Producer, Songwriter, Singer

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

A: I've been professionally in the music industry for over a decade. I have a degree in music and studied classical guitar and trumpet in college. I moved to Nashville to start my band Kid Politics. I've worked with and learned from dozens of extremely talented and accomplished producers and songwriters and eventually started producing my own music. This has now led me to find I love producing and mixing other artists outside of my own projects.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Edgy. Anthemic. Stadium pop when it needs to be big. Moody. Vibey. Emotional when it needs to be small and tight.

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

A: I'd love to work with Jack Antonoff. I think he's a great writer and producer and I'd love to see why he doesn't miss.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I typically start with producing the chorus. The chorus is the part of the song that everything leads to. It's the answer the verses and bridge point toward. When I get the chorus feeling good, I then move to the verses. They need to musically be able to stand on their own, but create enough tension for the chorus to be the big moment.

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

A: Genres get hard to nail down, but I work on a lot of types of music. I specialize in pop, indie pop, singer/songwriter, CCM, and really anything that fits into the pop world. Even TV/Film world stuff.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I typically first nail down the overall vibe and structure of the song. Then I start with the drums and most of the percussion/rhythm elements to get the bed of the song feeling great. This helps make sure the structure and vibe of the song is correct. Then I'll add more MIDI-focused instruments that can be easily manipulated. Then I typically add the more live instrumentation in later to make sure everything flows well. I usually mix as I produce because I've found that it makes the most sense for my workflow. When I'm mixing as I go, it helps make sure everything part I add has a home in the mix and the overall song.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: - What is your timeline? I want to make sure I deliver your songs timely. - What inspires you and what inspired you to write this song? - What other artists or songs inspired this song you'd like me to listen to? - When you envision the song finished, what do you hear? What instruments are important? - What is the overall vibe of the song? Is it Summer, driving with the top down? Is it late night? Sad? Happy?

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

A: Literally my gear. MacBook. UAD Interface. Sm7. My Martin guitar. Nord keyboard.

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

A: When clients send me a demo or a voice memo of a song, I'm asked most often if I can hear the vision they are looking to create. I know that one fear of an artist or songwriter is that a producer will ignore their vision and create something only the producer vibes with. However, my job as the producer or mixer is to come alongside you to create what you want. When we get to the finish line, I want to make sure we're both smiling and proud of the work we've created. After all, it's your art and your songs. I'm just a part of the process of creating your overall vision for your music.

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

A: I wrote and produced the first full-length, 12-song album for my band Kid Politics, released in 2022. The album is called 'people should be nice.' and I'm so incredibly thankful these songs are released. This took hundreds of hours and too many trips to the coffee pot at 1am to make possible. There's nothing like releasing an album you believe in and are proud of for the world to hear.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Currently, I'm working on the next singles for my artist projects. While working on my client's music, I'm also constantly releasing music under my band Kid Politics and my new electronic, lofi instrumental project called "mono moon."

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I've always worked in the more digital age of the music industry and studio world, so I'm a fan of plugins that emulate the hardware mainly because of their accessibility and prices versus buying the real thing. I've discussed this many times with engineers and no one even notices the difference in real life. My opinion - if it sounds good... it sounds good.

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

A: I promise you that I will be easy to work with and we'll be proud of the final product we create together.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love the creative process of the studio. The blank canvas of a new session on the computer means you can be as creative and go in so many different directions. Experimenting and having fun in the creative process is what I enjoy the most. Also... my little studio dog "Skip" who sits in my chair with me every day is hard to beat as well :)

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I love my studio setup. I have an entire part of my home built and designed as my studio. It's sound treated amazingly. Also, I get to work with my little weenie dog next to me every day, which is the best part of the studio! I record and work in Logic Pro. I use a Universal Audio Apollo interface and love their no-latency recording preamps and plugins. I have a few mics, but typically record my vocals with an SM7b and have really dialed in my vocal chain. I have about every mainstream sample and plugin you can imagine alongside a ton of weird experimental things and software I'm more than happy to get nerdy about it :) Martin acoustic. Fender tele electric. I have a Nord I use as a MIDI Keyboard.

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

A: As an artist myself who writes and produces other artists, I'm constantly inspired by Jack Antonoff and Ryan Tedder. I try to be similar in regards to being able to adapt my love of releasing music to the sound and world of the artists I work with.

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

A: I'm most commonly brought into a project and given a simple voice recording with a guitar or piano and asked to produce and mix it into a release-ready song. Most of the time I both produce and mix the song.

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

A: I would advise potential customers to A/B the emotion and selling factor of my production and even my vocals with others online. I'm sure they will hear that I come at the production as an attentive and invested producer.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill is being able to understand the emotion and the moment you want to achieve with your song and be able to translate that into a real recording.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I am first and foremost an artist myself and so I approach each and every song with the care like it's my own release. I come at each song as not just a random hired-gun, but someone who understands how much you care about your song and put the amount of attention into detail as I would my own project.

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

A: The biggest misconception or surprise to my clients is that I can play numerous instruments and that I can both produce and mix songs. I've had to work hard in the studio and wear many different hats enough that they all fit me somehow.