Multi-Instrumentalis/Music Pro

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

A: Recently I wrote prduced, recorded, mixed and mastered my own album. I also made videos for each or the releases. I tracked every instrument all myself.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Top Secret

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

A: Myself

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Which do you prefer? Do most people even know the difference? Andrew Scheps recently sold his prized 1173 and mixes solely in the box now. So what does that say? CLA prefers to use his SSL console and LA2A comps with his 1176 but I've also seen him mix solely in the box with scary close results. If you can listen to two mixes one Ananlog and one Digital and tell me which is which I'll shake your hand. I use an analog front end, I mix in the box and with outboard gear in a hybrid manner because thats how I get the best results.

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

A: I promise that I care more about the music than the money. I wont work for free but if I was looking to get rich I wouldve spend my college tuition on a Medical or Legal Degree.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Helping other musicians bring their visions and dreams to reality.

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

A: Customer's usually want a bottom line price. I bill per hour but that doesnt necessaricly mean a literal hour. Its more like time and energy invested. If you send me good well recorded tracks than mixing can be cheap. As for recording that all depends on the skill of the performer all I can say is make sure you are ready to perform your parts know your lines and change your damn strings.

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

A: That there are rules. There are no rules, rules only set limitations on what you can achieve.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: The main thing I want to know is what the overall vision is for the project. What were they feeling when the wrote it? What does that mean to them? What type of music are they into?

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

A: Be ready and know you're material if recording. If youre sending me stems to mix there better be clean DI tracks!

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

A: Viby, warm, analog. Nice tube clipping and THD.

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

A: I would love to work with Jerry Cantrell I love the music that he writes and i think I could bring out some of the best sonics because I favor his style.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Get it right in the recording stage, Theres no reason to have to fix it later in the mix!

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

A: Mostly Blues, Modern Rock, Hard Rock and R and B.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Arrangement and mixing.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Flavor, Balance, Harmonics.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Honeslty this is dependent on what Im doing specifically.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I run two 18 channel focusrite interfaces together over ADAT. I have an 18 channel focusrite ISA mic pre into a DBX 160 and a DBX dual band 32 eq. I mostly mix in the box but as far as recording goes the front end is all analog. For guitars I run the signal into a JCM DI box and the through put goes into my pedal chain. The DI out of the box goes straight into one of my interface channels and I record this is tadem for any reamping I might do later. From my pedal board I usually run into one of my LBX tube heads. I have a few in my collection. For speaker cabs I usually run into my custom orange 112 cab with a vintage 30 but I have 412 blend cab I made as well that I freqently switch the speakers for different combinations. I also mic the cabs with either At2035s and an sm57 or AKG 420 depends on the sound we're after. Drums I can live track I have a 90s Peal Export 5 piece studio set A series cymbals and a few great snares (Black Beauty, Tama Edge, Superphonic) I also have E drums that I run into my studio PC and use superior drummer to trigger samples as well. I have a huge collection of impulse responses and software. I can record or Mix in any daw Logic, Protools, Reaper, Studio One ect.

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

A: As a guitarist greats like Dicky Betts, Elmore James and BB king, Jeff Loomis, Jimi Hendrix, ect. As an engineer I love mixes by Jaquire and Andrew Scheps. Theres so many I could name.

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

A: Mixing, Audio/Music recording, Music Production, Sound Design, Post Production Editing, Music Mastering, Music Lessons, Session, Guitar, Copyist.