I wanted to tell ya'll about my first instrument and the love I have for it! To start, below are some tracks on which I've recorded trumpet for friends (A Boy and His Kite, Josh Garrels, & Page CXVI) as well as several of my own. There's also a short story of me and this instrument. AND, if you're interested in having me play on your project, I really enjoy partnering creatively - it's super easy to send me your mp3 and for me to bounce high resolution files and send them your way for your mixing engineer to mix in. Typically I charge $100 per song depending on the complexities of the arrangement...but it's all negotiable and if the song is super complex, it might be a bit more. Contact me here to start the conversation.
"When I want a song I'm producing to explode with a beautiful and majestic sound I think of Aaron playing his trumpet. Aaron has the ability to perform and compose trumpet lines that lift a song to new places but never overpower the vocalist. His sound is warm and inviting. Two things not often realized in a brass instrument." -David Wilton, A Boy and His Kite, Loud Harp
"I love adding sonic textures to my songs through the use of a wide variety of instruments. Cowbell and electric guitar are easy enough to come by, but a good brass player is much harder to find. I’ve used Aaron on several of my songs, because he’s not only a great trumpet player, but he imparts a personality all his own through the instrument." -Josh Garrels
"Aaron is one of my favorite musicians to work with in the studio. He can literally play whatever I sing at him, and that is a gift. As well as do it quickly and beautifully. He has made every song he played on for us better!" -Latifah Phillips, Page CXVI
My Story with the Trumpet: At a young age, my mother turned on the radio and played orchestral music for me and from that moment on, I knew that I wanted to play the trumpet. In fact, right after the middle school pass-me-down instrument sale, I had my $75 Conn trumpet out of it's case and making noise before my folks could get out of the parking lot!
I practiced voraciously over the years, landing first chairs in all the conference honor bands, in college wind ensemble, in my high school jazz band which went to four Iowa Jazz Championships, and eventually I even took some post-graduate jazz courses just to learn more. After a brief respite from the trumpet to learn and master some guitar, song-writing, and recording skills, I've come full circle and absolutely LOVE playing the trumpet again. It's my first voice, the first instrument I learned to "speak" through, to communicate through improvised melody my emotions and thoughts. Over the years I've been able to learn how to record trumpet really well, whether coloring and adding thickness to productions or soloing and adding interest and excitement. I love it all and when I'm good and old, I hope to retire and play in a community orchestra and big band some day!
I've collected the right gear to capture it excellently here at Shovel Studios: AEA R84 Ribbon Microphone for full, velvety, and warm sounds and if a different taste is needed, the dark but very present Bock iFet is one of my favorites. Next in the signal chain is a Neve 511 pre into an Empirical Labs Distressor and then into my Universal Audio Apollo interface.