Portland, Oregon based Berklee grad offering music production, recording, mixing, and mastering serv
Per the advice of , I’ve started my own Spotify playlist I call ListenToThis! that is featured on my artist page. It compiles lots of the music I’ve been enjoying listening to (and sharing to my story semi regularly), as well as tracks by artists I’ve produced, worked with, admire, my own releases, local bands, etc.
If you have a second to give it a follow, please do! Every little bit helps in the endless battle of the algorithms :)
Nothing like Saturday AM acoustic guitar tracking… laying down some dark, folksy ideas for a tune for .
Been meaning to post both raw and edited footage of my playing/production process for a while, but until very recently have just felt EXCEPTIONALLY awkward and uncomfortable in front of the camera lens, but expect much more of that sort of content in the coming weeks!
Happy Saturday!
A week ago today we wrapped up the first tour with a killer show in Nelson, BC at !
It’s crazy to actually have finished a successful first tour. I’m definitely still processing all the amazing memories and experiences. Met a lot of great people on the way, witnessed the beauty of the natural world on an unimaginable scale, and got the first hand experience of “roughing it” and car camping every night in a Prius (along with Ben AND a subsequently purchased drum set, I might add). And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, I’ll certainly be telling stories of those 18 days on the road for the rest of my life.
Special thanks to my parents for making it out to see us in Nelson, and of course for the much appreciated ride home!
Feeling like an artsy nature-gram photographer after all the amazing places we’ve seen the last few days. Though honestly these pictures take themselves 😆
Playing Kamloops tomorrow night , then Nelson on Saturday night to cap off this journey!
Another tour post! Pics from Edmonton/Saskatoon/Regina, all beautiful cities with great people and obviously very involved communities. Also some of cleanest cities I’ve ever passed through!
Playing tomorrow in Minot, ND 7:30 - 10:30!
“Unleashed” by Joseph Mammarella () dropped last week, and if you haven’t listened yet GET ON IT!! I had the pleasure of recording, mixing, and mastering the record, and am more than stoked with how great these guys played and how the album turned out!
Joseph brings a modern perspective to his songwriting, melodies, and soloing that helps each of the five tracks on this record stand on their own, but also feel of a piece. He’s got an Allen Holdsworth shredding ability, but mixes it with a very tasteful approach, and is surrounded by a brilliant supporting cast of / Todd Marston on keys, on Drums, and on bass.
You don’t have to be a fan of fusion jazz to truly appreciate these tunes, or the artistry of Joseph and his group. Give ‘em a follow on Spotify and IG at the very least, and add their stuff to your playlists!
Tour life has been fantastic so far! British Columbia and Jasper National Park are breathtakingly beautiful places. Also caught the Aurora on our way out of Prince George, and got to see a black bear!
Playing in Edmonton tonight !
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndr6wJ0JhYU
🔥FOOLISH BANTER 🎶 by is now streaming EVERYWHERE! One of the most fun and danceable tunes I’ve had the privilege to be apart of! Give her a follow on IG and Spotify, and show her some love, people!!
This song, like the last, started as just a voice memo from Heidi, and I was instantly drawn to the infectious hook and quickly delivered, highly rhythmic lyrics and vocal delivery in the verses.
Unlike Smile and Wave, however, this one underwent a bit more of a sonic journey; I was balancing a lot when we first started it, and was having trouble imagining quite what chords/groove could fit under such a dynamically melodic and rhythmic vocal delivery.
Turns out, breaking it down to acoustic guitar and a slammin’ programmed beat was the ticket. Heidi wanted the drums to sound not exactly like drums you might expect, so the kick is like four or five different samples (most of which aren’t kick drums), the back beat is a combo of clap/clave/wood block/snare, and I let the acoustic guitar’s rhythmic strumming handle the top end element instead of having a hat (I tend to not vibe much with programmed hats anyway tbh).
From there, the magic really started, and once again Heidi came into the studio and killed it!
Again, give her a follow, and share this with your people!
Provided to YouTube by DistroKidFoolish Banter · Mama CurlsFoolish Banter℗ 3967039 Records DKReleased on: 2022-07-14Auto-generated by YouTube.
https://youtu.be/-EycoNtSJmA
Holding Pattern - or the third track of the EP “A Trendy Place to Hide,” is the most down and dirty, Queens of the Stone Age-y blend of hard rock, grunge, and dance rock on the album.
