Production Workflow

[Kimozaki]

Hey Dennis,

I was interested in your approach to production worfkflow. Do you follow a certain structure or system when working on an original track? And how long does it take you at each stage. For example:

Songwriting(3 days)-->Composition(1 day)-->Arrangement(5 days)-->Mixing(3 days)

Thanks

Kamal

[dennis f]

there's never a set time. Every song i've done has been a different process and has had different timing issues. I've had songs sitting on my drive for 4 years before they finally made sense to release. So I don't really worry to much about time. I wait until it makes sense in our genre to let it go. For example "son of raw" was a loop i had made and never finished for a year. Just sitting there until Jerome Sydenham came over while i had reopened it and bam! 2 days later it was done. Some of the best records ever made were done in 1 - 2 days. Some of the worst 6 months lol!. Creating, finishing and mixing is a feel process. Each step is based on that. It's done when it feels right. Take your time and don't fret. I'd rather take my time and get it right then rush and put out bullcrap.

df

[Sal Paradise]

For example "son of raw" was a loop i had made and never finished for a year. Just sitting there until Jerome Sydenham came over while i had reopened it and bam! 2 days later it was done.

Between Chandler and Sydenham (and maybe others I don't know about) you have put out a lot of collaborative projects. Would you advise beginners to partner up with people or build up their skill set first?
I mean I know you have spoken on Kerri being a mentor figure. But it was my impression that you had been doing production for some time before you linked up with him. Can you get into the nature and process of collaborating for you? Was it about a shared creative enthusiasm? Or, did you for example, early on in your production path find people that were further along with the engineering aspect of production? Were your Collaborations early on ever just about finding people when you were a novice that could help you finish a project?

[dennis f]

funny thing...i tend not to "play" well with others. LOL. I'm more of a loner. But there are the odd circle of people that I tend to be able to work with. Collabs for me tend to be a spur of the moment kind of thing. The other person could just sit there and voice an opinion, and most producers would bitch and say they did it all, yet they are still an integral part of that record you did. Without them that record DOES NOT happen. Why? because you maybe wouldn't have thought the same way they made you think or look at the arrangement or creative process and result. I learned so much from all the collabs i had. The first one with Tetsue Inoue who was amazing at atmospherics. Damon Wild instilled the "banging-ness" even though our projects together weren't so much so. Kerri refined the soulful part, creation and eq'ing. Jerome Sydenham was an arrangement master with an amazing ear. They are all a part of me now. I have a piece of them that resides and lives in me. So to say I made it all the way here by myself would be egotistical. I know tons of folks who are too proud and stupid to think otherwise. I've always said it and truly believe that it takes a village to raise a child.

Collaborating is a very tricky affair. This is why. You must respect, creatively speaking, the person you are working or about to work with. Otherwise forget about it....it'll never work. It will be two egos fighting against the grain constantly and you'll never get anything worthwhile out of it. This why you'll see two superstar collabs and the work will come out like crap. They don't respect each other's work or ideas. It should be a mutual respect thing...and you both can't be afraid to speak up but most importantly you must be able to take criticism to your ideas. Not everything you come up with is gold and you have to be able to take a step back, think, say "ok..maybe you're right..." and keep it moving in the best interest of the project and not your ego.

As you involve yourself with collabs you'll find that you'll learn from the person you're working with. So...it's important that you agree to ones where you know the other person is evenly skilled or higher up on the skill level than you are. The exception is of course if you yourself are skilled and you wish to share some of what you know with someone else you find deserves it. Some of my favorite records i've done have been collabs in some way or another.

df