I always have the aim of communication in mind when composing, whether that's through creating an atmosphere with sound design, working on songwriting to support and enhance a vocal, or improvising music with other people and bouncing ideas between individuals in the moment. 

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I embrace the one man band approach in my own work, and use a wide range of instruments and tools to play or program the kinds of sounds I want to hear. I love to create an enveloping stereo picture that creates scale and a sense of space and richness. I use a lot of synthesis, sampling, layering, editing and processing, whereas in my productions for other artists I am careful to try to capture events as they are, and not let the process interfere with the event of the performance, respecting and reproducing the moment as it really happened.

While I will often use synthesis and editing extensively when producing someone's record, this is almost always hidden and serves to support the performance - The communication between the musicians is where the music really is, and creating a natural soundscape for that to exist in is the challenge and aim when recording and mixing, although a lot of audio manipulation and enhancement may be needed to create the right sonic result.

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When I'm working on my own music, I try to use audio manipulation in a more overt, expressive way, so that the contrast between real instrumental performance and production techniques is revealed and begs questions about which element is a natural human performance and which is synthesised. It's possible to repeatedly layer an acoustic instrument to the point that it no longer sounds anything like the original sound - conversely, it is possible to use synthesis to create the impression of a real instrument, but have it behave in a way that would be impossible to achieve in the real world. Unique sonic effects can be achieved when using all of these approaches in a single piece. 

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