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Captain's Log
I love to work with bands. Getting a song from a simple little ditty that the band plays to me on a few acoustic guitars and working it into a structured, detailed, complete song with layered guitars and vocals with massive sounding lows.... it's what I live for. Being a producer is about stepping into the mind of every band member and expanding on their musical ideas so that the song ends up being even more then what anyone could expect. Nothing beats the feeling of playing back a mix for a band and having everyone's jaw drop and say "Holy Shit. That sounds awesome". If I don't hear that, then I haven't done my job.
Its hard to get things done in the studio when the atmosphere is poor. I pride myself on being able to maintain a constant comfort zone within the band. When each band member's ideas are not in focus with one another, it can be complete chaos. The producer has to take these ideas and mend them into something that every member can understand. For instance, I have to be the bridge between the guitarist who loves a certain part of a song and the bassist who thinks the part shouldn't be on the track. Or perhaps a vocalist is having a hard time fitting words into a section of the song, its my job to help make it work. This is what brings the atmosphere to a rise. Each member has to be completely confident that I am going to make it WORK. It's little things like this that can make or break the recording process. At the end of the day, if there is a solid trust between the producer and the band, then the recording will most definitely rock.
Trust is obviously a huge issue when working with a producer. If you don't trust that I am doing everything I can to make your recording sound absolutely fucking amazing, then things will surely go south. Its important to have a meeting and discuss things before any recording is done. Part of preproduction is starting a relationship with the band and getting everyone on the same page. Besides the obvious of having the band play some of their past demos or tapes of their live shows, I also Iike to address all concerns that any member may have as well as get a feel for what each member brings to the band. By the time I hit record for the first time, I like the feeling of knowing that we're all on the same team and are preparing to start something BIG. Mixing is one of my favorite crafts. Taking all of the elements of a mix, spread over 40 plus tracks, and crafting them into a solidly formed package that is a perfect expression of the song is one hell of a rush. I'm most relaxed when I'm mixing, it has become a very natural process. Check out some of my mixes in the "hear music" section. Take a listen to the space, balance, depth, punch, and of course, low end BEEF. These are all things that I take time to shape in my mixing. Thats al lI got for now, but again, please email me with any questions or comments at stevenslate1@aol.com
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