An NY based producer, specialized in modern afrobeat / r&b and dancehall vibes. Let's create something vibey!
Hey! I'm a NY based producer & multi instrumentalist. For production I specialize in modern afrobeat / r&b and dancehall vibes, however for session work I'm down for any genre! Piano is my strong suit but I can definitely lay down some smooth guitar & bass parts too!
I've been playing piano since 2016, teaching myself through youtube videos with my mom's old upright piano in her house. I started producing the next year and have actively been involved with music professionally since then.
Tell me about your project and how I can help, through the 'Contact' button above.
Interview with Poncho
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: To put the song first no matter what.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Creating music that speaks to my soul, and creating something I wish existed in the universe already.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Can you make a ... type beat. The answer is as long as it falls into one of my listed genres yes!
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: I genuinely have no idea haha. I don't know how people perceive what I do. I just do it cause I love it, I don't even think I ask for opinions a lot.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What are your goals as an artist, what are you looking to create & do you have references for how you want it to sound. Those are the three biggest questions for me.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Please have a clear vision of what you'd like to create, ideally with references so it knocks out the guess work!
Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: The entire Encore Acoustic brand is something I worked on for years and I'm very proud of. We did hundreds of sessions with artists all over the NY/NJ/CT tristate and turned an idea to have artists rap over live instruments into a legitimate business. I like what we did there a lot.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Right now I'm working on building two music youtube channels: one where I record myself making beats to show the process, and another where I post all my finished beats for people to stream / download. I'm also posting lots of short clips on all my socials to promote my music & beats even more.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Not yet but I hope to get to know some people!
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: I respect and appreciate analog gear a lot, but the simplicity of digital is unmatched. I also like a clean looking studio, and analog gear takes up so much space. In reality I have a healthy balance. I have amps, pedals, an analog mixer and other pieces of hardware, but more often than not for simplicity's sake I go digital.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: My two main careers / sources of income are music / studio work, and content creation. Outside of music I host a youtube channel called Rap Lore that's now a significant part of my income. Music I've been involved in since 2017, and content creation seriously since 2020!
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Smooth, chill, emotional, melodic & heartfelt
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: I don't have a dream artist to work with, really anyone who's passionate & dedicated to their craft with a similar sound as me I'm down to lock in with
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Always layer your sounds! It'll bring a boring beat to life!
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Afrobeat / afro R&B / modern R&B / dancehall music
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: My ability to play multiple instruments well
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Smooth & well placed melodies to capture a listeners' ear
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: My Taylor GS Mini. I love that guitar with my whole heart. I don't care about anything else 😂 If I had to pick 4 more, my nord piano 5, my apollo x4, my telecaster and my p bass.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: For beats, I start with a drum loop, stack melodies on top of it til it's a full 8 bar loop then arrange the beat out. For session work, honestly I listen to the song once or twice, hop on the keys and let whatever comes to mind to flow.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a studio inside of a event space in Westchester NY. It's pretty simple, all of my instruments are there routed to either my tascam model 24 or my apollo x4, and I play everything back through yamaha hs5s and a hs8s subwoofer.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Tems and Odeal are my two biggest production inspirations, while Zaytoven is a big piano inspiration
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Most commonly I either make beats or play piano parts for clients.
