Remote Songwriter/Producer

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a simple yet effective home studio setup with Artesia monitors, a RODE NT1 microphone and an Arturia MiniLab midi keyboard. I work on a macbook with Logic Pro and I edit vocals with Melodyne.

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

A: One of my favorite songs I worked on is for a poet. His wife shared his worked with me and I turned it into a song. It is ambient pop with acoustic guitar, a really nice lead on a vintage open body guitar, double vocals throughout, and an acoustic kit which drives the song. I love it. The chorus of the song has a beautiful melody which carries his lyrics perfectly. The song took me less than a week to finish (mixing and mastering included) and it’s amazing. My role was vocalist, top line melody writer, producer, mixing and mastering engineer.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: At the moment, I’m working a few projects. One is for a religious play and I’m recording the vocals, writing the vocal melody and producing the track. This will be my third song with this client. I’m also writing and producing a song for a web3 business. Me and Hein have worked with this client on multiple occasions and he’s a pleasure. It’s hip hop/pop. I’m really excited about this one. The chorus is fantastic. And lastly, I’m writing, singing and producing a song for Visa Solutions Healthcare. This song is awesome. It’s about nurses coming to the states from overseas and achieving their dream to work on the frontline as American nurses. Very moving song, yet powerful and inspiring. I’m also writing, producing and releasing some of my own music.

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

A: My mixing engineer, Heinrich Smit. He is also just starting on SB but he’s been mixing for me for some time now and wow. What I give him sounds far better when he’s done with it. His style of mixing is vocals upfront, percussion next, and some simple yet exciting mids instruments to compliment vocals and the message of the song. Work with him when you’re ready to take your music seriously and give it your all. As far as clients, Rasyiqa. She found me on SB and I loved working with her. She shared her whole story with me and I was able to write something that expressed how she was feeling. I’d recommend her to any freelancer.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I prefer digital only because I haven’t hands on worked with analog. Sound wise though, I’ve heard that analog is superior. I mean, music started on analog. From what I’ve heard it’s more time consuming but overall the quality is better.

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

A: I promise to work until you love your song. Even if we do multiple revisions. I’m not happy if the song were working on together isn’t great to both of us.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love seeing my clients happy with the song. Often there’s tears of joy or emotion after listening. This makes me so happy and I strive to have the happiest client in the end. They say that the best way to find yourself is by losing yourself in the service of others.

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

A: Usually customers will ask me how to start? What do I need to get started? If you’re a business, I need some backstory on your business and what your key values are. If you’re an artist and say we’re writing about a significant event or person, I want to know the facts. What happened in your relationship and why do you want a song written about it? What kind of person are we writing about? For both situations, I need a genre at least. Ideally, I’ll be given a reference track for guidance. With this, I’m all set to begin. I’ll send frequent updates throughout the process and we’ll work together to create the best song for you.

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

A: I’m not only a writer who comes up with lyrics I think you might like. I enjoy understanding the artists backstory. And if it’s a business, I like understanding your brand and what you stand for. A song is powerful. So many people enjoy music (if not everyone) and when your message or story is portrayed through song, it’s powerful. I know this and I like my clients to feel like their song speaks for them.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What’s your reference track, what’s the genre, what’s the message or concept for your song if I’m songwriting… These questions are crucial in the beginning of a project.

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

A: My two pieces of advice are simply to have a vision of what you want. Whether it be a reference track, a genre, or a feel that you’re going for. Next, keep an open mind and trust your freelancer. I’ve had experiences where I’ve worked with clients who didn’t seem to trust my process and this led to work that I didn’t really enjoy doing. If your freelancer isn’t happy, it’s harder to get a final result you both like.

