Worship Musician Magazine September 2020 | Page 106

GUITAR CONNECTING WITH THE ARTIST: A PRODUCER’S PERSPECTIVE | Chris Rocha Producing music is one of my biggest passions. I’ve had the opportunity to produce so many artists over the years in the Spanish Christian industry. There are so many things I have learned that I could share but one of the most important things I’ve learned is learning how to connect with the artist and bring life to their music according to their style. The first thing I do when I take on a client is find out where they’re at musically. I’ve made the mistake of projecting on them whatever musical trend I was into at the time. This obviously created more work for me in the long run as I later would have to redo the song because it wasn’t connecting with them and not what they wanted. It is good to learn your client and what their expectations are before you even begin the work on the project. This is something I had to learn the hard way! With that being said, as good producers it’s also our job to help guide the artists to an overall great sound. What I have done to remedy this is to find common ground and meet them in the middle. I will take their style and preferences and merge it together with what’ll hit the market best at that time and create great music. As a producer, it is important to be aware of new music that’s coming out and music that people love. I always try to be attentive to a good variety of music. It can be very easy to stay in a rut and continue to go with what works. My encouragement to you is to be attentive to music around you and don’t be afraid to branch out and try something new. It is also very important to rely and feed off of your team of musicians that are on your production team. I’m fully aware that I’m not the coolest and hippest guitar player around so I learn a lot from those around me and vice versa. As a guitar player, it’s also important to keep an open eye on other guitar players and learn from them as well. Think out of the box and push your boundaries. If you continue that you’ll always have a sound that’s evolving and relevant. An added bonus is that you’ll always get called back to play or produce from the same artist that were more than satisfied with your sound. Us guitar players/ producers must always try harder to better our productions. Whether it’s your guitar tone or your production quality, it’s important for your next thing to be better than the last. Sometimes it’ll take changing a pedal or upgrading a plugin to get you closer to what you’re looking for. Either way let’s not forget that connecting with the artist and getting them that epic sound is what’s important. Chris Rocha Lives in Houston, TX, and is the guitarist and producer for Miel San Marcos 106 September 2020 Subscribe for Free...