Drums and Beats with Character

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

A: I started playing drums at roughly 10 years old (25 years ago at the time of writing) and quickly began gigging regularly from around age 15. I went on to study Jazz at Leeds College of Music and became immersed in the hugely diverse music scene there for several years before moving to London.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Get it right in the room first.

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

A: I usually work on music that has a very distinctive groove element such as Hip Hop, RnB, Soul or Afrobeat. Coming from a Jazz background I feel very connected to these styles and tend to get asked to work in these areas. I also work quite frequently with producers who make music for dance and theatre, providing more soundscape and textural parts.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My strongest skill would be my range/stylistic knowledge. I can draw from a very large pool of personal experiences and inspirations to conceive the perfect drum part for any tune. My years of experience as a recording artist have given me a solid understanding of what does and doesn't work in a recording context.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My studio set up is a small and acoustically treated room, perfect for capturing a clean and dry drum sound to enhance with effects in post. I use some handmade Russian ribbon mics as overheads which provide a similar quality to the Coles 4038 as well as a range of dynamic mics and some other choice microphones such as the Beyerdynamic M160. I run these through a UAD Apollo 8xp (with option for more channels) and utilise various plugins such as the API vision channel strip, Pultec and Neve EQs and Studer A800 tape saturation. In the studio I use various drums, mostly Ludwig classic maple but also Craviotto, Premier and George H Way. I have a big selection of Istanbul and Zildjian cymbals which can cater to any style.

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

A: I work with a very broad range of clients in terms of style and approach, however, my role tends to be quite similar from project to project. Mostly I am required to provide the perfect groove to either underscore a vocal feature or be the main feature and hook of a track. I am quite often given a fairly blank canvas to throw ideas onto and see what works best, and then I take time to capture these ideas with the most appropriate mic set up etc. More often than not, the artist's I work with trust me with my contributions and end up using my suggestions for the final mix. I work closely with my clients to gain an understanding of their vision for their music, taking on board their comments and also researching their own particular influences. I provide my clients with very high quality drum stems, ranging from anywhere between 1-10 channels, all recorded using a combination of ribbon and dynamic mics in tandem with a UAD Apollo 8xp interface.