WHO THE F**K ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU EATING UKULELES?
I am UK-based music and video creator using the ukulele to explore the world of music. A prolific and versatile creator, my Top 50 albums project saw me arranging, learning and performing medleys of classic albums, one a week for a whole year. My videos have been recognised and praised by artists such as Guns N Roses, Television, Fat Freddy’s Drop and The Streets. No, I don’t eat ukuleles.
WHAT UKULELES DO YOU USE?
I’m very humbled to be a Kala Brand Music featured artist alongside the likes of Twenty One Pilots, Walk Of The Earth, Corey Fujimoto and Rob Scallon. I am particularly fond of the KA – TEME and the Comfort Edge. Both are tenor ukes and these are great for me as they allow me to get up and down the neck and still hit the frets. Lots of riffing to be had!
WHY DO YOU PLAY THE UKE ANYWAY?
It was actually a totally unexpected thing. During the early days of my band Bud Sugar we would just hang out and jam on instruments. We had guitars, bongos and laptops and it was all groovy. Things started to get serious and we needed to take some promo shots. Our idea was to gather as many instruments as we could and immerse ourselves in them. I borrowed this cheap bright blue ukulele from a family member, it sounded terrible but looked great in the photos. I had no intention of playing it as it was constantly going out of tune. However, my mate Bax tuned it up and he managed to get to stay in tune enough to play a simple chord sequence. He wrote this song called Ya Life’s Happenin’, it sounded perfect on the uke and I knew we needed to upgrade. I went out and bought a Kala Tenor and it just stuck to me like glue. From that point on I was the ukulele player in Bud Sugar. Check out our music here.
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU USE TO RECORD MUSIC AND VIDEOS?
My videos always start in the same place, on a laptop. I use Logic Pro X to make backing tracks using a MIDI Keyboard. I then arrange the parts for ukulele using this or this. Next up is recording the uke. I use two methods, method 1 is a microphone. This allows me to capture the natural acoustics of the instrument. I use the Blue Yeti Pro, a versatile USB mic that I can take anywhere with me and sounds fantastic. An essential item if you are interested in recording at home with ease. Method 2 is this USB direct input, this just beefs up the overall sound. When the two are combined I get a robust and natural sound. When I’m happy with the arrangement and comfortable at playing it, Its time to film it. I use a Canon 650D with this Tripod. I don’t know a great deal about lighting but these Box Lights do a great job. The last step is editing, for this i use Adobe After Effects.
