Acoustic Guitarist

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

A: I had the opportunity to back Jessi Colter (legendary country artist and wife of Waylon Jennings). Not a thing in my career will ever top rehearsing "I'm Not Lisa" in her living room next to Buddy Holly's Indian motorcycle with Waylon's black J-200 hanging on the wall.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I work in composition, production, and recording in the ad space for sonic branding, jingles, catalog music, and UI sound, so I'm always exploring new ways that emotion is communicated through sound, while also working on music in my home studio as a producer and session musician.

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

A: I'm new her but excited to make connections!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I Stay analog as long as I can! Nothing makes a track sit naturally in a mix and sound three dimensional without a single plugin like all the little saturations and rounding off from transformers, tubes, and high quality circuitry. It requires more careful notes about recall settings, but it makes everything later on in the process infinitely easier.

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

A: We'll make the art you want to make even if I don't nail your vision the first time, or I'll give you your money back.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Making art!

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

A: Many artists think that acoustic guitar is not an important part of the puzzle, that it will get buried in the mix and no one will notice a bad track. A bad acoustic track is a dead giveaway of an amateur sounding song, and nothing sounds quite as "expensive" as a great, well-recorded acoustic guitar.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Aside from the basics like scratch tracks, rough mix to track to, click, tempo, chords, ect., I love to have a good reference. Something that has a similar vibe to what you want for your track, or what sort of tones you like that will convey the feeling and the vibe of the track. Acoustics can be clean and rich and airy, or gritty and driving, and anywhere in between. It's also good to know if there's going to be something else added after that I will need to leave room for, or if you want doubles/triples of a part, or options. If you are starting from scratch with the acoustic guitars this is doubly important. But mostly I want to know the vision for the finished song, how it should feel, the vibe, all the funny words for the reason we do all this in the first place!

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

A: Hire me, of course! Seriously though, find someone you enjoy working with who delivers sounds that you love. Hopefully that's me!

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

A: My Martin HD28V is the only guitar I couldn't live without, I've almost worn a hole through the top!

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

A: I've been working as a sideman and session guitarist for over 20 years, and loved every crazy minute of it!

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Part Americana, part country, part bluegrass, and part Pop/Rock.

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

A: John Prine, for the songs. Tommy Emmanuel, for the playing. Brian Sutton, for the tones. Keith Richards, for the stories.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Get it right at the source! It's much faster and easier to pause and fix an issue when tracking than it is to try to "rescue" a problem track later on.

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

A: Most often Americana, Folk, Country, Bluegrass, Pop, and Rock. But I play jazz, classical, hip hop, and many other genres, on many instruments including electric guitar, pedal steel, keys, brass, and vocals.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is my drive to work until a recording is something I'm proud to deliver.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I'd like to think I bring an ear for finding a hook, melodic sensibility, rock solid timing, and a good understanding of how to achieve tones. I want what I'm doing to make the song more impactful, and more professional.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: It has to begin with understanding the vision for the track. The context, emotion, vibe, and trajectory of the song come first for me always. I have the chops to play what needs to be played but my art and my heart is in songs. I also want to have a great understanding of how the part fits into the audio puzzle of the track. Does the top end need to be aggressive to cut? Maybe it needs a sweeter, more airy top. Does the midrange need to feel present? Gritty? Or more subdued to make room for other instruments? Once I understand the vision, it's time track. A perfectionist attitude comes in handy here, I do a few takes, then listen back on headphones and monitors and make sure the sound is working well. There might need to be slight or major changes at this point; guitars, picks, mic and mic placement, preamps, outboard gear, etc. Once the sound is right it's about tracking until the part is right, then comping if needed, making gear recall notes, and sending off for your approval and any revisions that may be needed.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: It all starts with the player and the room! I have a great sounding home studio setup that is convertible with gobos between fairly dead, and fairly live with nice woody room tones. Generally drier sounds give more flexibility at mixdown, but very dry or dead does not make for great acoustic sounds. Great mics, preamps, and outboard gear are all just the cherry on top. They matter a lot, but never as much as the performance, the instrument, and the room I have a ton of great acoustic guitars on hand, a few of my favorites are my Bourgeois OM, Martin HD28V, 1957 Gibson J160E, 1967 Gibson LG-0, Gibson J-45, Larrivee D-09, and many more. Mic selection includes Lauten Clarion FC-357, Beyerdynamic M160, Sennheiser MD441U, Sennheiser MD421U (1970s), Shure SM57 Unidyne III (1970s), EV RE20, Neumann KM184, Neumann TLM103, Line Audio CM4, and many more. Generally I will default to the Lauten Clarion or the Neumann KM184, unless the track calls for a more midrange focused sound like a dynamic ir a ribbon. Depending on the track I usually prefer panned doubles over stereo recording but I love a good stereo or mid-side sound in sparser tracks! Outboard gear includes Stam 1073EQ+ MkII, Manley Dual Mono Tube Mic Preamp, Anthony DeMaria Labs ADL1500 Tube Opto Compressor. I track with a finished product in mind, I usually make use of some light EQ and compression to produce tracks that don't need tons of work to slot into a mix (although I'm happy to track very clean as well if requested)

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

A: I love the clean and pristine tones of modern bluegrass, all the way to rowdy and punchy rock and roll acoustics, and everything in between!

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

A: For most clients I'm usually tasked with one of two things: recording a high quality version of an existing part, or coming up with and performing a part that serves the song. Both are tons of fun for me! Often clients have a part down already, but need it performed in a nice room with a pro player, great guitars, and high quality recording gear. Or they may have a song that needs a hooky guitar line or a strummed guitar to fill out the groove. I love both!