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

A: This is an easy question for me! Firstly, I would take my Taylor GS Mini (koa wood edition). It’s a smaller body guitar so it’s ideal for recording. Next I would take my phone. This sounds silly, but my phone has all of my lyrics as well as so many song ideas recorded. I could have GarageBand in there as well and produce some simple songs. The lyrics are the most important part to me anyways. I could survive with this alone. Next I’d take my RODE NT1 mic for quality vocals. And since I’m on an island, I’d take all of my acoustic panels, which I built with my mixing engineer. This way, I could construct a vocal booth to keep out the crickets and ocean sounds. And lastly, I’d take my MacBook for mobile music production and my…. Artesia monitors. I purchased them in South Africa. They’re hard to find in the states but they give a great baseline sound without too much bass, mids or treble. I think that’s 6 but I could produce and make a killing living on this island with this. Great question!

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

A: I have a unique career (at least I think I do). I’m part Hawaiian so when I was born, my father gave me a ukulele. That was the start. I’m 23 now so I’ve been composing melodies, writing songs, and singing for most if not all of my life. Even as a very young child, I was putting together chords and making musical pieces. At 12 and 13, I won two songwriting/talent competitions which brought me notoriety and a recording session at Southern Harmony Recording Studios in Florence, SC. 6 years later, I was recording album after album there and had built a longtime friendship with the owner/engineer of the studio. At 16, I went to FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL to record 2 singles and about 20 demos on acoustic guitar. It was the most demos they’ve ever had a single artist record. ;) Very respected artists have recorded there, and even in the same room I was in, including Alicia Keys, Alman Brothers, and Otis Redding, just to name a few. All of the credit of my success goes to my parents, who both eventually believed I could be a full time musician/songwriter. Without them, I would not have had the resources or belief that I could achieve my dreams.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is minimalistic and raw. I like to focus on keeping vocals front and center when producing. When writing, my style is also simple. There’s a saying: I would have written you a shorter letter if I had had the time. I feel this applies to songwriting. It sometimes takes longer to convey something simply. But this is what people like. Simple lyrics are easier for the artist sing and if the message touches people, they’re hopefully saying, “This is exactly how I feel but I haven’t known how to word it in such a simple artistic way.”

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

A: Ideally in my dream world, I’d like to write a song with Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran. Their songwriting styles are out of this world. It’s unique, yet appealing to folks of all ages and kinds. This is a bit unrealistic, at least at the stage I’m at now. But shoot for the moon and you’ll end up in stars.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Create space using simplicity. When I first started music production, I'd often want a song that sounds full so I'd add a lot of mids instruments, like piano, guitar, synth, etc. It didn't work. They would all clash together and take away space for the vocal. You only need one main mids instrument.

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

A: My comfort zone/roots is folk/indie/acoustic. but I've had amazing results working with pop and hip hop, which opened up my creativity.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Communication. I want the client to feel like they're working on the song with me.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring effortless sounding melodies and lyrics. I bring lyrics that say exactly what you've always felt, but said in a way more beautiful than you could've ever imagined. I bring music production that is edgy and cool, but steps back behind a vocal performance that grabs and holds a listener.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: When working with a client, I start with their ideas, stories, and anything else they want in their song. Then we'll decide what genre the song should be in. I'll then produce a rough track. My next phase is melody writing. Before I ever try to write lyrics, I create singable catchy melodies. This is one of my greatest passions, and it has been for all of my music career (even when I started on the ukulele as a youngster). After recording a few solid melodies, I move onto the lyric writing. Basically I'm turning really raw (and really pitchy) vocal scratch tracks into lyrics and phrases that make sense and portray the client's message. When music production is involved, this is what comes next. I'll nail down the percussion first. Then comes harmonies, mids instruments (piano, synth, guitar, etc.), bass... Anything I feel the song needs. At this point I've sent multiple updates to the client to ensure we're thinking the same. I'll make any adjustments necessary and I then mix and master, or send to my mixing engineer.

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

A: Lyrically, I use Taylor Swift as my role model. Her stories come alive through her lyrics and I aspire to do the same.

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

A: When I'm working with clients, my specialties are melody writing and song phrasing, to ensure the lyrics are easily singable and the tune is catchy. I'm also proficient in turning a client's ideas into fully produced finished songs.