Though is primarily a bassist, his guitar riff writing chops are really on display here, and he layers that up with a super distorted vocal hook that almost feels like a guitar lead in context.
I had a great time layering in some dark, distorted organs, rhythm guitars, backing vocals, and just playing around with the textures throughout the mixing process to keep it dynamic, yet always driving.
Give us a follow on your streaming service of choice! I’ll be sharing the final, much mellower track “Stand Relieved” next week before tour w/ ~ Happy Saturday everyone!
Provided to YouTube by DistroKidHolding Pattern · Idle Mind BrigadeA Trendy Place to Hide (EP)℗ 3802780 Records DKReleased on: 2022-07-01Auto-generated by Yo...
Going on my first tour with ! We’ll be playing seven shows over two weeks and sight seeing throughout Canada and in and around ND (Ben’s old stomping grounds) along the way! We’ll be playing songs from the Lovestroke EP “Like A Pro,” along with plenty of other originals and covers!
I’m super grateful to Ben for inviting me along - touring has always been something I’ve wanted to do but between work, school, and life in general has just never quite been in the cards until now.
Definitely check out one of our shows if we’re passing through your area! It’s going to be a blast 🤘🏻
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TfCxyGNrocQ
It’s been over a week since the EP dropped! Definitely consider giving it a listen, and also following us on IG and Spotify if you dig it! We’ve got to plenty of more music to come this summer, so stay tuned!
For now, here’s the opening track, Dull Razor! This is probably the most true form “pop” song of the bunch, but still has plenty of grit, unique textures, and ways of subverting expectations!
🤘🏻
Provided to YouTube by DistroKidDull Razor · Idle Mind BrigadeA Trendy Place to Hide (EP)℗ 3802780 Records DKReleased on: 2022-07-01Auto-generated by YouTube.
Progress pic from yesterday when the studio finally started to feel alive again! Was definitely a lot of work last week reorganizing and preparing the two new ISO booths (photos to come), drilling through walls, running tons of cable, and setting up a bunch of new gear, but I figured I may as well give it a deep clean and improve the vibe and sense of space given the limited square footage while I was at it. Would say it was definitely a success!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4CFy2WqrRw
🎶THE IDLE MIND BRIGADE EP HAS DROPPED!🎶”A Trendy Place to Hide” is now live on Spotify and wherever else you stream! Playing now is the second tune, “Valence,” my personal favorite! And follow on IG to hear lots of exciting new music and announcements!
These tunes embody a lot of the PNW influences we both lived on growing up, with grunge and indie rock being the definite through-line (we’re also hoping to coin the term “Groove Grunge,” as that definitely captures the energy well), but also dance rock, hard rock, alternative, pop, jazz, blues, and even synth wave leaving its mark on these tracks.
Written during the darkest hours of quarantine 2020 by , and produced, mixed, and mastered as part of my capstone project for grad school in summer 2021, this record holds a very special place in both our hearts, and has definitely been the launching point for us turning this project into a more official, collaborative endeavor with other great musicians and musical minds!
I’m extremely grateful to Connor for asking for me to produce tunes with you initially, and for all those who’ve helped along the way, including .sanchez on all the drums, on keys for Dull Razor, and plenty of peers, professors, friends, and family who gave feedback along the way.
Happy listening everyone!
Provided to YouTube by DistroKidValence · Idle Mind BrigadeA Trendy Place to Hide (EP)℗ 3802780 Records DKReleased on: 2022-07-01Auto-generated by YouTube.
Buy/Stream "It's Always About You":https://linktr.ee/josephplaysguitarPre-Save Upcoming Album "Unleashed":https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/josephmammarella/...
Producer’s Story #16 - “Back Into Reams” is the debut single of , which began as the pseudonym for the songwriting/recording project of , and has since melded into a permanent collaboration between the two of us. We’ve got plenty of exciting new announcements in store with regards to this project, so definitely give us a follow !
This track was recorded as part of the second semester final project for my master’s program, and as such was created with guidance from Enrique Gonzalez Muller, one of my professors at the time. He pushed for the drums of all of our projects to be strictly time-locked, or "quantized," to a grid, was a huge believer in fully envisioning the finished record at the start of recording, and pushed me in many ways as a producer. While the class could certainly be stressful, I'm very grateful from the insights I gained from his approach, and this record is a shining example of how well it can work out when you record/produce with emotional and sonic intentionality from the start.
