For the time being, my posts will consist of music and bits from my trip to Ecuador.

I will be posting demos, scratch tracks, quick ideas, full songs, riffs, tid bits, ballads, musical notelings and other various forms of the sounds I create.  I  would love to hear what you think of my songs, or more accurately, bits of songs.  In postings songs in this way, I hope it provides a unique way to see the process and transformation of ideas into full songs.  I will note when a song relates back to an earlier demo.

Also being posted will be pictures, stories and videos from my trip to Ecuador.  Over my spring break earlier this year, I traveled to Ecuador with a group from the University of Dayton.  We performed service work, mountain biked, climbed part of Mt. Chimborazo, stayed with host families, traveled amongst Quito, Riobamba and Banos, witnessed Mt. Tungurahua smoke and more.

I consider myself a songwriter before an audio engineer.  Recording stemmed out of my love of music, and became an obsession over the years.  I do not intend for these recordings to be of professional quality (or to reflect what I am capable of).  Recording can become a distraction from actually writing songs.  On the contrary to how I used to operate, I will spend more time actually writing and finishing rough recordings than spending tons of time getting the perfect take and polishing my tracks.

I am president/manager of Street Sounds Recording Studio on the Campus of the University of Dayton.  It’s a student run studio with awesome quality for the facility and price.  The best part is the ability to work with other kids my own age on the music we love while educating ourselves in the art of recording.  If you have any interest in recording there, or want to know more about the studio, please email me, or visit the website. If you would like to listen to samples of finished recordings I have produced, please email me as well.

For the geeks out there curious about the recording side of what I do, here are some details.  When at school and in Street Sounds Recording Studio, my recordings will most likely be of higher quality.  Here’s a list of the stuff we have.

  • Soundcraft Ghost 24 channel console
  • Presonus 8 Channel Preamp
  • Focousrite 8 Channel Preamp
  • UAD Solo 610 Tube Preamp
  • Joe Meek Preamp x2
  • M-Audio Preamp
  • Alesis HD24
  • MOTU 2408
  • Mac G5
  • MOTU Digital Performer
  • UAD plugins
  • Waves plugins
  • Dynaudio Monitors
  • Alesis Monitors
  • Shure Beta 52
  • Shure SM57′s x4
  • Shure KSM27
  • Shure SM81 x2
  • AKG 414 x2
  • Neumann TLM-103 x2
  • Audio Technica 4033 x2
  • Sennheiser 421 x2
  • Sennheiser 441 x2
  • Yamaha Subkick

As for when I’m on my own (In my dorm or at home), here is the much simpler setup that I use.

  • Presonus 8 channel Firepod
  • Behringer 4 channel analog mixer
  • Logic Express 7.2
  • Macbook Pro
  • Audio Technica AT3033
  • Shure SM57
  • Samson 7kit drum mics
  • A decent pair of computer speakers

And my instruments?  Here they are as well.

  • Fender ’72 Telecaster Thinline
  • Ovation Celebrity Acoustic
  • Used Pearl (pink!) 4 piece drumkit
  • Ludwig Snare
  • 22″ Zildjian Ping Ride
  • 15″ Zildjian New Beat Hi Hats
  • 16″ Medium Thin Crash
  • 17″ Medium Thin Crash