The Human Side

Don't Let AI Replace Your Curiosity My Guiding Philosophy Around AI in Music—and a Plea to Fellow Creatives A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend MixNik, a conference that brought together recording engineers, producers, mixers, songwriters, and creatives from all over the country. It's one of those events that reminds you why you fell in love with music in the first place. The conversations are genuine, the ideas flow freely, and everyone is there because they're passionate about...

Some of the most meaningful conversations I've ever had about music didn't happen during a recording session. They happened after the microphones were turned off, when everyone stopped worrying about getting the perfect take and simply started talking. Over the years, I've been fortunate to spend time with artists, producers, engineers, songwriters, and DJs from all walks of life. While every conversation started with music, very few ended there. We found ourselves talking about creativity,...

Why I Still Make Music After All These Years Every once in a while, I find myself asking a simple question: Why am I still doing this? It’s a fair question. I’ve spent decades writing songs, producing records, recording artists, and chasing creative ideas. Over the years I’ve experienced some wonderful highs, plenty of disappointments, and more than a few moments where it would have been easy to move on to something else. Yet I continue to come back to music. The interesting thing is that the...

What Makes a Song Worth Remembering? Every year, thousands of songs are released into the world. Some become hits, some find a loyal audience, and many quietly disappear as the next wave of music arrives. Yet every one of us has a handful of songs that seem immune to time. We hear them decades later and instantly find ourselves transported back to a specific place, person, or moment in our lives. It made me wonder what separates those songs from all the others. The Soundtrack to Our Lives...

In the next few weeks, I am headed back to Atlanta for MixNik, an annual gathering of songwriters, producers, engineers, artists, and music industry professionals. The event combines educational workshops, networking opportunities, technology demonstrations, and discussions about the future of music creation, making it one of the more unique events on my calendar each year. I attended for the first time last year and came away with far more than a notebook full of ideas. The experience...

Billboard recently published an interesting article discussing Apple Music’s latest internal data around AI-generated music. According to the report, fully AI-generated songs currently account for less than 1% of streams on the platform. That number caught my attention immediately — especially considering how often AI dominates conversations in the music industry right now. At first glance, it almost feels contradictory. Everywhere you look, people are talking about AI: AI songwriting AI...

Some trips feel different before they even begin. This one carried a certain energy from the start. Not because we knew what would happen… but because we knew we were stepping into an important moment for RBL. A chance to continue building relationships, present our work, and push ourselves further creatively and professionally. But before Miami… there was preparation. Weeks of it. Late nights in the studio organizing our catalog, finalizing submissions, updating the RBL website, and making...

If You Love Music, This Podcast Will Change How You Hear Songs Forever There’s a moment every music lover reaches… Where you realize—you’ve been listening to songs your entire life…but not really hearing them. I’ve spent years producing, writing, recording, and mixing music. I’ve broken down sessions, studied arrangements, and chased the perfect sound. And still… this podcast made me stop and say: 👉 “I’ve been missing something.” That podcast is the One Song Podcast. 🎧 It’s Not Just a...

There are moments in life where you stop and look back. Not just at the music…but at everything that came with it. From 2012 to 2025, Freestyle music gave me so much — a voice, a community, and memories I’ll carry with me forever. 🎁 The Legacy Pack I wanted to create something that captures that era in a real, tangible way. The Legacy Pack brings together music, memories, and pieces of that journey into one collection. This isn’t just merch —it’s a piece of the story. 💭 Why It Matters This is...

We spend a lot of time talking about the music. The sound.The mix.The release. But there’s a part of creating that doesn’t get talked about enough. The part that happens in the room…when the music hasn’t been made yet. 🎧 A Moment From a Recent Session I was in a session recently with an artist I’ve been working with. We had the beat ready.The vibe was there. But something was missing. We weren’t connecting yet. You could feel it. We started throwing out ideas — nothing was sticking.Then there...