Portfolio

Hello, I’m  Bradley Breen

I am a multi-instrumentalist, performer, songwriter, producer, and more. I have extensive knowledge of music and a wide range of skills. Throughout my musical education I have acquired proficiency in instruments including cello, drums, guitar, vocals, and more. I have also performed with many music groups, from the Tucson Jazz Institute to Arizona All-State Orchestra. I teach rock bands at Feagin’s Fretboards and have an array of skills, such as live audio setup and mixing. I also perform in a band, Black Coffee, in which I play drums and guitars. I continue to develop my skills through songwriting, composing, recording, producing, and mixing music with Logic Pro X.

Audio Production

I write, orchestrate, record, and mix original compositions ranging in style from pop-rock to indie, encapsulating a wide variety of themes and emotions. I use Logic Pro X for all aspects of songwriting, and I have extensive knowledge of digital audio workspaces, production, instrumental recording, and mixing. My songwriting process relies on generating creative ideas and finding ways to make the listener not only hear a story but feel it with sounds and textures.

Original Composition CATCHER AND I (Breakdown)

Download the .logicX file for Catcher and I on google drive here:

CATCHER_AND_I.logicx

Cello Performance

I have studied cello for over ten years and gained immeasurable technical and creative skill. I have participated in many orchestral groups, including the Arizona All-state orchestra, South-Eastern Regional orchestra, Tucson Cello Congress, Southwest string quartet, Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra, Vail Youth Symphony, and more. I have also soloed in many competitions and performances, receiving awards such as first place in the Vail Youth Symphony Young Musicians Competition and honorable mentions in the 2021 and 2022 Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra Scholarship Competition. I have played in many styles, from classical to latin, working to make a captivating performance.

Testimonials

Bradley is an impressive musician with a great sense of pitch, sight-reading, and technical ability. He commits himself fully to any music he plays and is a fun performer to watch and listen to live.

Mary Beth Tyndall

Cello Instructor

Another thing that amazes me is how he can work with people at many different musical levels and weave their talents into fantastic-sounding groups.  His experience with so many different instruments means he can relate to everyone in the group and knows how to help them.

Joshua Reed

Rockband Student

Bradley is a truly valuable asset to absolutely any team. He is honest, dependable, and incredibly hard-working. Beyond that, he is an impressive teacher who is always patient and kind to his students. He is a true team player and always manages to foster positive discussions and bring the best out of other staff members.

Kirk Feagin

Owner of Feagin's Fretboard

Percussion

Percussion has been a crucial part of my music career and has shaped the direction of my creative work. Drums were my first instrument, and I have performed in many groups, including Tucson Jazz Institute and Empire Steel Band. I have a unique array of skills as a percussionist, such as rolls and rudiments, pitch matching, the ability to read sheet music, polyrhythms, improvisation, and performance in many different drum styles. I use my skills as a percussionist to improve my performance and rhythm, teach at music schools, and create unique patterns and rhythms while songwriting.

Teaching

I am employed at Feagin’s Fretboard, a music school in Vail. I teach a wide range of musical skills, from instrumental performance of guitar, drums, and cello, to live performance and audio setup. I work with students from ages 10-60, being able to convey skills and ideas clearly, regardless of student differences. Additionally, I also organize concerts for the community to connect through.

prom

Written for my prom date and future girlfriend, then recorded for our six-month anniversary, this song is an emotional story about heartbreak and love. The main instrument is the piano, giving the composition a wide dynamic range and a more profound emotional feeling. As the song progresses, instruments are added to the mix, ensuring that they accent the beats where they create the most feeling accompanying the melody. I kept my vocals mostly raw to maintain as much emotion from the original recording as possible. At the build-up in the song before the second chorus, I add a full symphony to the mix. I arranged all of these instruments through a Kontakt symphonic plugin using my knowledge from a decade of playing symphonic music. Finally, the major creative aspect of this piece is a film reel sound effect overlaid on a collage of audio clips featuring my girlfriend and me before the final chorus and outro.

Lifeline

My first publicly released song, Lifeline, is a melancholy song about longing for fame. I mainly used guitars to record this song, including stacking the chorus guitar line and improvising a guitar solo for the ending. The song is extremely minimal until the outro, in which the song erupts into multiple stacked layers of guitar, bass, percussion, and vocal harmonies. I used 6 harmonies in the final choral stack to give fullness and slight chaos.

CATCHER AND I

A story about the dark side of people’s personalities, this song follows the typical style and production of 2000s alternative rock. Using heavy synth and effect plugins, this song has an electronic dirt feeling to encapsulate the theme. Additionally, I used live drum and bass recordings to add an acoustic feeling to the overall artificial instruments, creating a balance and contrast to the piece. I included multiple elements of “ear candy” following modern production ideas.