One of my muso mates, Ashley, sent a few friends and I a video by a guy called John Snyder earlier this week. He's a monotonous talker in tone, but much more interesting in content. He's a producer who's had the opportunity to produce some of the greatest jazz artists around along with some more well-known names such as Stevie Wonder. It's quite long at over an hour and I'm sure many of you don't have the time to spare to listen to this muso's advice, so I thought I'd sum up some of the key points for those that are interested over three articles, this being the first.
'I see something to do and I just go do it.'
Having trained in law after college, he sent out almost a hundred letters to entertainment law firms in New York - as well as one to a record producer. He got a reply and was asked to go and meet him in New York, so he jumped up north and went to meet this record producer. What's important at this point, although he doesn't really stress it in the video, is that he knows the producer's back catalogue better than the producer himself. He says that he reminded him of stuff that he'd recorded a while back and forgotten about. This kind of in-depth knowledge of the people we want to work with in the industry is crucial. Not only does it give us insight into what our prospective employers or collaborators have done, but what they are likely to do in the future. It is no coincidence that when asked who he would have signed if he was working for him, he answers with three names, two of which the producer was signing at that actual moment. He employed him there and then. This is no mere coincidence: this was a healthy guess based on a thorough understanding of the producer's work up until then.
'The Producer is the First Audience'
He talks at length about what the producer is expected to do, and stresses the need to be responsive to the performer. In one scenario, for example, Dave Brubeck turns to him and asks, 'How was that?'. While most of us are trembling in our boots as we imagine ourselves in his shoes, the producer really needs to 'think and feel at the same time' and have an answer. The role is both creative and practical: you need to think about the logistics of arranging sessions and costing them, while thinking about the music itself. He says to ask the question: 'If you don't get goosebumps, then what?'
'The Psychology of Producing'
Some artists have egos—Paul Simon apparently one of them—and the producer has to know how to deal with them. 'The process is important. It's necessary to create this environment of comfort and security. ... How the artist feels is very important to the result.'. Performers are responsive to an audience, so a sterile atmosphere in the studio is counter-productive - the producer and engineers are the audience in this context and need to be on board with the musicians.
If something's in the way of creativity, he has this advice: 'Always be aware of what it is that you're doing, and so I say to the musicians if we're having a problem: "You know, isn't it interesting, we woke up this morning and nothing existed and we go to bed tonight and five songs ... exist on tape, any one of which has the potential for affecting people's lives in a positive way, if not changing the world ... We have all felt it."'
Please return tomorrow for the second part of three articles on this producers' life and advice. If you'd like to watch the video click here.
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