Biography

Daniel Walker is a producer, singer and engineer currently enrolled at the Leeds Conservatoire on a Music Production Major Course within the United Kingdom. His area of focus and production lies mainly within the Engineering field with a key speciality in the Rnb and Singer-Songwriter Scene.

To Date he has currently helped produce various pieces of music across artist portfolios with song covers and producing main tracks for artist who are looking to start out in the industry with their first singles, namely Jamie Wray and Kyle Simmonds.

At a more Professional level, Daniel is an aspiring Music Producer with hopes of leafing down the path of becoming an A&R Representative with current work in helping artist find their sound within the everchanging music landscape with 1 to 1 session for songwriting and constant proactive directions being given in recording sessions. His main area of focus is less in composing and writing music but more in the technical side of recording, mixing and artistic management.

Skills and Experiences 

From early on in his journey, Daniel has been enthralled within the music scene beginning as a live performance technician withing various secondary school theatre productions, later transitioning to production due to his proficiency in piano and singing.

Having the ability to sing and understand vocals from an early age helped to spark his creative side and urge to want to explore the field of music, possibly leading to creating his own or working alongside existing artist to shape their vison. Throughout his life after this he continued to partake in vocal and piano lessons, the former helping in his creation form for music and the latter helping him grow a stronger connection to the artist side of the process when it comes to vocalising and physically expressing the artform.

During this time, Daniel started to develop his interest within Rnb and live acoustic sets, something he continues to show and express to this day. The raw passion and connection that can be felt in these genres was a real draw for the producer who wanted to replicate the same feeling. This further lead him to his current education within Leeds Conservatoire studying on the Production Course. During this time, he has furthermore improved his technical skillset with Large Form Recording desks and has continued to be a driven and focused individual, something that can be felt.

Daniel excels in operating with other professionals in a studio or live environment and always tries to be the most understanding and supportive person in the session, a very important skills when working in creative industries. 

Musical, Creative and Technical skills

Daniels skillset varies when it comes to music production and engineering. As a producer, Daniel has a wide range of creative and technical skills. Daniel is well versed in using a multitude of DAWs and music creating platforms such as Logic, Pro-Tools and Sibelius, the industry standard for anyone with an interest in the arts. Alongside these, Daniel elevates the production quality and his work by being familiar with many plugins, Outboarding equipment such as industry favourites like the Neve 1037 Preamp and the Distressor to name a few key ones.

Interests and ambitions

Daniel’s has a vast interest range including fully exploring the field of Artistic Management with a label, learning to play other instruments such as a string instrument to help further his ability to create and vision board musical ideas. Aswell as live tour production and possibly arranging. A major ambition for Daniel is to create a successful music portfolio of artists he has produced for to show labels the vision he has and how he clearly has an eye for new and emerging talent. This will be done through freelance opportunities where he can connect with artist without the initial oversight of a record label.

Brand Decisions and Marketing

Daniels current marketing strategy is not fully established however in the pipeline he intents to create and facilitate various pieces of branding to widen his reach and draw in clients through use of his own create logo, colour palette including his branded colours of Green, Yellow, Black and Blue, paying homage to his heritage and birth place of Jamica and England Respectfully. Once these plans have been finalised, they will be added to his completed EPK.

Digital Footprint and Wider Recognition

Daniels current digital relevance is small comparative to other producers as there is not a necessity till he builds up more experience and content that brings more eyes upon him. In curcumstanses where he may be involved in more projects or productions, this may stimulate a want to widen my digital presence. At the current time there is no Professional content or wider audience recognition thus far.

Reason behind EPK

The reasoning behind creating an EPK is to generate an easy to read, concise and professional overview of myself which can be shown to potential clients or collaborators to get a quick overview of who I am and the goals I have set out for myself and possibly them. The EPK is to show that I am looking to create a portfolio career, further showcased by provided photos from active sessions with artists using the skills I have discussed to show my capacity to work within.

How does the structure of your EPK make it suitable for its intended audience

The Layout of a Successful EPK is required to be easy to be understood by both parties by the using shorter phrasing and quick and compelling points. If you fail to do this, someone who Is reading about you won’t be able to grasp you as a person and you risk losing out on a potential client.

I make it clear with repetitions and circle rounds what my focus area and intended audience is. Session Musicians and label-less artists are who I gravitate the most towards however, it is not limited to small artists as my want to explore the artistic management sector might be compelling for industry professionals as well. I make it clear throughout that I specialise in recording and the technical side unlike my peers who can also compose, create tracks from scratch or songwriting,

Content Reflection

Reflecting on my EPK, there are several things I would improve if I had a bigger budget and clearer branding as a pop and singer-songwriter producer. One example would be using more professional photographs throughout my portfolio, especially images of me working with artists in studio sessions. I already have connections with graduate photographers from the Leeds Arts University with high-grade equipment, which would benefit both of us as I would gain. This would create an interdisciplinary collaboration where both creatives benefit from each other’s professional skills and portfolio development (In this instance my EPK and social media whilst they would gain portfolio work).

As my career progresses and I continue working with more artists, my EPK will continue to be updated with social media links, stronger branding and completed projects such as released singles and collaborations. Looking at professional producers such as Finneas and Jack Antonoff for inspiration has helped me understand how important online branding and professional presentation are within the music industry.

