Freelance Mixer/Producer

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

A: Peter Katis, Brad Wood, Jacquire King, Andy Wallace, T.W. Walsh, James Blake, Shawn Everett, Derek 'MixedByAli' Ali, Jon Congleton, Nigel Godrich, Chris Coady

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

A: In 2016, I had a huge hand in creating an album with the mother of one of my best friends. She had a lot of success as a vocalist in gospel music when she was very young, but various factors led her to drop out of music. The record we made was the one she'd always wanted to make. She went ALL OUT with the players (some tracks included one of Taylor Swift's drummers, along with many incredible Nashville players), and the production was amazing. It was a huge pleasure to mix a record that meant so much to a client.

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

A: I promise to take great care with your work, and adapt our collaboration and workflow to your specific needs.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love getting in the zone, and developing techniques. Within each project, I love the moment when you step back and see how all of the tiny decisions add up to something that really feels like a record. Also, I love release day, and sharing in that excitement with an artist!

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

A: Most common questions are ones you would expect: rate, turnaround time, revision count, etc.

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

A: That I only listen to music that sounds like what I work on—I listen to everything!

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

A: Yes! I would recommend Josh Frigo as a producer to anyone.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital for me. I think I would have a lot of fun working on analog, but I'm not old enough to have grown up doing it, so I can be nostalgic about it.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: It's good to go over some more obvious details, like what bands/albums would they consider an influence on the music that they're working on. Additionally,

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

A: Work hard to close the gap between the state of your production, and the vision you have for it. Consciously ask yourself if there's anything you're wanting to sound/feel different before you wrap up on the production phase. You hear a lot about "fixing it in the mix," and how it sometimes does or doesn't work. My feeling is that most of the vibe and feel of the tracks is already in them before the mix starts. Obviously, a lot of aesthetic decisions happen in mixing, but challenge yourself to get as many in place beforehand as possible! Even if in non-committed plugin form.

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

A: I would take an old Martin 000-18, a Sony C-37, a Neve 1073, an 8-track tape machine, and an upright piano.

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

A: I've been playing in bands, and engineering records for those bands, since I was in college at MTSU from 2008-2011. Since then

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I would describe it as "Raw Polish." Raw because I like to maintain the original intimacy and energy without overly sanitizing anything. Polish because I aim to be intentional with every sound, and groom it just enough to find its purpose within a production. To my ears, lot of approaches feel either raw OR polished, but I like to find where they intersect, which is often the most exciting presentation to me.

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

A: A lot of artists I love are doing their thing so well, that I wouldn't want to interfere! For that reason, I'm picking a band that would have to be resurrected to work with—Colour Revolt. There's a special place in my heart for what that band did with the basic elements of rock (guitar, bass, drums, vocals, etc). I would work to help them regain their magic!

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I'm extremely communicative and timely, and thorough with my documentation. This very much comes in handy in the revision stage of any project.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring an emotionally intuitive approach to a song—a presentation that feels like it goes somewhere from the time it starts to the time it ends.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Try to make your song/production as satisfying and fun to listen to as you possibly can before any plugins or processing! If the energy and feel is there then, you're golden. This is can be more or less applicable depending on your genre, but I think you know what I mean!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I'm always going to listen to the rough mix a couple of times in the beginning (if there is one). Next, I'm all about cleaning up and organizing sessions, grouping tracks, placing markers, etc. Then I'm going to play the song down a few times, and see what's happening in each track. I'll set up my routing, import template elements, build a rough balance, and from that point on, it's totally dependent on the project!

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

A: Most of the time, I come in at the mix phase. It's not uncommon for some supplementary production to take place at that point. This may include some overdubbing and editing. I'm always open to ideas, and if I have any that I believe would help, I'm happy to share!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm mixing a couple of singles for a local indie band, mixing a couple of songs for a local hip hop artist (who I also tracked vocals for), and mixing one song for a friend in LA!

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

A: Indie Rock, Pop, Folk

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio is based out of a house in East Nashville, a short walk from my favorite coffee shop and deli! My studio is essentially a pretty well-treated mix room, with a vocal overdub setup to my right, and a couple of synthesizers and guitars to my left. My main monitors are a pair of PMC Result6's, supplemented by some Avantone MixCubes, and my favorite consumer Bluetooth speaker. This combination gives me a really good idea of how things sound out in the real world! One more fun feature is my control surface: an old (probably considered vintage) Mackie HUI that is built like tank still functions beautifully with Pro Tools.