from the debut full-length album of austin songwriter earl "pottymouth" arbuckle.

earl sent demos for multiple songs and essentially gave me free reign on instrumentation and arrangement decisions. this song in particular was cut down by about :45, trimming some sections that felt too long, while also dialing in the outro and solo sections; however, the basic "bones" of the song -- the chords and form -- stayed mostly true to the demo.

i recorded drums, bass, guitars, keys, and background vocals, sending a few rough drafts for feedback along the way. earl then traveled to NY to record his vocals in person rather than working remotely. this also gave me the opportunity to be very hands-on with vocal production during the tracking process.

another track from the pottymouth arbuckle record, but with a completely different vibe. as it happens, i also played drums on the demo for this one, which was recorded a few years ago in austin.

similar to the previous track, i recorded drums, percussion, guitars, bass, and keys, to which earl then added his vocal (recorded here at the studio). we then enlisted the help of a guitar wizard pal from nashville to add those incredibly sexy slide guitar riffs and solo.

structurally, this track was already pretty dialed in from the prior demo, so my job was just to make a more polished, release-ready version.

from the album "ohio coyotes" by dan webb & the spiders.

these tracks were a special treat because they reconnected me with an old friend for a collaborative production. the client and i actually played our very first gig together, which was a middle school talent show in the early 90s.

our process here was that dan would send me the acoustic demo, we'd discuss reference tracks and arrangement ideas, then i'd add drums and bass. stems were sent back to dan for final guitars and vocals at his studio, then returned to me for additional harmony vocals, percussion, and keys. once the final "ear candy" was in place, i went on to mixing and mastering.

another track from "ohio coyotes"

we followed a similar process to the last one, with ideas and tracks emailed back and forth until we reached a final draft. dan was responsible for vocals and guitars, where i added drums, percs, bass, keys, and harmony vocals, in addition to mixing and mastering.

for the entire project, wanted dead drum tones and "grit" added throughout. this song in particular features a more saturated drum tone that punches through the guitar riffs. the one big arrangement change that i made was adding a second chorus, as the demo simply went from verse two straight to the outro. he wrote such a catchy chorus, i figured there just "has to be" a second one (sorry).

my entry to the spitfire audio "recompose" competition from 2021

this was such a fun project -- the task was to create a remix or "recomposition" of the original song, and vocal stems were provided for use as desired. the only stipulation was that the new song had to include at least some element of the original vocal stems.

i had never heard the original song and was unfamiliar with the artist. i decided it would be a fun creative exercise to purposely avoid listening to the original at all; instead, i just loaded up the vocal stems and let the rhythm of the vocal phrasing guide my timing and groove choices, while the harmony came simply from building interesting chord progressions that worked with the melody.

in short -- i didn't let myself get too concerned with the "right" way to structure a pop song and just created some sounds i liked that supported the vocal.

as a result, i ended up with some odd time signatures and subtle feel changes throughout. unsurprisingly, my creation bore almost no musical resemblance to the original, with a totally different groove, and centered around G# minor, where the original is in B major.

the whole process was a ton of fun, and what i like most about the track is that, even through all the twists and turns, it still grooves in a very organic way. it was also great to dip into a different genre. everything you hear, besides the vocals, was created / sequenced / performed by me.

a single by austin songwriter carman a.d.

this was a pandemic project, from back in the early days of the studio. the client sent his acoustic demo, which i used to craft an arrangement and then recorded drums and bass. client added his rhythm guitar and vocals, i layered in some vocal harmonies, then sent everything off to an instrumental ninja for keys and guitar leads, finally coming back to me for mixing and mastering.

this track was my first opportunity to record vocals, and i'm still satisfied with the results. we doubled the lead and used both a condenser and dynamic on each pass. using two mics with very different tonal qualities, combined with the ability to process each mic differently, really helped the vocal pop in the mix.

a single by pop country superstar miggy rich, from cincinnati ohio.

this was my first attempt at producing a pop country track, and if we're being honest, i pretty much nailed it. in preparing for this project, i found a "top 10 country" playlist and spent some time trying to crack the code of each song -- i wrote down an outline of the general form, tempo, and noted any unique characteristics like a cool bridge or a rap breakdown, then used those notes as a blueprint to build this track.

another fully remote collaboration, i was given only the demo to go on (the "demo", it should be noted, was just the client drunkenly freestyling over a karaoke backing track!). i came up with an arrangement, recorded drums, bass, guitars, keys, and sequenced beats for the first verse and rap breakdown.

that one-man-band recording was sent back to miggy to record his vocals at home, which i then added to the track, along with my own harmony vox and some final ear candy, and mixed the whole thing. this track is ridiculous and over-the-top and it makes me smile every time i hear it.

a single from new york songwriter zach ronda

the client had a fairly filled-out demo and was looking for a "better" version of his track on which to add vocals. i began by reverse engineering his demo and re-tracking a new version from scratch. all of the instruments you hear are midi / sample libraries, but all are performed or programmed by me.

i did make a few small tweaks to the arrangement, mostly in the bridge section, but the bones of the song stayed fairly close to the demo. this is another great example of an instance where the client has a solid starting concept and i simply help to refine and polish.

after i built the instrumental track, the client then recorded his vocal layers at home, which i added to the final mix.

a single by new york songwriter christopher white, who performs under the name "blue c waves"

chris was actually the first client to record vocals in the new york studio. it was also his first ever recording project, so it was a great opportunity to mentor and guide a client through the process.

i received the acoustic demo along with some notes from the client, and was tasked with nailing down the arrangement and recording drums, bass, guitars, and keys. this was an instance where i made quite a few adjustments, both structurally and harmonically, from the demo to the final track. luckily the client was trusting of the process and happy with all of the changes.

after getting the band tracks together, chris came out to the studio where i walked him through vocal production and helped him get a performance he felt good about. from there, i added some additional harmony vocals and moved on to the final mix.