Disappearing Act

Lovelies,

Over the past two years I've produced 8 albums, plus done a little moonlighting as a producing consultant on a handful of others. 

It never occurred to me that I would produce. In part this is because I so revered my producers. Another part is that, as a to-the-bone songwriter, I experienced music as lyrics, melody, chords, form. For me, the SOUND of tracks was veneer. If there were violins, I didn't notice.

I believe that in these years I've learned more rapidly than at any other point in my life!

In particular something happened for me at the top of 2021.

The first discovery of my production "voice."

It's clarinets! Just kidding. Though I do love clarinets. Especially mixed with brass. Yummy.

This "voice" of which I speak is a little hard to define. It's actually more like the inverse of a voice. A disappearing. A listening. Not even to the artist. It's listening WITH the artist -- to the song. Doing the song's bidding. Like dressing to showcase not the beauty of the clothes, but the beauty of the one wearing them.

But I don't feel this as timidity. On the contrary, I'm tickled to report I've taken some big swings. Pulling songs to unexpected places. Maybe this is the producer equivalent of flexing. These are points of glee and pride. But even in these cases, I'm aiming for that sense of inevitability. The place where the song exhales.

I suppose another key aspect of my production approach is preparing A LOT. On the last album I produced, I did a fun experiment: I decided to prepare too much. To determine once and for all where that line really is. Turns out I haven't found it yet!

Wishing you love near and far,

Rachel