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.
I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.
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.
