Before I work with any artist, I like to take the time to find out their background- where they’ve been, how they ended up where they are now, etc, etc. It helps me figure out where they’re headed and also helps me relate to them as people, not just clients. I feel I should give artists some information about my history too, to help them decide if I’m the right guy for their project or not.

I grew up in a small town in northern Wisconsin (pop 900) and started running live sound for local bands at the tender age of 15 while also working on local dairy farms (yes, milking cows and shoveling shit) to save money for sound equipment. A couple years later I had a full PA and light show and was determined to be a full time sound man for big, national touring acts. The problem was, I really didn’t know that much about the technical side of things- I made up for that with hard work, but soon found out I had to get educated on certain things. I couldn’t find any “live sound” schools, so I decided to go to a two year recording program at a community college in Minneapolis. I thought recording was boring, but studios use many of the same tools live sound guys do, so I could still learn what I needed to learn- then get back to the exciting life of a live sound engineer.

Two months into the recording program I sold my PA. Turns out recording is f*cking awesome.

I’m a fairly driven individual, so even before graduating from the recording program I started looking for a job in Minneapolis. It’s a big city, but did not have many studio opportunities to offer…so I decided to move to a hotbed of recording to really see how it’s done. I chose Nashville, TN - even though I don’t particularly care for country music, I took one look at the number of big studios there and just had to be a part of that scene. Besides, it appeared to be a much easier city to deal with than NY or LA.

I secured an internship at a really cool studio, and soon was hired as the “house assistant engineer”. I had just turned 20 years old, and was making a living in the music industry. Sweet. Not long after that I was working on many of the big country records that were going on at the time, mainly assisting, but doing some engineering as well. I was really soaking up how big records were made, and learning all of the different engineering and producing styles that these guys (and girls) were bringing to the table. I would assist 4-5 different engineers, and engineer for several different producers in many different studios any given month- it was awesome and it gave me so much experience I can’t even begin to tell you how much I learned in those first few years.

After doing that for about five years I had enough chops to start seeking out my own projects, and decided to get back to the kind of music that first attracted me to the music industry- independent rock. I began doing many projects ranging from harder rock to acoustic-based rock and found that all the experience I gained really came in handy. You see, I didn’t learn how to record in one studio, on one type of system, with one artist- it turns out that I learned out to make records anywhere, and with (or without) any certain piece of technology. That’s kind of rare these days. Working for all of those producers and other engineers forced me to learn how to engineer the way they wanted me to engineer to fit their production styles, and often their production styles were morphed to fit the artists’ needs. Now that I’ve been producing/engineering full time (for about 10 years) I’m able to start every project from the artists’ perspective, and grow the production needs around the goals of the artist. Together we pick the studio(s) to record in based on budget, vibe and equipment needed, or choose not to use a studio at all! Sometimes I’m recording on computers, other times I’m using analog recorders, or a blend of both technologies. Every project has different goals which require different approaches, so I make sure that I am as transparent as possible in the production process in order to ensure the result is an album that sounds like the artist (you) - not the producer (me)…which is the way it should be, right?

So that’s me in a nutshell, to learn anymore you’ll have to scam a copy of my diary- or buy my mom a cup of coffee to get the real dirt. Basically, I love what I do and am forever grateful that I get to make music for a living. Still have questions? Just give me a call.