Producer

I like to spend ample time with the artist before we head to the studio. We get to know each other. I make sure I understand the artist’s goals and intentions. Often we listen to a whole batch of songs and choose the ones that most warrant recording. And we get to know the songs inside and out. Often this involves bit of song development work: a re-crafted lyric, an added bridge, a couple extra measures between sections.

Then I spend significant time with the songs on my own. I listen for exactly what the song most wants to be. Ballads have begged to be uptempo bluegrass tunes. Hard driving rock songs have cried for more space, pedal steel, and a train beat.

At last we rehearse and head to the studio. My artists reap the benefits of my extensive network of the very best musicians and engineers in the Bay Area and beyond. I’ll often play piano, synth, sing background vocals, arrange for horns and strings, and of course meticulous track comping and editing. With each choice I strive for the feeling of INEVITABILITY: “Oh right, THIS is what it is! It could have ONLY ever been this!”

I have had the great pleasure of producing pop, pop/punk, piano pop, singer/songwriter, rock, jazz, bluegrass, traditional folk, Great American Songbook, musical theatre, country, hip-hop, indie rock, and more.

Contact me if you’d like to discuss working together in this way!

Jennifer Greer
Get Out Motherfucker

Jenny is a dear friend and our friendship sparkled even brighter with this opportunity to co-create. She gave me a piano bass line and vocal, but I felt the agro stirring and it's my most grungy fierce rocker to date. Jenny killed it on vocals. And Daniel Fabricant (bass), Jason Slota (drums), and James DePrato (guitar) showed off ALL their latent Zeppelin sensibilities.

David Hobbes
Searching for a Home

Dave's songs came to me with a deception of sameness and I set out to know how wildly unique each, in fact, was -- and then emphasize it with every choice. It felt like an unzipping, and what emerged was not JUST David Hobbes clever, not JUST David Hobbes crafty, but also utterly GROOVING.

Jay Clemens
New Nirvana

Jay and I met in the first weeks of the pandemic, when he enrolled in my class, Songwriting, at the Berkeley Jazzschool. He was so inspired I didn't even wait for the class to finish before inviting him to join Songwriting Salon! Producing this album was a thrill because the songs run the gamut -- jazz, funk, country. But there's a through line deeper than genre, which I think you'll find in the words, melodies, and chords.

Raleigh Duncan
Falling Away

Left to their own devices the songs are traditional folk. Earthy, lovely. Memory incarnate. And I produced a couple of them just that way. But others had secret longings for modernity. It was so much fun choosing threads of new to weave with old. I learned SO MUCH producing this album -- all because of Raleigh. He showed me such profound trust it taught me to trust myself.

Kyra Gordon
Traveler

It's an athletic joy to collaborate with Kyra, from working a chorus until it CHORUSES, to dancing through takes of her epic lead vocals, to midnight background vocal arranging to eke every last bit of sweet. Traveler is a poignant story of a woman finding herself both on the road and in love.

Jay Clemens
Halo Above Her

A poignant single from Jay’s upcoming album, New Nirvana. Producing this song meant bringing out its contrasts: the restraint of the verses against the cataclysm of the bridge. Special thanks to Shaina Evoniuk for the string arrangement and Maurice Tani for the expressive vocal.

David Hobbes
Fields Of Blue

David Hobbes second single offers something very different: an anadorned account of a heartbreaking story. After sitting with the song for some time, I came upon my production approach: to unzip it from it’s tidy rhythms and well groomed chord progressions and instead gave it space — so much space at times it seems almost to hang in thin air.

David Hobbes
Measure Of Degree

I am so delighted to present you new artist David Hobbes! I am a wholehearted believer in David’s lyricism — it is incisive, revelatory, and oh so satisfying. And I had more than my allotted fun adding the (harmonious) noise to this banger. Enjoy, and stay tuned for the rest of the album coming soon!

Norzin Chomphel
Not In Love With You

When Norzin played me her first ideas for “Not In Love With You” all I could say was, “We have to do this one!” This song potent and addictive — a heartbreaker that somehow makes you feel good. In addition to producing, I had the joy of contributing the piano and helping with the writing.

Norzin Chomphel
Falling

This song was pure delight to produce, from negotiating the perfectly accurate words to the swingy drums to the straight-from-the-pocket bass to the free-as-a-bird vocals to the pizzicato everything. Keep an eye on Norzin!

Jennie Cano
Jennie and the Golden Endeavor

Jennie's songs are deep sea journeys, shadowed and delicate. I started working with her on the material in 2020, and though the pandemic slowed us a bit, we made patient and inspired progress. Producing Jennie meant indulging paradox: traditional/modern, organic/synthetic, spiritual/edgy, still/grooving. I will always cherish it as the project that revealed so much to me about my process and voice as a producer.

Norzin Chomphel
You and Me

I’m enchanted by the combo of Norzin’s soft-spoken demeanor and powerful songwriting voice. We did our best to honor both in her debut EP and I’m so very pleased with the results. “You and Me” is a celebration of this young artist — her relevance and potential, not to mention the pure joy of her spirit. From the layered guitars to the percussion to the towers of background vocals, you’ll be excited with her, gleeful with her, and acutely heartbroken with her.

Arden Alexa
day dreams

Remember her name! You’ll be hearing much more from this exceptional young artist. I had a blast with Arden, putting the finishing touches on her songs and then taking them to the studio to explore every nuance of their celebratory, scathing, comic, heartbroken, chill, vulnerable, and thoroughly pop-fabulous souls. I produced tracks 2, 3, 4, and 6.

Arden Alexa
Summer Girl

Such a fun song to produce. It’s got everything you need for summer: breezy guitar, layers of percussion, vocal harmonies, synths, and even a bit of brass. Arden’s answer to “Watermelon Sugar.”

Joe Kornfeld
Beneath the Streetlight

Joe has been a fixture of my Songwriting Salon since day 1. What would it even be without him! Over the years I’ve watched him develop from a total beginner into a powerful songwriter. He has discipline, passion, and an uncanny giftedness for a good story, a catchy melody, and a momentous chord progression. I love these songs and I loved creating the soundscapes to unobtrusively augment their charm. It meant so much to me to produce this timeless album!

Kyra Gordon
Soul of a Showgirl

Kyra’s album is nostalgic — a tribute to the heart and soul of a time. But it is also a stunning portrait of Kyra — HER heart, HER soul, her artistic vision. It was a great honor to produce her first album of ORIGINALS. And thank goodness we made it, because Kyra is a through and through songwriter. Enjoy her stories, her juicy chord changes, and the soundscapes of piano, drums, guitars, bass, and keyboards.

Alison Gant
Calling All Good Wishes Home

First love! I will always be so grateful to Ali for taking a chance on me when I’d only done the most cursory of production work. But after honing her beautiful songs for a year, we simply HAD to go to the studio together! I adore her singular writing — the cleverness, the unexpectedness, the helpless catchiness belying depth for the ages.