* What types or styles of music do you record?
Just for the record, I've recorded many styles of music over the years including rock, metal, pop, blues, jazz, gospel, country, R&B, folk, karaoke, hip hop, reggae, various ethnic and religious styles, etc.. I've also done quite a few spoken word/narration type projects for radio, television and audio books. I don't claim to be an expert (every project is a learning experience) but I can say that I have a pretty good understanding of the different production techniques behind all those various styles and I know how to achieve excellent results.
If you want to hear some audio samples, visit the MP3 section on this website. Many of my clients have posted songs on their own websites and MySpace pages (check out my client roster on the home page). Feel free to contact any of my clients for their viewpoints and feedback.
What types of music do you like?
This is a valid question to ask any engineer or producer that you plan to work with. It doesn't make sense to work with someone who doesn't like the style of music you're planning to record right?
I'm pretty much all over the map but mostly I like rock music - including almost every style of metal, pop, alternative, grunge, punk, new wave, old wave, thrash, fusion, etc. But it doesn't end there. I like jazz and classical, folk, acoustic or just about anything that involves actual human beings playing actual instruments. I can find artistic merit in just about anything as long as it's from the heart and played or performed with sufficient passion. As much as I like rock music, it's always a treat when I get a client in here doing something completely different from the norm. If it's unique and different and weird, I'm down with it.
If my house was on fire and I only had a few seconds to rescue CD's from my record collection, I'd probably grab all my Frank Zappa and King Crimson discs first. If I still had time, I'd go back and grab all my Todd Rundgren, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Budgie, Thin Lizzy, UFO, Scorpions, Yes and Led Zeppelin discs. So that should probably give you a good idea of where my head is at. I'm really into prog rock and most of what you'd call classic hard rock and metal.
Anything you're not interested in?
* I'm no longer accepting any of the modern "urban" forms of R&B and hip hop. I have my reasons. After 5 years of recording those styles of music, most of which were a hassle of some sort or another, I finally had to pull the plug on all that. It wasn't worth the aggravation any more. Frankly, I could write a book. Maybe someday I will. Truth be told, I just don't dig modern R&B/hip hop very much. I admit it openly and freely and with as much diplomacy as I can muster. Rap music just doesn't do anything for me. No one, to my knowledge, left here disappointed with their recordings but my heart was never really into that stuff. As mentioned above, it's better to seek out someone who likes the style of music you're recording. You're way better off in the long run.
* Taking that one step further, I don't have much interest in any of the various forms of club/DJ style dance music (dance, trance, dub, club, etc or whatever funny names they give that stuff). I'm basically referring to music that is predominately MIDI or synth-based. If it involves samples or synthetic drum parts, most likely I'm not that interested in it. That's not to say I don't like any music produced by machine or on a computer. I like Bjork (for example) so if she ever wants to come record here that would be fine with me. I like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream and ELP (old school stuff). There's a lot of good work being done with digital hardware and software these days. I acknowledge that fact. Some forms of modern metal have incorporated various elements of hip hop and MIDI programming and that's cool too.
* I generally don't do anything involving video. I have no interest in dubbing people's home movies onto DVD's for example. I'm not really set up for the rigors of video production nor do I have a lot of experience in that area. That's a whole 'nuther ballgame as far as I'm concerned. I've dabbled in it and decided a long time ago that that wasn't how I wanted to earn a living. I can recommend local video studios/producers who specialize in that stuff.
* Occasionally I get calls from people asking if I can dub audio from old cassette tapes or records onto CD's. The quick answer is yes I can. I don't mind doing that type of work (I did a lot of that in the early days) but over time I kind of started to shy away from it. It's just not that interesting to me personally and occasionally it's a pain in the ass for more reasons than I care to discuss here. Best to call and discuss it first. Normal studio rates would apply to this type of work including any hiss or noise removal. It can get expensive if you want a really good job done.
If your stuff falls outside any of the styles mentioned above, it's probably best to call and discuss it with me first.