Behind the Glass

It took me a while to get through this book but it was worth it, particularly for the following gems of wisdom which are about producing records, but which could arguably be applied to all walks of life:

“I guess my advice would be – have a hell of a lot of fun, and don’t let anybody tell you anything is wrong. Just do what you think sounds right. If you like the records I do and send me a record for criticism and I say, ‘Well that sucks,’ don’t let that influence you – hey, I’m an old fart. (laughs) Go do what you feel, regardless of what anybody tells you. Use any means necessary to get the best performance out of the artist. Sublimate your ego and focus on whatever techniques you can use to get the artist’s vision on the record in the best possible way. That way, you’ll be the next you, rather than the next anybody else.”
– Craig Leon (producer of Ramones, Blondie and Suicide)

“Just don’t be afraid to experiment. That’s very important. Most of what we do comes down to experience, and there’s no substitute for that. So just spend a lot of time on it and mess around and experiment. Do crazy things, break the rules. And if you like the sound of it, then that’s great. Have confidence in your own subjectivity; if it appeals to you, and you think it fits with what you are doing, then do it. You don’t have to be a purist about things. If it sounds good, then it doesn’t matter how you got that sound.”
– Mick Glossop (producer of Van Morrison, Frank Zappa & John Lee Hooker)

“…when you’re dealing with musicians, you’re dealing with gentle souls. We’re all from the same tribe; we’re all trying to do something that’s art. We’re doing it to please someone else; we’re all here for that reason. Maybe your form of pleasing someone is to get a number one record, or maybe you just want to get that pat on the back from your fellow musicians who say, ‘Man, that’s some great shit.’ This is what I live for. I don’t live for my position on the chart or how many copies I’ve sold, how much money I’ve made. My reason for doing it is to get that musician guy to say. ‘That sounds really good, man’ – I love that. But we’re all here to do that, so if it’s not coming around, we feel like shit, we want to run back home. So you’ve got to be able to anticipate it and know how to handle it.”
– Walter Afanasieff (producer of Mariah Carey, Michael Bolton & Kenny G)

“I talk about this all the time to people who see where I’m at and think I just woke up one day and I was here. It doesn’t work that way. This was a passion for me and something I just unconsciously did, and I knew I would succeed. In many ways, the best thing that kids that are starting out have is the naivete of not knowing what they’re up against; that’s their best ally. When I was a kid, the most positive thing I’d ever get was, ‘Yeah, you should really go for it and try it, but you need something else in case it doesn’t work out, because a lot of people are trying to do what you’re trying to do.’ In my head, I would think, ‘Fuck you, I’m going to make it, I’m not everybody else.’ That’s what you need. That’s what gets you through it….”

“…If you’re doing anything for money, or you’re not doing it because of money, right there is a dangerous little road to go down. I’ve turned down a lot of things where there was a lot of money offered, but I hated the fucking music. It wasn’t even hard. I just thought, I can’t see myself working on this. And if you’re really into something, even if there’s not as much money as you’d get to do another thing, you’d be an idiot not to do it. If you’re into it, you’re going to get fulfillment out of doing it. There are some people who don’t think that way, but they’re doing it for the wrong reasons, anyway – they don’t have a genuine motivation going on.”
Danny Saber (producer of Rolling Stones, David Bowie & Public Enemy)