As I’ve mentioned before, you can find a little bit of everything in this track, from heavy guitars, synths, driving drums and bass lines, arpeggiators, epic vocals and harmony stacks, voice over interludes - you name it, it’s probably in there!
One of the major creative launching points during the project came from the drumming of .sanchez, who's incredibly energetic tom pattern gave a whole new groove to the track than it had up to that point. This prompted a new bass line, Connor's speciality, and helped really distinguish the driving rock verses from the dancier hooks.
Also featuring backing vocals from !
Follow Idle Mind Brigade on Spotify or wherever you stream! Happy Monday!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh-aAh1BFvQ
Provided to YouTube by DistroKidBack Into Reams · Idle Mind Brigade · Connor Fogarty · Connor FogartyBack Into Reams℗ 3802780 Records DKReleased on: 2022-03-...
Anybody who’s got some free time Wednesday evening and wants to hear some rockin’ tunes should come out to the parking lot for my band Lava Fox’s debut show opening up for “Party of Four” to kick off Lake Music’s summer concert series! Music starts at 6pm! We’ll be playing tunes ranging from artists like The Arctic Monkeys and Led Zeppelin to Lorde and Kanye!
Lava Fox is:
on lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keys, and saxophones
on lead guitar and backing vocals
Mike Latham on the drum kit.
Myself on bass and backing vocals!
Hope to see you there!
#2022
“SMILE AND WAVE” BY is LIVE!!! Check it out wherever you stream your music, and help her out with a follow on Spotify, IG , and on TikTok !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6bhodVqvlo
This was such a fun track to work on! I had the great honor of handling all of the instrumentals, recording, production, mixing, and mastering, while Heidi performed all of the vocals, and of course all of the songwriting and lyrics! I’d also give her co-production credits because she definitely had a vision for the track that evolved and expanded as we worked together, and it wouldn’t sound like it does without that - for reference, our initial starting point was “Bad to the Bone,” which through trial and error transitioned to more of a Tracy Chapman-esque arrangement, so she definitely started to find her sound and style as the process went along!
She’s such a powerful singer and writer; believe it or not, the vocal performance you hear was literally her second take of the day, which anyone who sings and/or records will know is just ridiculous!! She also had very little experience on a mic up to that point, or recording in general, which makes her talent, and this performance specifically, even more mind boggling. Some folks just got it!
If you like what you’re hearing here GO FOLLOW AND SUPPORT HER! 😄 Adding this tune to your heavy rotation playlist and sharing it with others is immensely helpful! Thanks everyone! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I’ve been fortunate enough to get to produce some fantastic tunes with AKA “Mama Curl” over the past few months, and her first release, “Smile and Wave,” will be dropping soon!
Heidi has one of those voices that just completely takes your breath away; the best I could do to describe it would be a cross between Tracy Chapman and Adele, but that doesn’t even begin to fully capture her energy, witty lyrics, and natural feel for melody and phrasing. Her songwriting ability is also extraordinary, ESPECIALLY given that she just got back into music fairly recently (not that music ever truly leaves us musical sorts, but, ya know, life).
I’ll certainly be announcing when her first single drops later this week, but for now please give her a follow at the link in my bio/Linktree OR click the link in my story, and be sure to share her music with others!
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/mamacurls/smile-and-wave
-songwriter -instrumentalist
The calm before the storm of prodigious music making that was yesterday’s 10+hr album recording session with Joseph Mammarella’s jazz quartet (give him a follow ), which then led to another 5ish hours of mixing down the roughs from the day. Despite the eventual exhaustion, I have loved every minute of working on these songs. It was a huge honor to get to record and mix these guys; they’re certainly some of the most talented and creative instrumentalists I’ve had the pleasure of recording, and Joseph’s writing is so fresh and hooky that even folks not typically into jazz will absolutely dig what these guys are putting down. Also got to film with 3 GoPro’s from as well as my phone cam, so plenty of recording footage and B roll to come (after I sort through the 253GB of video, of course).
“Back into Reams,” the debut single of , is now streaming everywhere! Give them a follow on Spotify and IG, because you definitely won’t want to miss out on any of the music coming from this project!
