Before getting into the studio with an artist or a band I try to be as prepared as possible. This usually starts with a phone call or a video call to go over all the details of our sessions together. I tend to record a lot of artists that travel here to Portland from out of town to record, I also regularly travel to Boston, New York, and Los Angeles to work. Because of the travel I usually have to work in pretty strict timeframes when it comes to studio time. This is one of the many reasons pre-production is so important to me.

Having a good grasp on the arrangements and ideas for the songs we’re going to be working on ensures that I’ll be able to have everything ready to go to make the process of recording as smooth and easy as possible. With so many artists having access to their own home studios I can have them make demos that are great representations of the songs. At the bare minimum, I can have them make a simple phone recording that works just as well.

I recently recorded a song here in Portland at Jackpot! with an artist I had never met or worked with before, he flew in just for the session, and we had a limited amount of days together in the studio. We started talking and sending emails a few weeks prior to his arrival. He sent me a great demo of the song we were going to be working on, as well as a few references tracks to inspire ideas. We talked on the phone a few times and eventually met up for a drink the day before our session to get to know each other a bit before hitting the studio. By the time the first day rolled around, I had the pro tools session prepped with the bpm, tracks, and markers made for the arrangement. I set up the studio with mics on everything I knew we would be recording so that we could bounce around to different instruments and parts quickly. I had a whole template made for myself to make sure would be able to work as fast and efficiently as possible. We had a great weekend and were able to work fast to make sure we captured all of the ideas and parts we talked about during our pre-production meetings. On the last day of recording, we finished with some extra time, we were both super happy with how the song turned out! We used this extra time we had to make a killer rough mix on the console which will definitely be a great starting point for the final mix.

The speed that we were able to work at and the fact that we were on the same page throughout the entirety of the sessions would not have been possible had we not been prepared through pre-production. We didn’t have to spend extra time deciding what guitar amp to use, which keyboard sounds we were looking for, or what kind of vibe we were going for. All of that had been decided beforehand. All of that being said the doors were very much still open to spontaneity and we were had plenty of time and space to explore new ideas. We weren’t sure If we were going to be recording bass but I still had everything patched and ready to go to record bass just in case it came up. I walked into the live room at one point to get ready for the next guitar part we were set to record and I came back into the control room to find the artist had come up with a bass part on his guitar and wanted to get it down quickly before he forgot it. Since I was all ready to go we were able to dial up a sound fast and get it down immediately.

I feel very lucky to have learned early on from a great mentor that pre-production is crucial to a great recording. It also shows the artist that you’re working with that you care deeply about the songs you’ll be working on together. Putting in the extra time and effort goes a long way. I feel that pre-production is such an important part of the process and makes for a much better product that me and the artist will be super proud of in the end. Released music is (hopefully) forever so I feel it’s incredibly important to always put my absolute best into everything I work on.

Universal Audio has been working on LUNA for over a year. The illustrious company known for their unparalleled analog hardware, UAD line of interfaces and plugins unveiled that the mysterious LUNA was the companies first DAW at NAAM 2020. I had seen advertisements on the internet and in Tape op magazine for months before I knew what it was. To be completely honest I thought they were going to be unveiling some kind of new digitally controlled tape machine but I was wrong. Universal Audio boasts LUNA’s deep Apollo interface integration with zero latency while using the UA plugins during recording. In a world of DAWs this is very important. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I started messing around with a plugin after an artist did a take only to be greeted with horrible latency when they wanted to punch in a word or two. LUNA’s interface bears some resemblance to other DAWs but to me feels a bit more inspiring like Ableton. I really like that some of the shortcuts that I am used to using in Pro Tools also translate to LUNA. In the same vain similar editing concepts also exist. After downloading LUNA I imported some tracks from a session I knew very well. This was a song from a record I had recorded and mixed in the fall that had just been released. I wanted to test out the mixing workflow. I started without watching any of the tutorial videos that are easily accessible right in LUNA. I was able to work for quite some time without getting stuck not knowing how to do something. I had a lot of fun working in LUNA, I don’t think it’ll replace Pro Tools for me but I can see myself using it for pre production, or a situation where Im doing a mobile recording with just my Apollo. Let me know your experiences and thoughts about LUNA!

Over the past few years i've been constantly adding to, perfecting and changing my mix template.  I remember when I used to work on a console I didn't have a template, I just put if the faders, started patching gear and ran with it.  There were things that I would do every mix, and pieces of gear Id always use but it was never as simple or detailed as my mix template.  Every song, every album and every artist all come with their own challenges and they all need different elements of my template.  After every project I tent to update my template, it grows as I grow.  My template has audio tracks and aux tracks. The tracks all have plugins I know ill want once I start mixing, the tracks are also routed to the various busses they need to go to.  I keep all the plugins and busses inactive or deactivated so that when I start theres no processing going on and I can quickly turn on a bus or plugin to do what I want.  It may not seem like it at first but having all the routing and plugin assignments done before I even hit play is a HUGE timesaver for me.  I update my template vigorously so its always stocked with my new favorite plugins.  Another huge timesaver for me has been making my own presets in plugins.  For example I have a preset in one of my favorite eqs the Fabfilter Pro Q2 called ZB E Gtr, This preset has a high pass filter starting at 120HZ, a cut at 400HZ and a boost at 4K.  I cant just pull up my preset and say the guitar is done, but its quick way for me to start working on the guitars in the track. 

With shrinking budgets and demanding clients I need to be able to work very quickly and thats exactly what my template has allowed me to do.  For anybody thats interested in taking a look at my template id be happy to share it with you, click the contact page on my website and send me a message!  

I recently purchased a new pair of speakers to use at home and on the go.  At my studio I have  pair of Dynaudio Bm15As and a pair of Neumann Kh120s, I love both of these sets of speakers! Sharing my current studio space with another engineer has its challenges.  At the studio we each have our own control rooms with a shared live room, this means every once in a while one of us has to take a forced day off so the other can track in the main live room.  I honestly kind of enjoy having to take some time off away from the studio. This is also great opportunity to do editing or tuning at home on my laptop.  I don't know about other engineers but I struggle working on headphones sometimes which is why I was really excited to learn about the I Louds.  Upon first listen I was blown away by how much low end and energy these little things were able to put out,  listening at quiet levels they still pack a punch.  The speakers come in a super convenient bag that can fit in a backpack or suitcase easily.  Not only are these things super small and easy to move around they're really fun to listen to, I find myself dragging them into my kitchen all the time to listen to while cooking or cleaning.  Just for fun I brought them to the studio to put up against my mains and near fields and I was not disappointed.  Retailing for $299.99 you cant go wrong! The speakers have a stereo RCA input as well as an 1/8" input, and you can connect via bluetooth which is perfect for checking mixes i've emailed to myself on my phone.  I can see myself bringing these with me when I travel and work out of other studios so that i have a consistent set of speakers while freelancing. Check these out!