Charlie Peacock
“Be imaginative with ideas and solutions but don’t voice them, necessarily. You want them to be available but you also don’t want to overwhelm the artist.”
Steve Sykes
“It’s all about creating the most complementary environment for instruments and voices… As engineers, we tend to become possessive of our output even though we’re working for someone else. It’s a trap you don’t want to fall into because at the end of the day, this is a service industry."
Mario Caldato Jr.
“Be open to ideas, suggestions, and sounds. Don’t shoot anything down. Try to understand it. You can make anything sound like music.”
Toby Wright
“Bringing out [an artist’s] creativity… that’s what it’s all about. Songs will always sell music regardless of the genre. When you have a great one, then you have something good to work with. Getting the best out of an artist depends on what they’re into. I like to sit down with them and talk about their vision.”
Rob Chiarelli
“When it comes time to try new ideas, always be openminded. Often, people make a suggestion, and it’s rejected out of hand. Rather than fighting, just do it. Maybe it’ll inspire another idea.”
Rodney Jerkins
“I want to see who they are as an artist and then I dig into who they are currently. I try to get into their psyche, into where they might be in their life. A lot of this is gaining insight into whether an artist is coming out of a relationship or maybe going into one. Understanding that leads the direction of the song.”
Chris SD
“Music production’s not that hard. If you’ve done it for a while, you can make something sound good. My own internal battle sometimes is wanting to cut new cloth; wanting to carve a fresh path to the point that [a song] sounds original."
Evan Blair
“[Music is] an unbelievably complex, ever-changing puzzle and a lifelong learning. Every time you feel you’re close to figuring it out or think you have the answer, you see that it’s wildly deeper than that."
Yuheng Yan
“This is a service business and it’s not always about how creative your music is. It’s about how well it works with the picture. If you have an average idea but can execute it with professional-level production, then it’ll work and help pave [the path of] your career.”
Dawn Kamerling
“If you’re going to send a cold email, don’t make it too long. Check that your links work before you send it. Make sure you have the person’s name right. Don’t send a novella or your full-length bio. No one is going to read it… Make it digestible.”
Khris Riddick-Tynes
“You’re not in the music business. You’re in the business of music. You have to understand the relationship building and where you fit in.”
Aina
“I didn’t wait for anyone to believe in me—I learned to produce myself. Learning to produce gave me the freedom to create songs exactly the way I envisioned them… DIY means not waiting around, you have to do it yourself (produce, write, make your own cover art, etc.)."
Lzzy Hale, Halestorm
“There’s a difference between believing you're capable of doing things and them happening. ”
