My name is Jake Gosling and I'm a music producer/songwriter
and this is my studio, Sticky Studios.
So some of the things I've worked in the past have been
Wiley, a UK rapper
Ed Sheeran
Paloma Faith
One Direction
The Libertines
A bit more recently, Shawn Mendes and Shania Twain.
With production it's fun to be able to be,
I guess you're writing, but you're not writing in the
sense of the word you're having to help the artist, let's say if I'm
producing a track, for that song to sound as clear as it can for the artist.
For me, the most key thing is to focus on the song and if I'm producing the song
I like to know that the song is going to work for me and that's my first port of call.
With the Shawn Mendes thing, it was like I really loved what the demos were
I was like, actually you know, they're sounding really good and I love the
placement of them and I need to make sure that we're gonna go in that same
sort of direction, because normally the demos will outline
the vibe of it, where it's gonna be.
And then it will be the artist, the relationship and how you
relate with them, and how you know, do you get on? You know, it's fundamental that
you have a good relationship and that you can communicate with each other
and there will be times, and it has happened before, that you can start on something
but the relationships not quite there and if the relationships not there
there's no point working on the record because you've got to do it for the
right reasons, and the right reasons are that you both understand what it should be.
and I think that is crucial to it being something more than just another track on the radio.
That relationship between the producer and the artists
or you know the songwriters, whatever that involvement is, I think that is the sort
of magic maybe that people talk about.
and then if that's working really really
well then the next stage is to work firstly with the artists because
they are the driving force, and the record company has sort of become I'd say
another voice, but they vary in the way that they work.
Some A&R people will try and be very hands-on and say "we want this"
and I understand that because I understand that there are
certain rules and things that sometimes things need to fit into
with the length of a song or maybe the chorus could come in here or whatever it might be.
So I have to permanently juggle what it is that people think should be or what
feels right or what is right for the song and I think you have to always push
more on the side of the song and try and get that side across
and then it will be, what do we want? Is it drums? Is it gonna be recorded on an electric, acoustic?
All those decisions have to be made. What is the tempo of the track?
A tempo can make such a massive difference to a song, a massive difference and
even the key of the song. I've had it with Paloma Faith before, there was a
track I did with her and it was really quite slow and then the idea was we'll
sped it up by quite a lot actually and suddenly it changed the whole feel of
the whole song and it became a single in the end.
But I'm always working with the artist so you know it's their vision as well
I'm always like look, really you get the last call, or you should have the last call because it's your vehicle.
You're the one performing it it's your song you're invested in it
it's your career and I don't want to be responsible for like trying to say well
I know more than you because of this because I don't, I have ideas, you've got ideas
but it has to be driven from the creative it has to be driven from the artist.
So that's really sort of my role I guess which is quite a few hats being producer.
With an artist I think you need to make sure
well I need to make sure and they need to make sure that they feel happy
and comfortable with recording and the environment is very very important.
With The Libertines album it wasn't my studio, we did it in Thailand, so as soon as I
got there I spoke to the owner of the studio Chris who's a lovely man
and I was like look I know this sounds a bit weird but we need lamps
we need incense going on, we need the lighting changed, and I'm not
trying to be a diva because it wasn't expensive right we just needed a cheap
like just go out and let's get things to try and dress up this place to make it
feel like we're not in a studio, I'm working with The Libertines, the guys
want to feel like they're in their bedroom half the time they don't want to
feel like they're in some stark studio, so that's what happened and then with
Paloma Faith we put fairy lights all in the booth and she's she loves all that sort
of theatrical sort of thing and suddenly you changed the environment
and we have candles going on, Shania Twain loved candles,
so we had loads of candles burning and stuff like that
I think it's just important to create that environment and
not make it feel like you're in an office you know otherwise go to an office
some people may love that and that's great, everyone's different
but I find as a rule genuinely that people in the creative world tend to like to
you know be a bit creative with it and have fun with it, and it should be fun.
I think for people who have that feeling
where I don't have that piece of kit or I don't have that microphone or I've
written a song I spent like you know the whole day working on something at the
end of it you're like you have this massive fall into the ground, the earth
opens up and you're like ah how am I going to cope with it but I think
you just got to remember that really it doesn't really matter,
The Beatles they're quite
well massive
huge
gigantic
recording on two tracks back in the day.
Don't worry about it is my thing you know with the first album I did with
Ed it was very simply a 200-pound mic with a you know relatively cheap sound card
on Cubase 3 that was hardly working on a PC.
I didn't have a door
on the live booth, that fell off, so we'd have to record really quietly and if you
listen to the songs on Plus, you'll hear noises, you'll hear a little door squeak
or me spinning in the chair or something happening, or a bird's outside
or whatever it is and I think those things are cool don't iron out all the mistakes
just use what you've got and get it down and record it.
If you've got good ideas and you're creative and you've got something to work with that's
all you really need the rest of it's just really really hard work and a bit
of luck thrown in and also the belief that you're not going to give up
don't give up keep going, you know, we've all had that door closed on us we've all
had that one saying "oh that song's not good enough", we had it with The A Team
"the song's not good enough" it's like yes it is! Stick to your guns if you think
it's good enough then if you know it is, then it sort of is.
You've got to have that sort of quiet confidence that, you know, what you're
doing is is right what you're doing is good and it will pay off
you just gotta keep doing it.