Producer | Female vox (Louisa)

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

A: 'Do I play the instrument - or just use samples'? (Answer: yes I play different kinds of guitar, bass and piano - I also programme drums and use high quality sample libraries for e.g. strings, brass etc as required by the project).

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

A: I think as a multi-instrumentalist producer clients don't always realise that I can provide pretty much most instrumentation - I play guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, synths etc - as well as the recording, mixing and mastering. I offer a 'one-stop shop' service if that's what's required.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Mainly around what they would like the track to sound like, broadly-speaking.

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

A: I've been writing songs and recording for over 25 years (and playing guitar and piano longer than that). I learnt so much about recording & producing from my musical colleague Howard Nock who is an ace Recording Engineer/Sound Supervisor on many top shows here in the UK. Whilst I'm mostly studio-based, I'm also a classical guitarist and play at weddings and events around the UK.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: 'Multi-style'! I am curious about all kinds of music. When not in the studio I play classical guitar at weddings and events here in the UK. But in the studio I'm just as likely to be working on an EDM track as I am a guitar-based song.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Having used tape recorders early on in my recordings, I find that digital recordings can sometimes be a little harsh-sounding. So I find that using a tape emulation plugin can work wonders. My favourite is Slate's Virtual Tape Machine (VTM) - it's fantastic!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Depends on the project - I may write and produce the music from scratch, or alternatively work around for example a vocal performance - adding drums, guitar, bass, piano, synths as required.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: In terms of guitars, I play analogue instruments (I'm also a classical guitarist who plays at weddings and events across the UK). Otherwise I pretty much work 'in the box', as they say, these days. Software instruments and production software are absolutely fantastic these days - I have no desire to go back to tape machines!

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

A: Maybe just listen to one of my 4 sample showreels and look at my SoundBetter reviews. Have wide-ranging and eclectic tastes in music and my production I think reflect that - I really love to work in may different genres.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a collection of classical guitars (I also play classical guitar at weddings and events in the UK), acoustic guitars and basses, condenser and dynamic microphones, a small midi keyboard as well as a high-spec Yamaha Clavinova, a MacBook pro attached to a 27 inch screen, focusrite interface, Genelec monitors and AKG headphones. I use many synths such as Omnisphere 2, Kontakt libraries, many waves, Slate and other plugins. I work in Pro Tools and Reason DAWs.

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

A: I will do everything I can to ensure you get you the track that you need.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I really love to create tracks for people - I find it really rewarding to be able to apply the skills I've learnt over the years - together with avid listening to so many genres - to help create a bespoke track for the client.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: As well as musical versatility, I would say my strongest skill is being able to play by ear - and through experience being able to think through ideas regarding a song's structure, harmonies and melodies. However, these ideas may not necessarily accord with the client’s vision of the song/project - so I'm interested ultimately in ensuring that the client is happy!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I've been involved in music since I was a child. I've been producing music for over 25 years. I bring this experience to the all the songs I help create.

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

A: I create all kinds of music: pop, rock, classical, jazz, hip hop, trap, EDM on classical, acoustic and electric guitar. I love the creative challenge of working on original music; using my experience to think what style and approach will work best. I'm a classical, rock and pop guitarist and also have played/keyboards piano since I was a boy. Most commonly I will use all these skills to build up a track within Pro Tools and/or Reason.

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

A: Pop, rock, beats - hiphop, trap and EDM and orchestral. My musical tastes are quite varied!

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

A: In terms of music - I have eclectic tastes. I grew up listening to a lot of classical and choral music, so rich in melody and harmony. In my teens I migrated to the Beatles and all kinds of pop and rock music - again particulary attracted to songs with strong melodies. In terms of guitarists - there are so many I love but they include George Harrison, Clapton, many of the jazz guitar greats, and in particular John McLaughlin (I worked on a Nepal Earthquake charity single with John's drummer and keyboardist Gary Husband a couple of years ago which was fantastic). And the wonderful brazilian guitarist Baden Powell de Aquino. In terms of production, I've been fortunate to collaborate closely with Howard Nock, ace sound engineer/designer for many TV productions. My Protools skills were learnt through these collaborations, which included some music made for Channel 4 (actually my work for this was as a keyboardist). In terms of other inspirational producers; George Martin, Daniel Lanois, Phil Ramone amongst many others.

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

A: I would highly recommend Howsaudio - a remarkable musician & mixer: https://soundbetter.com/profiles/49620-howsaudio

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

A: Adele, of course!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Projects include an atmospheric beat made with organic ethnic instruments for a client, an EDM track and a piano and strings arrangement for a beautiful tune written by a client. One of my most recent projects was creating an EDM version of a wonderful track written by Oscar and Grammy winner Carole Bayer Sager and singer-songwriter Jonas Myrin

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

A: I'm really proud of the collaboration between myself and fellow Voysey songwriting/production colleagues on the 'Dreaming of you this Christmas’ single *. I wrote the music, some of the words (with John Garvey), played and recorded the piano and the guitar parts. Howard Nock (sound engineer for many TV productions) played bass guitar and we also worked together to produce choirs and brass bands (courtesy of Omisphere and Native Instruments respectively). I travelled to Wales to record the female vocals (the fantastic Victoria Worthington). Howard mixed and mastered the single. I liaised with ace graphic artist Martin Orme regarding the single’s artwork. I suppose, as well as the musical/lyric input I was the project manager for this single which was a real collaborative effort involving some face to face work together with remote file-sharing. If you get a minute to listen, I think it’s fair to say that all the disparate parts work pretty well together (thanks in no small part to Howard’s excellent mixing and mastering). *https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/dreaming-you-this-christmas/id743204058

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

A: My Takamine classical guitar; assuming electricity a Sadowsky semi-acoustic electric guitar; a Neumann KM184 condenser microphone (matched pair If permitted!) and my MacBookPro. And a great reverb plugin or hardware (like a lot of musicians I love the 'sound' of music - the acoustics reflecting where it was recorded, and the ability of modern reverb units and plugins to emulate this).