I am the owner and operator of an Edmonton-based production house named Spicy Tomato Music.
Spicy Tomato Music specializes in film music composition and producing bands and songwriters. My production style is a unique digital/analog hybrid approach which combines vintage recording gear with cutting edge digital recording technology. I enjoy using non-studio recording environments to capture a unique sonic signature for each recording.
Mixing is usually done in the comfort of my home studio. Mastering is typically done at a dedicated facility. My go to mastering engineer is JJ Golden at Golden Mastering in Ventura, California. I have also worked with Joe Gastwirt at Ocean View Mastering, in West Los Angeles.
I have been producing music since the 1980’s. I got my start as a music producer by making demos of my own songs and recording and releasing records for the bands I played in. Over a period of time I began to produce other artists and then began to compose and produce music for film.
I work on only a handful of projects every year, but I am always on the look out for new and exciting projects to work on.
Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact me!
Frequently Asked Questions:
What specific music production services do you offer?
I help musicians get ready for recording, capture great performances with microphones and then mix and master their recordings. I specialize in quirky mobile set-ups in houses and halls with unique sonic characteristics, although I am equally comfortable working in recording studios.
Every recording project is different. Some people want assistance with song structures, arrangements and lyrics, whereas others have totally finished tunes that they just want to capture “as is” in the recording studio. I’m open to all kinds of possibilities.
My goal is to help musicians to make their music the very best it can be. I want to help musicians achieve the sound they hear in their heads. I want to know their favorite bands and their favourite producers. I want to know where they’re coming from so I can help them get where they want to go. Of course like any music producer I acknowledge that I have certain sonic preferences and engrained ways of working, but suffice to say I understand that making a recording of you or your band isn’t all about me, it’s all about you!
I have been recording and mixing music for many years. Music is my life! I love composing songs and film music, as well as partnering with bands or original songwriters to produce singles, EPs or full length albums.
What do you charge?
It depends on the project. I prefer to offer an all inclusive project rate customized to the project, with flexibility to accomodate changes in plans (i.e. enlarging or changing the scope of a project, or bringing other collaborators on board).
My base rate for preproduction, recording and mixing is $1000/song.
What qualifies you to produce my recordings?
I have a great deal of day-to-day hands-on experience making recordings, mixing and mastering commercial releases, as well as music for film. I have also received instruction through master producers mentor workshops with Phil Ramone (Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Elton John), Joe Boyd (Nick Drake, Richard Thompson, R.E.M.), Ed Cherney (The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan), Matt Wallace (The Replacements, Maroon 5, Faith No More), and Susan Rogers (Prince, Ted Hawkins). I have learned a huge amount from the musicians and producers I have partnered with in the past. I have learned from listening to and reading about music in books and magazines and watching musicians work. I have been experimenting and messing around in recording studios with microphones, tape machines, outboard gear and recording software for a great many years.
Do you record digital or analog?
I am very comfortable recording using analog tape machines but I typically now record using digital audio workstations based in laptop computers (sometimes attached to big stacks of analog gear).
Do you have a studio?
I have a home studio for tracking overdubs and mixing. If we’re recording a full band we’ll either set up in my home studio, rent a recording studio or, set up my mobile recording gear in a house or hall. The remote mobile studio set-up approach can be a fun way to record as it is more casual (and economical) with the added benefit of giving your recording a unique sonic signature (every house or hall sounds a bit different).
What sort of gear do you have?
I have a wide assortment of microphones, mic-preamps, monitors, and outboard gear in my home studio to choose from. I love old tube mic preamps, amplifiers and microphones, but not exclusively. I also have a ton of fantastic software plugins from Waves, Sonnox (Sony Oxford), Slate Digital, SoundToys, PSP Audioware, Sonalksis, Izotope, Sknote, Cytomic (among others) to help experiment with the sound in creative ways. Once we know what we want to do and what sound we’re after, I will make it my mission to find the right gear for the job. Every project is different and may require different specialized gear. I can rent or borrow virtually any microphone, pre-amp or piece of boutique audio gear you can imagine. I have not found one microphone that captures all vocalists well. Some people sound great on a Neumann U87 but others sound better on a Shure SM58! More expensive gear is not always the answer. We will experiment with a few different solutions and find something that everyone is happy with.
Where do I sign up? Will you produce, mix or master anyone?
On average I will work on 3 to 4 releases per year, sometimes less sometimes more.
Anyone can submit material to me for consideration in the form of website links, mp3 files, YouTube videos or a cd. It doesn’t have to be slick – you can record it on your iphone if you want, but I need to hear recordings your music before I will consider working with you. I only produce a few releases per year, so obviously I can’t work with everyone who submits songs for consideration. You deserve to have someone who is as passionate about making your recordings great as you are about your music, so I promise I won’t waste your time if I’m not into it!
How did you get your start in Music Production?
I have always loved playing music and making recordings. My first recordings were made on a Panasonic cassette player with a blue record button and a tiny black hand held microphone just large enough to fit in a baby’s hand. You could stop the recording at any time with a little switch on the mic. My family took that cassette player everywhere including a summer long camping trip through scandinavia in a VW micro bus. We spent a lot of time driving around the boreal forest listening to latest releases by The Beatles (Abbey Road, Let It Be) and new solo releases by Paul McCartney (Ram, Red Rose Speedway).
By the time I was in Junior High I had moved up in the world, especially in height. I now had access to both my brothers cassette deck and my parents cassette deck which allowed me make primitive overdubs by employing a little Y splitter cable. I also now had a partner named Henry who was willing to let me record him or, the two of us playing together. First we recorded guitars and vocals on my brothers cassette deck, then we played it back while adding additional parts and recording both parts to my parents cassette deck through the y-splitter cable. It worked beautifully.
By the time I was in high school I was working with a TASCAM 4-track (the same one Springsteen used to record “Nebraska” in fact) and also got some experience working with analog reel-to-reel machines in a high school electronic music class. I learned how to work analog synthesizers, make backwards recordings, change the pitch of recordings, use tape echo and create different effects like reel-to-reel tape flanging. I started buying and renting gear and constructing little temporary studios to make recordings.
The first band I formed when I got out of high school got lucky and was offered a recording contract in 1990, so I went on the road playing music and played with and met a lot of great people. In between tours I was always making recordings of my new songs in my little portable home studios. In those days home studio recordings were considered “demos”. If you wanted to make a real record you went into a real recording studio. So that was up next for me; working in various recording studios co-producing recordings and learning from the engineers who worked there. The most significant teacher during this period was undoubtedly Dean McElwain (Ian Tyson, Idyl Tea) who taught me a great deal about recording drums, using mixing consoles (like old Neves and Neoteks) and capturing a good vocal take. In particular he taught me that I had a lot to learn!
The more I learned, the more I wanted to do – it’s exciting work!