I never really learnt how to properly produce music, and I’m not wholly interested in doing so. While, of course, I’m always seeking to learn and improve my abilities, I really get no joy from twisting compressor dials and graphic equalisers and do so only out of necessity when it’s time to record a song. My discography is really a record of me learning on the job.
The most crucial thing to me is that I make music no matter what. I have decided not to have my music (for the time being/on the whole) produced by other people, because that’s not a practical solution for recording the sheer volume of songs I have.
Ideally, I’d have all my songs recorded in high quality studies, with a groovy producer (not some square overly hung up on the occult practices of music production) and with a classic rock n roll rhythm section. If you’re a record exec reading this and are interested in bankrolling the recording of 2 -3 albums in this manner, please let me know.
When I was younger I messed around with drum machines and samples, but never figured out how to consistently apply them to songs I’d already written. It’s one thing to start with a groove and write on top of it, but another to write a song and then create a groove for it.
That’s why my songs don’t have drums. And without drums, bass guitar usually sounds pretty awkward, at least when I tried it on my songs, so I don't have bass guitar either, usually.
I have very little to say about my actual production setup. For anyone interested, I use Presonus Studio One software. I unashamedly use presets (although, of course, I don't solely rely on them). I usually record a good rhythm guitar take with a guide vocal, and then overdub all of the other guitar parts, mixing as I go, before finally recording the final vocals.
The final vocal take is usually stitched together from several takes. I don't like to use too many effects on my voice anymore, although it is tempting. I think the impulse to bury one's own voice in the mix, or drown it in reverb is all too common; after all, nobody likes the sound of their own voice. I didn't always take this approach, of course. Check out the bitcrushed, cathedral-reverbed, broken-radio-from-the-fifth-dimension vocals on "Catch Me" (recorded 2020) below!
I record everything through a USB audio interface. I don't use fancy microphones, usually just Gear4Music does the trick for me - but maybe that's why I spend so much time agonising over my vocal sound. Either way, a good workman never blames his tools...
And of course, I have many lovely guitars with which I layer vast walls of sound to make up for the lack of drums and bass! On some of my tracks, I've recorded more than twenty guitar overdubs - often just arpeggios of different inversions of the same simple chord. You can hear this approach most clearly on my track "Soma," - click below to dig it!
As for my guitars, I mostly use a Tokai Telecaster. I like how simple the Telecaster is - by limiting your creative options, it makes decision-making easier. I also have a lovely custom guitar that currently has only been heard on one rare recording, but no doubt will feature more in the future - as well as a couple of cheap and weird guitars, which I usually record slide parts on.
A few revelations led me to record in my current style. The first was that songs are transcendent of their media. People (maybe not squares, drones and music producers) are very forgiving of audio quality and arrangement if a song is good enough. Of course, a beautifully produced version of a good song with an elaborate, full band arrangement is usually better than a poorly produced, sparse version - but a good song and a good performance speak for themselves regardless of how bad the production is, or how sparse the arrangement is. All you need is the right chords and words and musical talent (optional, really). Nothing else truly matters.
Career producers don’t like to acknowledge this fact as it they think it threatens them.
I also figured that rhythm guitar was all that mattered in rock and roll (most of the time). It combines rhythm with harmony and can also provide a lot of bass. So that’s what my songs are: maximum rhythm guitar.