This track really has it all; a head banging guitar riff, infectious dance beat, powerful vocals and harmonies, punk breakdown, organs, synths, vocoders, voice overs - it truly is one of a kind!
, the songwriter, lead vocalist, bassist, and guitarist on the record, is a very good friend of mine and definitely one of my favorite people to work with. His focus is always on conveying his intended emotions and narratives in the music through proper layering, tones, textures, colors, rhythms - you name it. Despite what he might tell you, he is also extremely open to outside ideas and capable of zooming out and viewing things in terms of the project’s intent and effectiveness. His enthusiasm is contagious, and he really has become a prolific writer and producer in his own right. We’ll have a lot of music to share together, so stay tuned!
I also had the pleasure of handling production, mixing, synths, organ, vocoder, additional guitars, and also contributed “ooo” backup vocals in the last chorus.
For now, give “Back into Reams” a listen so you can hear this all for yourself! Have a great Monday everyone 🤘🏻
dropped their newest single “Reflection” this week and it is an absolute jam! Give it a listen if you haven’t already.
I had the pleasure of recording, producing, and mixing this track for them, and it was crazy how awesome the band sounded throughout the session. All four of them laid down the instrumentals together in typical fossil fashion, so the energy, dynamics, and vibe were infused in the record from the start - my job was just to highlight what was already there.
Give these dudes a follow on Spotify and IG if you haven’t already!
One of my goals when setting out to design a studio space was that any artist or band could walk in and, almost instantly, get right to recording and music making. The glaring issue with that philosophy is that leaving a bunch of mics set up takes up a bunch of floor space, and can make an already small room feel even more cramped. That is, unless, you spend countless hours resetting the room, repositioning instruments/amps/drums/stands/etc, and over time learn how to most effectively use the space.
After about two hours last night I came to the setup shown in the first photo here. I bet nobody would correctly guess how many mics are set up in the room right now. You can probably make out at least 5 or 6… but there are 16 (15, plus one DI).
7 Directly on the Drum Kit, plus one room mic (currently being used for acoustic guitar tracking). Note that only 2 these, the overheads, are on actual stands - the rest attach directly to the rim of the drums (or go in the kick drum) and save a ton of space.
3 Vocal Mics, one at the kit and at each guitar amp
2 Mics per guitar cab, or 4 total, all on short stands that are tucked in right next to the amps
And lastly, the DI, typically used for Bass, makes 16 inputs total. This leaves my two MIDI inputs for various keyboard controllers in the live room, and allows for up to six people to track simultaneously with ease and individual headphone mixes!
While I’m looking to expand my I/O in the near future, this is about as optimal as it gets for now. Come through and let’s make a record!
Producer’s Story #8 - Almost immediately following the release of the “New Morning” EP, Billy and I got right back to work on this single to keep the creative momentum going. It had just freshly turned 2020, and at the time neither of us had a clue at to what we’d be in for in the years that followed. Kinda weird to reminisce about “pre-COVID” times - feels like a lifetime ago now.
This one started actually from an acoustic guitar sample, which can be heard right away, and which Billy found and got permission to use somewhere on YouTube. He seemed to have an idea for the verses and choruses basically right away, it was just a matter of shaping it all into a full song.
I found that the verses really didn’t need a whole lot other than his voice - so the intro and verse one are basically just Billy, that acoustic sample, and a verby piano with some weird delay that sounds to me like a dotted eighth note now, though in these days I tended to just turn k***s til it sounded cool to be quite honest.
The lift for the choruses was provided by an additional vocalist as well as the arrangement, with drums and bass being the most notable entrances instrumentally. As a side note, this is the first track that was ever released with my live drumming on it - I had always programmed my beats on released material up to this point (unless, of course, I had a drummer handy or was working with a band). While they feel a little clunky to me as I listen now, I think the groove is really powered by the bass line, which also acts as the secondary hook of the song. Still one of my favorite bass lines I’ve written.
This will be my last post featuring Billy for a little while, as this is the last project we worked on together that has been released, but as I mentioned last time there will be plenty more to come!
For my next story I’ll be sharing the last project I got to work on before the lockdown, with one of my favorite bands and best buds, so stay tuned and thanks for all the support!
