challenges me, and rewards me as much as working with songs. I love seeing the project from its intimacy to its delivery. I get so enthralled with each project, even the ones that I am not as naturally entertained by. I feel that it is just the perfect combination of puzzle, construction, abstract art, emotion, and conclusion. I love making music so much.

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

A: I can't think of a specific list of questions that I am typically asked, more of just a general topic of question. The theme I have experienced is say we have a song demoed out that was really close but in some way it just wasn't really working and has been sitting for a while. When revisiting the song, a lot of time I will be asked about going back to the demo to pull stems or to basically try to rework from where the demo left off. My answer is that I find more times than not that this will lead to chasing the same thing that led the first attempts at making the record to fail. I feel that using that previous project as the outline for the underlying song (writing, vibe) but to start fresh in order to leave space for what can become of the new production. (if there are clear specifics from the demo that are working and are really liked by the client, it can be something we consider while creating the new record however most of the time it is better to start fresh)

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

A: That anyone can make a great sounding record because of "studio magic". I even believed that to be true in my earlier days of recording myself. I had experiences performing live that led me to believe I was pretty good and thought I could go into the studio and use all of the tools to easily produce something that was "radio ready" and oh boy was I wrong. Studio gear and tech can enhance and to some degree "fix" certain things but you really do have to put in the work as a disciplined musician in order to have a finished product that can stand up to well received professional records.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I ask for references (existing music that I can listen to to better understand their goals) I also try to understand as best as possible what they are hearing in their heads because my goal is to deliver a product that is in line with what they have “pictured” their music to sound like. If they are coming to me it is because they hope I can close a gap and get them to where they want to be, faster. The better I can be on the same page with the client, the more effectively I can deliver for them.

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

A: To make sure they are able to feel heard in conversation with their provider. So often along the way I’ve felt like I would be talked AT by someone with an abundance of knowledge who didn’t really HEAR me. As an artist a lot of times we don’t care/need to know the nitty gritty of the process, we just want to get our goals communicated to our engineers/producers and we want them to work with us to achieve that goal. I will help/share as much info as is desired but my main focus is to get the client what they are wanting to have done and have them be proud of the work they are releasing into the world. There is no one size fits all to making records, so a level of flexibility is very important for a producer to have.

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

A: I’m taking this literally and assuming I will only have the 5 things I list to make records (excluding my mac) 1. My 87 microphone 2. An unfairchild compressor 3. A guitar with an optional midi pickup 4. An apollo twin 5. a terabyte SDD with my ideal sample library and offline copies of my go to plugins clearly I’ve made all my music in the digital era haha

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

A: My career path has always involved music to some degree, in the pursuit of going full-time with music I have done countless jobs from lifeguarding to construction. I have been an artist since high school and have played live with different bands as well as solo acoustic gigs since then. I started to attempt to record music on my own as a high school freshman. I took classes at a technical institution for my last 2 years of high school, then I went on to a university studying contemporary music production. I still make music as an artist and play live shows with my band. I have just become skilled at the work behind the scenes along the way and have a lot to offer to fellow artists in their recording pursuits. I also have a perspective on the process that allows for a deep understanding of my client as well as the engineering/technical side of things. In total, I have been working in recording studios (from bedrooms to full blown console driven recording studios for 13 years).

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is “find a way but keep it light” there is always a way to achieve our goals in getting to the sound we hear in our heads. It just may take a long time and require a bunch of learning along the way. I think it’s important to remember that we’re doing something we love to do and to have fun with it along the way.

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

A: I’d like to work with someone like John Mayer, Dave Grohl, or even Ryan Tedder. I think of these guys and see that they have been much more hands on in the recording process than the typical “Artist”. I also look at the timing of their early work when DAW’s were either nonexistent or in their infancy so they have been around for the entire evolution of digital recording and I imagine doing sessions with them would be a very enlightening and enjoyable experience.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: This one is so played out but also the most important... Get it as close as you possibly can before attempting any processing, a decent compressor and a couple eq moves on a really well recorded take is the magic sauce I used to be looking for in the timely processing pursuits I fell into for so long.

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

A: I typically work on some form of country/pop/crossover music.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is vocal production, all phases of it. Writing, tracking, comping, editing, tuning, timing, the full package of vocal production. I have had to work really hard to get where I wanted to be vocally and in recorded vocals which has allowed me to have a very in depth education on the subject.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring a marriage between emotion and technicality to a song. Both traits being very important to repeatable song creation that impacts the listener.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My typical process is to first become very familiar with the song I am working with. I want as much of it to be in my memory as possible. I do this by just playing it repeatedly while I set up the other parts of my process. Next I will chart and map the song in my session and in a document. I am big on the number system so I want to understand how the song is flowing from that perspective. Next, I get after it. If it's only vocals that I'm doing, then I will usually just track one acoustic guitar so I have the option of recording takes to a stripped down instrumentation. After that I will dive into vocal recording starting with the complete lead vocal take, then comp the lead vocal take, then fill in vocal production with layers and harmonies depending on what the song is calling for. Finally I will either print out raw stems or finalize edits, timing, and tuning before exporting the final product. If the work is in production and songwriting I will follow a similar process however when it is time to start recording, I will start with a quick guitar and vocal scratch track before filling in production and coming back to finalize vocals at the end.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio is a one room setup in my home. I have a large L-shaped workstation. I have a 5 input/ 8 output aggregate interface. My studio is set up to be able to quickly transition between tasks. Since the majority of the work I do is on the creative/production side of song creation, I keep my studio geared towards that. My favorite part of my studio is my vocal tracking setup. I use Warm Audio's second revision of the U87 mic and I use a midi foot controller for session navigation so that I can stay in the vocalist role without having to bounce back and forth to the computer. I use Logic Pro x.

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

A: I am inspired by modern country music production and its way of blending a formula with all kinds of different influences from all over music history. I love anything that pushes the boundaries of what would typically be expected of a traditional "mold".

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

A: The most common type of work I do is remote vocals/vocal production and songwriting (topline/lyrics). The second most common type of work I do is remote instrumental productions for singer/songwriters. I also work in sync with vocals, production, and songwriting.