Sir George Martin:
George Martin is a British producer most famous for his work with The Beatles. He is commonly known as “the fifth Beatle” and was very successful in his work. He had many innovative ideas and collaborated well with Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Many of these ideas led to the fame of certain songs. For example, his decision to use unconventional instrumentation such as a Baroque harpsichord in the bridge of In My Life (Shepherd, 2020). He also worked with artists such as Cilla Black, Elton John and Céline Dion.
Zakk Cervini:
Zakk is a semi-famous producer who has worked on albums such as FANDOM by Waterparks, three of the 5 Seconds of Summer albums, a few of the Good Charlotte and Blink -182 albums and The underrated youth by Yungblud. These are just a few of his more popular works but he has worked with many other artists. One thing that is very important to him when producing and mixing music is dynamic EQ. He believes that it is better to use EQ rather than compression on vocals because clarity of lyrics is paramount to a song. If it is hard to understand, it immediately loses listeners. He also finds it useful for use on things such as distorted guitars because removes harsh frequencies and creates a better sound. (Bieranowski, 2018)
Finneas O’Connell:
Finneas O’Connell A.K.A FINNEAS is a singer/songwriter and producer. He is most famous for his independent work on his sister Billie Eilish’s EP Don’t Smile At Me and her album When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go. However he also writes and records his own music as well. His methods are out of the ordinary as he uses a home studio. This is becoming a much more popular and sought after method of recording as more and more artists are becoming independent. He uses things such as ‘Logic Pro X, MIDI Keyboards and microphones such as the Audio-Technica AT2020 cardioid condenser mic and Neumann TLM 103 large diaphragm mics’ (Harvey, 2020) when recording and strongly recommends these products.
“Immediacy… I want it all to be like as fast as I can think of an idea I wanna be able to articulate it.” – FINNEAS (Spaces interview)
Finneas also uses a lot of samples in his work. An example of this is in Billie Eilish’s song watch. He says that when recording this, he and his sister stood in the bathroom and recorded themselves striking matches (0:55 of spaces interview below). He also uses synths and sample pads to create unique sounds. He also recorded all of Billie’s vocals sat on his bed (9:13-10:15 on carpool karaoke and 1:14-1:27 on spaces interview). He no longer lives in the house where he recorded these and is now recording at his new home.
‘O’Connell says he didn’t really think about the way the bedroom sounded until he started recording elsewhere. “The bedroom has a very specific sound, very tight and intimate and closed and quiet. I love the way it makes vocals sound… All of my solo material, I record at my new house. I’m sure Billie and I will start recording there whenever we get back into recording mode for the next record… But even if we never record full albums there again, maybe sometimes there will be just a vocal that we feel we must record in that room just to make it sound that way.” ‘ (Harvey, 2020)
Home studio recording is changing the face of the industry. Ben Rogerson of Music Radar says ‘the implication, of course, is that being around your own gear in a place that you feel comfortable often yields better results than putting yourself in an environment that’s alien to you. His words provide further reassurance, if it was required, that getting into a ‘pro’ studio is no longer necessary if you want to make a record.’
“People act like recording billie’s album in my bedroom was difficult but in reality, every time I’m in a fancy *** studio it takes them a *** hour to get the aux cord working” – FINNEAS (twitter)
Bibliography:
Shepherd, M. (2020). Sir George Martin | British musician and producer. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Martin [Accessed 27 Jan. 2020].
Bieranowski, D. (2018). Dynamic EQ Tips from the Pros: How it Works and How 4 Top Mixers Use It. [online] Sonicscoop.com. Available at: https://sonicscoop.com/2018/03/15/dynamic-eq-tips-from-the-pros-what-it-is-and-how-4-top-mixers-use-it/ [Accessed 29 Jan. 2020].
Rogerson, B. (2020). Billie Eilish’s brother and producer Finneas explains why he prefers recording at home to being in a “fancy-ass” studio. [online] MusicRadar. Available at: https://www.musicradar.com/news/billie-eilishs-brother-and-producer-finneas-explains-why-he-prefers-recording-at-home-to-being-in-a-fancy-ass-studio [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].
O’Connell, F. (2020). Twitter. [online] Twitter.com. Available at: https://twitter.com/finneas/status/1223029465069936640?s=20 [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].
Harvey, S. (2020). Finneas on Producing Billie Eilish’s Hit Album in his Bedroom. [online] ProSoundNetwork.com. Available at: https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/recording/finneas-on-producing-billie-eilishs-number-one-album-in-his-bedroom [Accessed 9 Feb. 2020].