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Issue #138 – Mentor News
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
Recording Connection mentor Matt Stein
RRFC: Do you have a specific approach you take with artists? Let’s say I’m an artist coming to you and I want to do a project. What kind of questions are you asking? What do you want to know about me before you work with me?
Matt: I think a lot of it is influences, you know, because it’s so hard to communicate verbally something you’re looking for musically. And so always having examples of influences and things that they like and that they aspire to is always, I think, the best way of communicating what they’re looking for and, of course, you know, hearing their own music as well, what they’re doing. And I think as any good producer, I think it’s the job of the producer to not so much put their stamp on it or, you know, but really being about showcasing the artist, what they are.
RRFC: What do you think of the state of the music industry today, and is there anything you think really needs to change? Are there any cues we need to be taking from the more old-school approach, or things we just need to be doing differently?
Matt: Well, this is a good and a bad thing, it’s a double-edged sword: anybody can be a musician now, or anybody can have a band now, and there are so many bands. And so I feel like in some ways, [before] you had to have some sort of like ability to be in a band. Now I hear and see some bands that I feel like before, when I was in a band, they would’ve never gotten a show…so it’s good and bad. The other thing, I think, what’s killed the business is people decided at some point they don’t want to pay for music anymore. And the industry itself, on the industry side, they’ve definitely played into that with the streaming services that pay these fractions of fractions of pennies and stuff to artists for every play and stuff…not understanding that the people that put that music together put so much of their time and energy and spirit into developing that skill and ability, not to mention whatever it cost to record it and put it out.
RRFC: So what advice would you give to Recording Connection students just coming in? Let’s say someone wants to start the program next week. What advice would you give to them as to how they can make the most out of the experience?
Matt: As trite as it might sound to some, I say just practice. When I was starting out, even after I was already getting work and stuff, I would spend time just messing around, you know, learning, putting together libraries of sound that I liked to work with, just getting to know my gear, putting stuff through processes for the sake of putting it through a process or just so I could really get to know it inside and out. You know, it’s definitely not something that you read a manual on and then you can do it. I’m just constantly improving at it. As cliché as it sounds, it’s true. Every mix I do, I figure something out. And you’re always building on that, you’re just building on your experience. There’s no substitute for that.
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