#2020
It's been just over a month since my first EP from 2016 was finally released, so I wanted to take a second to thank everyone who's reached out and provided feedback and support! Has meant a lot to me to reconnect with you folks and reminisce about times we made music together, and also start planning next projects! If you haven't already, click the link in my bio to give it a listen, and a follow on Spotify is always helpful as well!
Since 90% of the photos I take are of my cats, I'll occasionally be dumping off some of the greatest hits for posts like these. Here's January and February's best!
Producer’s Story #7 - Billy Morehouse’s 2019 EP “New Morning” was my first entirely remote production project. While this presented some new challenges, it was a great learning experience and really opened me up to the idea that collaboration could really take place from anywhere in the world given modern recording technology.
At the time Billy had recently moved to Fargo, and we were sending ideas back and forth for months putting this all together. I’d listen to his demos, chop up the vocal to fit to a click, get a track put together, send it his way, and once he approved he would then go into a local studio to do the vocals, which I would then mix in accordingly.
I remember feeling pretty nervous about this project because it had been a little while since I had been producing for others, particularly since I had started to work full time for an audio visual company in the Portland area and didn't have nearly the time to focus on producing that I wanted. I was also in that awkward period post graduation where, particularly with less instantly marketable degrees like Music, it was easy to feel discouraged about my career prospects. Thankfully, this project ended up being an enormous boost for me confidence wise after a pretty long creative drought, and helped me to refocus on my goals.
All this is to say that, often after long days at the shop or out at a gig, working on these songs was my escape in the evenings. The song I’m sharing, H.R Jones, is my personal favorite, and was one of the first times I wrote and played a prominent piano theme on a track. The outro just sort of came to me in the spur of the moment, so is fairly imperfect rhythmically, but I think it definitely captures the emotion well.
As always, give some love and a follow. We are slowly but surely putting together a new album that should be done sometime this year, so stay tuned for that!
My single “Never Give Up” is streaming everywhere now! Give it a listen on any of the streaming platforms or by viewing my video post from yesterday. And if you haven’t already, follows on Spotify, subscriptions on YouTube , and likes on my FB business page are all extremely helpful! Thanks all 🙏🏻
This is day two of shameless self promotion for this track, but I figured I may as well use the free promo material Distrokid offers 🤷🏼♂️
Also, just a PSA for any of my musician friends out there who are considering making an official artist channel on Youtube: if your artist name is the same as anyone else’s, you’ll get your music linked in with theirs. So if you look me up on YouTube right now you’ll find songs I had no part in linked to my artist channel (sorry other Max Bakers).
On top of that silliness, after contacting YouTube I learned that they won’t help you with the problem unless you’re a partner A.K.A you make them loads of ad money. So maybe in 3-5 years or so I can get my artist YouTube page fixed 😅😤
Producer's Story #6 - "Never Give Up," was recorded originally as part of my final portfolio project for my B.A in late Spring of 2018. It's a song I wrote mostly as a message to myself, and at a time when giving up on a music career was feeling like a real possibility. This song was my attempt at talking myself out of it.
At the time I had very recently landed in Portland and was finishing my B.A online while working as a teacher and driving Uber. Portland was far from feeling like a home at the time; really it was just another place where I hardly knew anyone. Some of that loneliness definitely crept into my writing, as well as a lot of other difficult topics like the rift I'd torn in so many of my close relationships by being so tunnel visioned on making this music thing work.
For the sake of full transparency, this is my first story post that is slightly anachronous (this song was finished months prior to Joe's "Ode to Edith"), and that's because when I was about to post it over the weekend I AGAIN decided against it at the last second because I didn't feel like it was worthy of sharing. To my credit, I did manage to talk myself out of that for once!
I can honestly say that the only thing that got me to a point of considering releasing this song in the first place was hearing one of my best buds and closest collaborators mention during a jam this last December that he always likes hearing this song when it pops up in his playlist. He said it so offhandedly, but that really meant the world to me to hear at the time. Connor also laid down a fantastic bass part for this track, which is the one element of the music I didn't handle myself. Thanks a ton, , the song would not be the same (or likely even released) without ya.
"Never Give Up" will be dropping on all major streaming platforms this week, and is on Spotify now!
Cover art by my gifted cousin
https://youtu.be/LhkISvbNLz0
Provided to YouTube by DistroKidNever Give Up · Max BakerNever Give Up℗ 3647243 Records DKReleased on: 2022-02-20Auto-generated by YouTube.
Portland, OR
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