Songwriter-Producer-Arranger

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

A: The one previous to this, I helped a Chinese artist to create a beautiful Celtic Folk track. I loved doing it, it even had bagpipes!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm helping an artist develop the toplines on his tracks. He has the backing tracks and is humming the vague skeleton of a tune into his phone and sending it to me and I'm helping bring the whole thing to life.

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

A: I don't personally know anyone else on the platform but I have been recommmending that friends and colleagues sign up.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital now. I love analogue and if I have the room, the space, the money and the patience I would also use hardware BUT software has got so good now and with it you can record, arrange and mix on the go.

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

A: That I will listen to them, understand what they need and then, if I can feel I can deliver it, will absolutely promise they will get the very best out of me.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I just love making music. I love getting a vague idea and making it sound as inspiring, or as beautiful or as energised as possible. Whatever the project, it allows me to get lost in the world of music and that is my favorite place to be.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I listen to the idea I've been sent as soon as I'm ready to work on it, not before. Then I let an initial wave of ideas coming, without thinking, just allow it to happen, record whatever comes out, on a phone now. before maybe on a dictaphone. Then I create the document in Logic and just dig straight in!

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

A: Usually the main areas of focus are either to help with the top line melody or to create an arrangement for the track. I think there is always a grey area when it comes to song splits and publishing, like if you write a melody for someone then technically you should definitely take a stake in the publishing. So common questions would be about that.

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

A: I don't know that there is a misconception or any ambiguity to the service I provide. Its basically to help people make their song sound as amazing as possible! I very rarely run into misunderstandings.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I'll ask what you have so far, whether you have any sound reference examples I can hear of what you are aiming for, what you need from me to help you finish the song. Is there anything there that you haven't expressed sonically that you would love to include. What is it you are trying to convey, how much or how little do you want changed, added to, built upon.

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

A: Trust. Feel absolutely free to communicate what you need, enjoy the process, know that what you will get from working with me is a realisation of what you are looking for, I wont take on a job if I don't feel I can do that.

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

A: I would take my EAR 660 limiting amp, my UAD Apollo interface, my Ensoniq ESQ1 keyboard, my Tokai strat guitar and my Fender Precision Bass

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

A: I've doing this a long time now, 25 years. I was signed originally to RCA Records with my band Out of my Hair and i released a couple of albums with them and toured around the world supporting bands like Radiohead, David Bowie headlining my own tours, playing festivals. I worked with a lot of great producers and I learned from them but I also have followed my own sonic path so to speak, Whilst that was going on I moved also into production music because i loved the challenge of working in different styles and genres and continue this to this day. I worked with a lot of artists, writing and mentoring them. Then I helped my good friend Jerry Meehan set up the very successful London recording studio Wendyhouse. I moved into writing film soundtracks, traveled around the world, spent time in India playing music there, continuing to release my own material to this day. Music addict.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Its a slightly hard question to answer because I move around a fair bit stylistically. At heart I make very melodic music that is gently psychedelic, often very acoustic without quite being 'folk'. Thats my own stuff but I go all over the place, I love programming beats, I take inspiration from hip hop and R&B productions in the sheer quality of the sound creations, I love indie music, I love loads of music. Because I play a lot of instruments and write so much music I'm able to really move across a broad spectrum of styles. I just know that I will leave dance music in general to people who love it more than I do.

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

A: Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, because I love where he is at sonically and feel very much in the same ball park.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Go for simplicity. Let the song and the vocal shine through and build the track around it. don't clutter with two many idea. Think of the tracks you love-they might have one distinctive sound in there you always remember. Not 5, just one. With so much technology at our fingertips we have to sometimes consciously remind ourselves to just go back to the simple.

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

A: I love classic styles, acoustic rock or folk, melodic pop and rock, psychedelia is also a favourite, and sometimes bringing in touches of different genres, cross relating them.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Understanding people, listening to what they want even if they are not sure themselves, seeing beyond what you are immediately presented with. Allowing people to express themselves fully, because that's where the real joy of making music is. Feeling that you have really expressed who you are or what you wanted to get done. There is no better feeling.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Music, structure, form. I love to hear where the beautiful bits of the song are and bring them out, develop them, maybe edit things down a bit and concentrate on the strengths. Listen to the lyrics or help with them, again try and accentuate the strengths, help with a discerning editing process, bring out the imagery, the importance of evoking pictures in the listener's mind. Allow the production to compliment and not interfere with the track. Songwriting to me is quite a holy process in a way, such a beautiful process, allowing things to happen, making the space for them.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: Well I used to be a real gear head and had a lot of vintage outboard gear, EAR compressors, Neve, Altec, Klein and Hummell. I loved this stuff! But as i can became more mobile I downsized and now, because of the improvements in digital technology, for the first time I feel my current set up is as good, and as 'earthy' as my pld one. For this I have to credit two companies, UAD and Acustica. I have a UAD Apollo interface which sounds fantastic. I still keep hold of a lot of my old vintage synths. Mic wise I'm enjoying the Aston products which compliment my Neumann collection. And I have my trusted NS10s still with me.

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

A: Right now Kevin Parker from Tame Impala inspires me because there is so much kinship in the way that he works. I love his attention to sound sculpting and everything he does sonically is kind of where I am at. I have a love of psychedelia and his forward thinking approach opens up new territories that are endlessly fascinating. I am also really enjoying the work that John Parish has done with Aldous Harding and would say that this is my most favorite album of the last couple of years. It is in one way simple acoustic music but there are beautiful subtle twists that turn it away from the norm and compliment her distinctive voice and songwriting.

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

A: Recently I've done two full soundtracks for a couple of BBC film length documentaries, meaning a huge variety of styles from single songs to orchestrated recordings, Persian music, modern classical. Really inspiring to stretch yourself in these ways. Mostly I specialise in classic pop/rock/folk productions, writing is my greatest strength alongside producing up full backing tracks. Everything basically. I don't drum! But I programme them very well and have a fantastic network of some of the top musicians in London to call upon when the occasion demands.