Producer

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

A: I had an artist reach out to me on instagram about 4 years ago, who had found me because he was a fan of another artist I was working with. He'd been working on some tracks at home and had some demo's that were pretty rough but I thought had lots of potential. We did a number of days together over the next 18 months and we took the core of his demos, added some additional parts, improved some sounds and generally developed them together from sketches into finished tracks. As we did this I could see his confidence growing and he learnt quickly, each track he brought in was better than the previous one. He was also patient and allowed us to build up a decent number of tracks before expecting anything to happen. Once I felt quietly confident about what we had I showed the tracks to some industry contacts and ultimately he ended up getting a development deal with Darcus Beese who signed Amy Winehouse and Mumford and Sons amongst others. I was just really proud of his persistence and humility and it lead to real genuine growth in his career.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I've been working with British artist called Rhodes who I absolutely love. I've also just had a release with Lucas+Steve which has done 750k streams in its first couple of weeks so I'm excited to see where that one goes.

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

A: Yes Joe Taylor and Gigi Both are excellent songwriters and singers and lovely people

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital, it's faster and easier to make decisions and make changes on the fly. When working with artists I like to be able to try out options quickly and easily. With digital the process of recording gets in the way less.

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

A: I will listen to you, work with you collaboratively, ensure that you learn from the process and we will unlock the potential in your music.

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

A: That everyone that comes to me must want to be a "famous star." In my experience people are creating and releasing music for lots of different reasons. That it's glamorous and that I 'hang out' and jam with people all day. No one who is consistently successful is really doing that. It's creatively intense and emotionally demanding to work with lots of different people on multiple projects and to throw yourself into meeting their needs. Its is still fun and cool though.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What you like about your current demo/song idea/production and where you feel less confident in it, where you feel like there is room for improvement. Any experiences good or bad of working with producers/mix engineers in the past. What worked with them and what didn't.

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

A: Have a good think about whats important to and what you're actually trying to achieve... - if you micro-manage the whole process you'll basically leave with what you came in, just moved around a little bit - if you don't give enough direction and feedback you could end up with something wildly different to what was in your head

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

A: Gibson Acoustic Fender Rhodes Any drum machine 8 track digital recorder Headphones! * I'd probably also fashion various percussion out bits of wood and dried leaves

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

A: I formed a band with a female vocalist when I was 20 and we quickly got signed to Warner and Sony Publishing. The next couple of years were a real baptism of fire into the industry. I've worked professionally as a writer/producer and mix engineer ever since. So 14 years in total.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Keep it simple. The songs I'm sent to mix often have twice as many tracks as my own productions but often don't sound as full (hence why I'm being asked to mix them.) If you can get the core of your production to work with 8-12 tracks then you're in good shape.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Listening.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I trim the fat. I identify whats working and I highlight what could be done better and then work towards making a song the best it can be.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I like to start with having a really open and honest conversation with artists about what they're trying to achieve and then keep the lines of communication nice and clear throughout the process. I don't typically work on artists projects when they're not either in the room or with me via Zoom as I like the process to be super collaborative. I will always give super honest feedback and push artists to get the most out of them but at the same time this is not my project or ego trip... The most important thing to me is that you are super happy with how the track sounds at the end, and that you enjoy the process.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio is 300 metres from the sea on the english coastline. The beach is a two minute walk away and you can usually see France quite clearly most days, which I like. I built the my studio from scratch with a builder two years ago and is professionally acoustically treated. Gear wise I have exactly what I need - some high end Neumann monitors, a Universal Audio interface, some synths and guitars and lots of natural light.

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

A: Recently played: Sam Fender / Holly Humberstone / Florence and the machine / Slowthai / Fleetwood Mac / Haim / Sam Smith / Bon Iver / Laura Marling / Dave

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

A: I predominately work with independent solo artists in two main capacities: The first is working with artists collaboratively to develop their song ideas and then I'll take care of the production and mixing and see a track through to being ready for release. This is generally a longer process. The second is working with artists who have already self-produced their tracks and we work together to mix and finish them. I typically do this remotely and have artists with me via zoom and listening via audiolink. I like to make these mix sessions as collaborative as possible and make sure artists learn lots about the process as we go so that they have lots of new skills to take into their next production.