About
Instruments
I'm primarily a guitar player, and have played ever since I was 10 years old. All guitars on these albums are mine, recorded originally in my home studio. For acoustic guitar, I really like two guitars, a Collings CJ-35 and a Taylor 816ce. My 12-string is a Taylor 562ce. My electric guitars are a G&L SC3 and a custom Collings I35 Deluxe. The bass I play is a Fender Jazz Bass (lower left). I play mandolin, but just barely, and it's a Loar LM310 (far left). For keyboard, I play the Yamaha P45.
Although I use drum tracks within Ableton Live, I do play all my own percussion, inluding tamborine, vibraslap, cowbell, among others.
Recording and Production
I record voice and instruments with either a Shure SM7B or an Aston Spirit. Everything goes through a Focusrite audio interface. Some instruments are recorded through microphones, while others are recorded directly line-in. Everything gets levelled, edited, modified and mixed within Ableton Live. I use YouLean to check levels and to get all tracks at more or less the same balance and loudness/peaks. And I use MP3Tag to manage the metadata for individual recordings (cover art, ISRC, and so on. I distribute through Distrokid, and my label is Smooth Bloviator.