I’m usually awake around 6:30am but I try to sleep in a bit. I take more time over breakfast on weekends. I might make oat, buckwheat, and banana pancakes. I also read instead of checking my phone and listening to podcasts.
I’ll then compose music from 9:00am onwards, as there are no distractions in the morning, and I won’t use the internet until mid-morning. I used to mainly compose new age music (the genre I received a Grammy nomination for), but recently I changed to remixing songs in downtempo and EDM (electronic music production) styles. I have done remixes for The Corrs, XYLO, Paloma Rush, and British singer/songwriter Ben Hobbs. (This is my latest remix.)
For remixing, I listen to the original song and get separate tracks for vocals and as many of the instrumental parts as possible. We use Dropbox to transfer the files. I then repeatedly listen to the song and other songs in the style I want to do the remix in and take notes on paper before I actually use my music software. I then go through my software and sample library to find suitable sounds.
I do most of the composing and arranging in my head while I’m walking or traveling because I can hear most of the final arrangement. Then it’s a matter of working on the different sections mostly in order, although sometimes I get ideas for other sections or will get stuck on a certain section and need to revisit it later.
After the remixing is done, I send a Dropbox link of the MP3 to the artist and cross my fingers and hope for the best! If they’re happy, it’s onto mastering, which is either done by myself, the artist, or a professional. For the last remix we had Gene Grimaldi master it. (He’s been nominated for two Grammy’s for his work on Lady Gaga’s albums.)