At this stage, I do not think my current name alone is a major selling point because digital media is heavily saturated and it can be difficult to stand out. However, having a professional and regularly updated EPK is still important for creating opportunities and presenting myself seriously within the industry.

Who is your audience and how does your EPK fit?

My EPK is mainly tailored towards pop and singer-songwriter artists, producers and collaborators, as it showcases my work within music production, recording and reviewing songwriting. It also appeals to session musicians and performers by including collaborative and performance-based content.

My EPK works for this audience as it contains example tracks of my productions, studio images and video content that demonstrate both my technical and creative abilities as a producer.

What is the standard practice in your field?

The standard practice within my field is to maintain a strong online presence through social media and digital promotion. Producers and artists often post content regularly to build a following, promote collaborations and increase opportunities for future work. Artists and producers such as Finneas use Tiktok and Instagram Stories too show progress work that strengthens their branding and industry recognition separate from his famous sister (Billie Eilish)’s work, helping him gain further opportunities that he wouldn’t have gotten.

The EPK – Revenue Link

An Electronic Press Kit plays an important role in generating revenue and professional opportunities within the music industry. Because of this, it is essential that an EPK is kept up to date and showcases an artist’s strongest and most professional work, allowing potential employers, collaborators and investors to easily access relevant content.

Maintaining an EPK can become difficult when managing multiple projects or balancing limited time; however, understanding its importance as both a promotional and commercial tool is essential when creating and developing one.

Cost of assets

In terms of assets costs, my EPK doesn’t really have a large budget. My EPK, again, consists of my previous works and therefore doesn’t cost as much money as if I were to upgrade my equipment to provide a more up to date standard of my EPK, such as, a professional photoshoot, professional studio bookings with specific microphone setups and live orchestral playing and having professional photos during that.

Another way of doing this, following standard practice within the music industry, is to engage audiences through targeted advertisements and paid promotion on social media platforms. “Paid promotion can increase visibility and audience reach, but its success depends heavily on audience targeting and engagement” (Tschmuck, 2020). This can be effective in bringing more attention to my work; however, if the promotion fails to connect with the intended audience, the financial investment may not produce worthwhile results. 

Thought Process and Creative Generation

Through my WITCI seminars sessions suggested that I research professionals within the pop and singer-songwriter industry for inspiration and analyse what made their branding and EPKs effective. 

Researching professional artist websites and public EPKs from producers such as FINNEAS and Fred again.. helped influence the structure and branding of my own EPK. I also reviewed public EPK examples through platforms such as Bandzoogle and EPK Builder to better understand industry standard presentation and marketing strategies (O’Connell, n.d.).

While researching these artists and producers, I explored not only their EPKs but also their long and short-form biographies, social media branding and portfolio layouts. This influenced the way I wrote my own content, helping me understand how to present my skills, interests and experience clearly whilst still keeping the information concise and engaging.

Through the seminars, I also realised how important short-form content and audience attention spans have become within modern music promotion in conjunction with  merch seems to be a big driver for brand recognition as it’s a good way for people to see and understand your vision of who you are (if executed correctly). For someone of my budget, this could be through Stickers, Signed Tee-shirts or posters.

Industry insights and Broader Application

After researching industry practices and commercial applications, I realised that many music professionals/artists used centralised links, often through Linktrees within their bios and EPKs to direct audiences to their social pages, websites and merch. This helps increase audience engagement, strengthen online presence and generate additional revenue through social media traffic and branded content (Linktree, n.d.).

Developing my Personal/Professional Reach

I plan to drive most of my engagement and thus development through social media, specifically curating a strong and compelling online identity based on the way professionals in the industry seem to be leading. Social media is the biggest gateway into brands and recognition, so without it, you may be lost in the dust. This is a good deviation from typical applications such as websites and physical merchandise where comes with significant investment which may or may not return.

The Pipeline for this can span multiples years, creating both short and long-form content for interaction, aiming to build a large following similar to those in the industry. Using Cross-promotion between other artists platforms can increase audience reach and engagement through shared online visibility (Deshmane et al., 2020). Potentially earning opportunities may emerge, allowing me more revenue streams to reinvest.

What you would like to improve on moving forward

To reiterate earlier points, at the earlier possibility, the foremost thing I would live to improve on to continue my professional abilities is creating a designated social media digital landscape which means refining my abilities of instrument playing, individual brand recognition and stronger collaborative opportunities as these are all skills that could eventually lead to a potential career.  Constant updating of the EPK will be maintained as many in the industry are scouting for my skills and are willing to hire/provide funding for it. Leading to the ability to create a more professional portfolio and stronger career protectory.

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Contacts

Email – Danielrewalker@gmail.com

Business WhatsApp – 07413120139

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References

Deshmane, A. et al. (2020) An Empirical Study of Collaborations in the Music Industry.

Linktree (n.d.) Linktree: The Only Link in Bio Trusted by 70M+ Creators. 

Tschmuck, P. (2020) ‘Music Marketing in the Digital Music Industries’, International Journal of Music Business Research,

O’Connell, F. (n.d.) FINNEAS Official Website

Example of Collaborations with other Producers