By: Chris Miles
It started back in high school – Grade 9 – when my teacher asked the class what we all envisioned as our future career. My answer was clear. I want to be a music producer.
In the spring of 2003, after playing and touring with my first band, I decided to take a music production course in Drummondville, Quebec. Now it was time for me to think of the future. I was close to my goal since working as a music producer was clearly always my dream.
By playing in the Christian music scene for years, I built a large network and friends, with one friend being an actual recording artist in the francophone Christian music scene. He was very supportive when I told him that I was going back to school to study music production.
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In the summer of 2003 I got a call from my friend telling me that he wanted to “record a live album” and inquired if that was something that I was able to do. I answered pretty quickly, “That’s not a problem. I can do that for you for sure.” When I hung up the phone all I could ask myself was: Ok now how am I going to do this?
Here are key points that really guided me to successfully complete my first album production:
1. I accepted the challenge with confidence
What would usually deter me in those days was this kind of challenge. However, I knew it was an opportunity to achieve my goal of working as a music producer and I felt I had no choice but to jump into the unknown and make the best out of it. I didn’t feel I was ready to take over a project like that at first but soon enough I told myself that I was more than able to do this.
2. I surrounded myself with a good team
My first job as a producer was to choose strong musicians for the recording. All the players I hired had studio experience and were very good live musicians. With them on board, I knew that area was covered.
Since I was playing drums in the band, I had to hire a live tech and a recording engineer who ended up being my first mentor. I didn’t have a home studio back then so my mentor mixed the album in his studio. It was the opportunity I needed – to assist during the entire mix and it was an enormous learning experience for me.
3. I had a Plan B
I only had one shot to do this right because the artist had only one concert planned for the recording. So I decided to record the music set twice – once in front of a live audience and then perform the same music set the following day in front of an empty room. It was the wisest call I made for the project. Since all the songs were played with a click, it was fairly easy to edit. In the end I used a lot of material from the second recording, confirming that it was a good call.
Three weeks later, the album was released and it was a success. Until this day, it stands as a production I am very proud to put my name behind. Following the release, I began to get calls from other artists in the same market asking me to produce their albums. Twelve years later, I have worked on over 60 albums as a full time music producer and recording/mixing engineered in the francophone Christian music market for most of my work.
The moral is simple: sometimes you need to be willing to take risks and jump into the unknown. There is no guarantee it will work but if you don’t jump, you will never know.
In future blog posts I will share valuable studio insights with recording and mixing tips that I have learned through years of experience as a music producer and mixing engineer. I encourage your feedback and requests for any specific areas you are interested in reading more on. Hope you’ll enjoy!