This video was a blast to do! It’s basically like I got Usher to sing on a metalcore song I wrote with Phillip Meneses. Once again, I was able to get the stems for the original Usher song through Indaba Music.

We debated whether to slow it down and go with a relaxed, skunky RnB feel or to just give it a metal makeover. As you can tell, our collective passion for heavy guitars and syncopated breakdowns won that battle.

A special thanks to my buddy Kellen Mills for laying down the bass on this track – I asked for a guitar player feel on the bass, and you delivered perfectly! ; )

I decided to open up my studio more since I’ve had a bit of down time in the past few weeks. I joined a website called Indaba Music which allows producers from all over the world to remix popular songs with the chance of earning prizes. I wasn’t so much interested in the prizes as I was in the chance to get my hands on the stems from some of today’s popular contemporary artists : )

This particular contest featured a band that is getting some heavy air time on KROQ called AWOLNATION. I decided to record live drums to replace the drum loops in the original, and I replaced the synths with some heavy guitars courtesy of my good friend Phillip Meneses.

Here is a link the the result on the Indaba website:

http://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/awolnation-not-your-fault-remix-contest/submissions/100143

And a link to the original song on the Indaba website for comparison:

http://www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/awolnation-not-your-fault-remix-contest

If you would like to have me produce drum tracks for your original music, send me a message through my Contact page and I will return your email with details!

Glad to have this video back after it being taken off of youtube at the request of UMG.

I decided it was time to revisit some Rihanna and see what I could come up with, and I had a blast finding some interesting parts that (I think) fit. I was using my vintage Ludwig shells for this video which is always fun to mix (can you say 20″ floor tom?). It was also my first time setting up a tambourine for a video : )

Enjoy!

I had a good time learning the parts for this one – Alex Rodriguez came up with some amazing ideas when he recorded this album. I have most of the fills written out so send me an email if you would like me to get them to you! Enjoy!

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