Hiya Ian, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
What made you decide that music is a thing for you, and what is your musical history?
I was fortunate to have grown up in a musical household. I started playing piano when I was about 10 years old. I’d listen to my father, who was taking lessons, and I’d try to play the pieces he was learning. In high school, my parents bought me an electric guitar and a 4-track cassette tape recorder, and that was it. I’d stay up until 3AM writing and recording songs. That was 25 years ago and I’ve never stopped.
I was always interested in why my songs didn’t sound as good as the ones on the radio, so that’s what got me into engineering, which I studied in college. I moved to LA in my twenties and continued learning under some amazing mentors, working on some incredible projects for labels.
Now I work from my home studio, doing production, mixing and mastering for clients from all over. When I’m not busy with that, I love writing and producing my own music.
What’s the live music scene like in your home town right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
There are SO MANY talented musicians in Savannah, Georgia. Artists in many genres. It is a big tourist destination, and because people love covers, you’d probably end up hearing a mediocre take on “Freebird” which is a bummer. But that’s only a fraction of what the city has to offer, musically speaking.
I’d encourage anyone to visit: https://www.savannahmusiccollective.org and check out the wide variety of artists who play live and release music regularly.
I’ve seen a lot of people struggling for support recently online. What’s your view on the industry?
Oh dear, I can’t answer that in less than a 40-page essay, but I’ll try. There are more songs released on streaming services in a single week than there would have been in an entire year in the 1990’s. It’s the Wild West, and that’s not even considering the coming AI “revolution”. As I’ll discuss, I’m not against using these exciting new tools for ideation and production elements, but we’re at a point where you can type in a prompt and generate an entire song almost instantly.
All this is to say, there’s never been more competition, so I just try to create the music I would want to hear, and I’d encourage anyone with musical aspirations to do the same.
Tell us two truths and a lie about you.
I’m right handed but play guitar lefty.
If my name wasn’t Ian, my parents were planning on naming me Elvis.
Growing up, Michael Jordan was my idol, and I actually gave up a full scholarship to play basketball at The University of North Carolina to pursue music instead. (That’s the lie, but I am obsessed with basketball and hoop 3 times a week.)
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture? Discuss…
First and foremost, I write for myself. During the writing process, I never stop to think “Can I really put this in a song?” If I were signed to a big label, perhaps I’d be more conscientious, but that’s one of the benefits of independence.
A couple of my more recent songs do have somewhat risqué themes— “Creepy Florida People” is based on a true story of a man who got a DUI on a ride-on lawnmower, and some of the lyrics include him buying beer for high school kids, and getting in an altercation with police.
The “Weird Old Man” is Trump, and I’m sure fans of his wouldn’t appreciate me calling him smelly, crooked, and all the other imagery the song conjures up, but I don’t care or worry about what they, are anyone, thinks.
That said, if people enjoy the songs, that’s lovely, and important to me.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
I recently released “Weird Old Man” and it’s a jangly pop/rock tune. I had a blast making it and experimented a lot during its production. I also have a music video for “Weird Old Man”, but I’ll say I had more fun making the song than I did the video:
What was the recording process like?
Once I have the demo filled out, I record everything on my own in my home studio, piece by piece. I recorded the drums with MIDI and sent to a wonderful collaborator named John O’ Reilly Jr. who replaced them with live drums, which always brings a production to the next level. Once I had these, I built the song like a puzzle, adding bass to fill out the rhythm section. Since guitar is my primary instrument, I tend to go a bit nuts with layering, I probably had 40 tracks of guitar—acoustic, electric, clean, distorted, drenched in reverb.
Vocals are always a bit of a struggle for me, but “Weird Old Man” was in my range so it wasn’t so hard. I comped together the final take from 17 separate ones, which were then processed heavily including running them through guitar amps and pedals.
Everything else was simple and was added along the way, or during the mixing process. I mix my own music, which ends up being just as laborious as the recording, but I love it though!
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tune?
I’ve written hundreds of songs in my life, and have always been interested in trying different methods and experimenting. Normally I’ll sit at a piano or with a guitar and piece together chords and melody. The past year, these AI-powered songwriting tools have cropped up and I’ve been using them mostly jokingly, putting absurd lyrics to bizarre genres. For “Weird Old Man”, I wrote all the lyrics and fed them into an AI called Udio, which created a handful of generations, most of which were no good.
But one in particular inspired elements of the melody and chords for the song. I, of course, rearranged things, added elements, and recorded almost every part myself. I used the technology so that I felt like a collaborative partner, not a substitute for my own creativity.
I’m already working on new singles and didn’t use AI for them whatsoever, but I can see it becoming a part of my workflow. It’s a tool that can be used, not this existential threat to human creativity. That’s how I view it, at least.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
As a mixing engineer, I can listen back to any production and nitpick. There’s a little line in the final chorus “or a piano will fall on your head” and then there’s this little twinkly piano sound mimicking the lyric. I think I worked as hard on that moment as almost any other part of the song. I tried both real and MIDI piano, ultimately settling on my home upright piano captured with my iPhone, processed a bunch using plugins. That said, I listen back to it and it still doesn’t quite sit right with me in the mix. That’s the mixing engineer’s curse, and I accept that it comes along with plenty of helpful skills.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Yeah, my next song. So check my website and socials often!
FOLLOW HIM HERE
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