PROFILE
Jay Lefebvre
By Michael Raine
J
ay Lefebvre’s parents weren’t rock stars,
but their passion for music certainly
helped shape both of their sons’ life’s
work. Jay is a go-to producer and en-
gineer in Quebec’s pop music scene
and the right-hand man in the studio to
Canadian icon Roch Voisine, while his brother,
Sébastien, is the rhythm guitarist for Canrock
mainstays Simple Plan.
“Oh yes!” exclaims Lefebvre when asked
if music was a big part of his family life while
growing up in Laval, QC, just outside of Mon-
treal. “Our mom was playing piano and we
could often hear her practicing some classical
songs. Our dad plays guitar and grandma
some accordion. It was never the big music
party like in some families with the whole
gang, but music has always been a very big
part of our lives.”
Lefebvre recalls riding the train to school
as a teenager, listening to Pink Floyd, Jimi
Hendrix, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Simon &
Garfunkel on a yellow Sony Walkman. It’s
what inspired him to go on to study jazz
piano and scoring for big bands while teach-
ing piano and keyboard lessons. During
that time, he was also getting in on some
recording sessions – “which, to me, meant
I’d made it,” he says.
“The whole creative side of things struck
me at first, but then the recording aspect of
it got me going. I was right at the technol-
ogy turn from tape to digital recording, so
I’ve done a bit of both. I’ve been recording
bands and solo artists ever since,” he explains.
“I started by asking bands if they would like
a free demo recording for a song so I could
practice outside of the big studios. I bought
my first recording interface, a Digidesign
Digi 001, a few microphones – Rode NT2,
Sennheiser 609, SM57 – a good computer,
and there I was, recording and mixing!”
At first, Lefebvre would send the songs
he recorded to others to mix, but over time
and with practice, he honed his mixing skills
and eventually began to prefer his own
mixes. When the artists he was working with
started saying the same thing, his career as a
producer and engineer was underway.
“Over the last decade, I’ve had the plea-
sure of producing, recording, composing,
and mixing some incredible talents, such
as Bastian Baker, Roch Voisine, Simple Plan,
Robby Johnson, Forever Gentlemen, Eva
Avila, Andee, and many more,” he says. “I get
really passionate about my work and spend
countless hours in front of a project solving
life’s mysteries over a compressor, an EQ, and
a reverb plug-in format.”
In particular, it’s his work with Voisine that
really stands out. “The first time I met Roch
Voisine was a trip for me,” he recalls. “We hit
it off right away and I started working on his
record Movin’ on Maybe. We’ve been work-
ing together ever since on all of his projects,
including his latest record, Devant Nous,
from which a song called ‘Tout me ramème
à toi’ was nominated for Song of the Year
by ADISQ.”
A couple of other highlights from his
career he mentions are working with Swiss
star Bastian Baker on his latest record, as well
as getting to work with his brother to record
Simple Plan, including an acoustic version
of “Perfect” that ended up in a Disney film.
“Years ago, I started Mélophonie, [re-
cently renamed Melophonix], an audio-video
production company, and I’ve signed several
composers with a publishing agreement. We
currently produce singles, EPs, full-length
albums, music for movie soundtracks, and
even some music for kids on different You-
Tube channels,” Lefebvre explains about what
else has been keeping him busy.
As well, in partnership with HHB Canada,
Lefebvre began a new YouTube-based
venture called Parlons Gear to review pro-
fessional recording hardware and plug-ins,
initially from the likes of Universal Audio,
Adam Audio, Rupert Neve Designs, and
others. It’s a natural fit since “getting to work
with excellent product” is his favourite part
of working in pro audio, he says. Some of the
recent content is focused on Yamaha Canada
offerings like studio monitors and version 10
of Steinberg’s Cubase Pro.
Now living on the south shore of Mon-
treal Island, outside of work, Lefebvre says it’s
all about family. “I have two kids, Mélodie and
Félix, and I’ve had a lovely speech language
pathologist of a wife next to me over the last
10 years, joining me on my crazy journey!” he
says. “I love woodwork and renovations and
I also like to shoot some pool from time to
time with a good glass of scotch. As far as
music goes, I tend to listen to a lot of One-
Republic, Imagine Dragons, Ariana Grande,
Lady Gaga, Shawn Mendes, Zayn Malik, and
lots of popular top-40 songs. When you want
to work in a field, you better know who your
peers are and what current productions
sound like.”
As for what’s upcoming, he says: “We are
in the midst of negotiating a distribution
agreement with a large company for our
very own label, so I’ll be very excited to an-
nounce that shortly. We’re also looking for
our first top-40 on the Billboard U.S. charts
and I have very high hopes for this year as we
have a pool of incredible tracks right now, all
demoed and ready to be heard. We are cur-
rently pitching to several different producers
and publishers as well. Expanding overseas as
a content production house and distributing
through strategic alliances will allow us to
expand our reach. Also, signing some more
talented authors/composers, while helping
them to grow as songwriting artists and trig-
ger their creative minds.”
Michael Raine is the Senior Editor of Professional Sound.
20 PROFESSIONAL SOUND