JONATHAN LEE MUSIC DIRECTOR / GUITARIST FOR WE MUST RESPOND ALBUM BY BETHEL MUSIC
by Bruce Adolph
[ WM ] Jonathan , you played several roles in this new Bethel Music album We Must Respond . First of all , tell us about the preproduction efforts as Music Director for the ‘ Live ” concert nights . How did you prepare the band and artists before they arrived for the actual event so they would be all dialed in and ready to serve ?
[ Jonathan ] We did a week of pre-production in Nashville with our producers David Whitworth and Jason Ingram . A lot of the inspiration and sonic direction came from our sessions there . Then we had a couple of weeks off , so a big part of the prep work goes into just making sure we remember the parts that we wrote and played . We bounced stems for each position from that week in Nashville so that everyone could remember what we played . It ’ s kind of like learning songs for a tour night or a show by listening to isolated stems and such , it ’ s just us having to remember what we did the week before .
18 songs is a lot to remember !
Then my job really came into play when we would capture the nights . I think a main part of the role of an MD is identifying “ traps ” in songs . Places that can trip you up as a band or as an artist . So reminding everyone things like “ it ’ s 4 bridges then a chorus ” or “ remember we hold an extra 2 bars before the chorus ” helps your artist and band feel confident going into a recording . Also , a lot of the role is navigating the schedule of the nights , the flow between songs , before and after songs etc . We also captured these songs as “ worship nights ”, so there wasn ’ t much start / stop / take a break . It really felt like just worship sets that you would have at your church . There are moments of spontaneous worship , prayer , space , all of it .
18 January 2025 Subscribe for Free ...