In 2022 I was commissioned to do sound design for Queens, NY based coffee roasters and retailers Honey Moon Coffee. I created and recorded all of the audio using software, analog and acoustic instruments. I subsequently mixed and edited the sounds to move with the animations, aiming to fit the company’s aesthetic. I did a total of four advertisements over the course of a few months, generating different audio for each one. These two ads feature animations by Sabrina Nichols.
In 2024 I was asked to mix an album for Portland based musician, Winter Triangle, the project of Columbus, OH ex-pat Nathan Ward. He mailed me all of his tracks on a hard drive (thanks for letting me keep it!) and asked me to put my ears on it. I thought it was awesome and I agreed to be the mixing engineer for the ten track album that became Solera. Through a series of e-mails, often discussing production ideas and sonic opinions, we were able to bring about a beautiful work. The recordings of Winter Triangle lean ambient, using layers upon layers of swirling synth, guitar-drone and processed percussion. My goal was to create an enveloping experience for listeners. Atmospheric, cosmic- like floating.
2023’s Continuous Light saw Winter Triangle collaborating with fellow musicians across the country to bring his more lyrical songs to life. A challenge of making the record was to piece together recordings made by different people in different spaces and at different times. I enjoyed the process of pulling it all together to make it all flow. I mixed the full length album, helped with production and contributed the vocal part on the final track Get Free From Your T.V. The sample below is a personal favorite from the album.
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In 2023 I received an Individual Artists Grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC). I used the award to fund a Sound poetry project called Little Poems for Little Kings. Initially I recorded myself reading a short collection of original poems. Then I produced, performed, engineered and edited the audio that moves as a companion to the reading. Utilizing the grant, I connected with photographer Amber Elison and Columbus, OH based Risograph printing press, Clatter Press, to make limited edition chapbooks of the poems. Amber and I worked together, staging and creating a narrative through a combination of her digital and film photography. She shot and edited all of the photos that appear in the chapbook. Clatter Press did the layout and printing. The culmination of this project was a release show at Rumba Cafe in Columbus, OH in which I read the poem, performing improved music on the spot with a backing band and accompanying visuals.
In 2020 I had the opportunity to produce and engineer a song for artist and actor Sylvie Mix that was included in the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for Poser (Oscilloscope Laboratories), a decorated indie film that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2021. Mix wrote the song and played a leading role in the film. My goal as producer and engineer was to make the haunting tune feel incredibly close, almost a bit under the skin, while offering a suspicious sweetness and naivety, much like the character Lennon does, who Mix plays in the film.
I assembled the band to record ten of my original songs at The Tone Shoppe in Cincinnati, OH summer of 2022. I worked as the producer, studio engineer and mixing engineer on what would become my band’s fourth full length album & the Squished Lilies. I worked with head engineer and owner Eric Cronstein as we ripped coffee and 10 hour sessions. The core of the album was tracked in three days. I connected with Chicago Mastering for the finishing touches. I designed the artwork, layout and selected the track sequencing for release. My musical contributions include lead vocals, lead guitar, trumpet, keyboard and auxiliary percussion. Additional musicians & collaborators: Austin Eilbeck, drums and backing vocals. Drew Cline, bass and backing vocals. Riley Kelleher, rhythm guitar. The album was released on November 3rd, 2023 on Cleveland, OH based record label, Just Because Records. We did a two week East Coast tour on the album and numerous regional dates.
In October of 2022 I was the United Plant Savers Deep Ecology Artist in Residence, located in Meigs County, Ohio. During my stay I collected hours of field recordings that I mixed and edited into what I named UPS Audiomap. My Audiomap invites a listener to navigate an unknown place by sound alone. It is personal, spiritual, historical and spacial. It invites connection to oneself in nature. A listener should gain a sense of the grounds and tune into the UPS mission of conservation. Below is an excerpt I wrote about it for the 2023 Journal of Medicinal Plants.
While immersed in the sonic world of United Plant Savers, I joined the conversation: Talking, singing out loud, scanning the dial on different days, playing music, plopping rocks in the water. I was harvesting the sound of myself and my experience there. Meanwhile on my walks, my eyes could see where the plant sanctuary had been harmed by strip mining– sculpted by it in many ways. Simultaneously, almost like a past/future overlap, I could see the transformation and rejuvenation of the land through ongoing stewardship and protection.
@thecounselor is a song that I wrote and performed under my pseudonym Natural Sway over 2019, into 2020. It was produced and recorded by Glenn Davis, who I assisted and learned from by leaps and bounds in the process. I wrote the script for the video, co-directed it, assisted with costumes, set design and edited the final footage. Sylvie Mix was head videographer. Maika Carter did costume and set design. The script ties tightly to the musical themes in a slightly dark yet playful way, complete with a dance-scene improved / choreographed by me. Video includes actor Maika Carter as the counselor. Guest appearance as death by Alex.