Re: would that you could...

[lazlo%triton.unm.edu@lynx.unm.edu (Lazlo Nibble)]

woj@remus.rutgers.EDU writes:

[What if you got to produce Kate's next album?]

First off, I tell her as politely but as firmly as I can that if she wants
me to produce, Del Doesn't Get To Engineer This Album.  He can dance naked
around the studio with bells tied to his ankles if he wants, but the
minute he touches the mixing board, he dies.  Period.  I also tell her
that if she wants to work with me, she's going to have to take a few
months off to learn how to program that Series III.  

Throughout the production of the album, I strongly encourage her to
overindulge herself.  If she wants to try a full orchestration on this
track or that, well by all means, arrange it and we'll give it a shot. 
It's better to have too much material to work with than too little. When
she's asleep or taking a rest away from it all, I'll be in the studio
working up new approaches to the tracks to present to her when she
returns, trying to give her the lush, rich sound that I think she
deserves.  She gets the final word, but she also gets presented with as
many options as humanly possible.  We cut a few covers of songs -- some
her choices, some mine -- just to keep things loose and keep the ideas
flowing. What the hell . . . it'll take forever to get the album out
anyway.   

If it looks like she's starting to focus too much on the tiny things, I
try to pull her back to see the big picture, not to get bogged down in
details.  I'll call in the best people I've worked with over the years to
help out -- studio legends or pop stars if need be.  I encourage them to
express themselves in their contributions.  Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty
steal her away for guest vox on a remix of something, then nearly explode
her head during the video shoot, which of couse just inspires her to
appear in the final version of the WHITE ROOM movie despite the fact that
it's taking us forever to get this thing put together.  I don't see her
for a month or two, and when she gets back she's primed to rework half the
tracks we're working on.  They come out sounding twice as good. 

We don't work towards the creation of a single, solid album, unless it's
meant to be a concept disc.  We just work until we have a couple of dozen
songs that we're both happy with.  Enough for an album, a few bonus tracks
for the CD, a couple that are seriously dancable (either on their own or
with a little work), a couple for B-sides. 

The album gets released.  Some of her fans hate it because it's a
completely new sound for her (a "sell-out"), some of her fans *like* it
because it's a completely new sound for her, some of them just like it. 
The US flirts with the first single but ultimately doesn't buy it. The
second single charts number one in Europe and Japan.  We work together at
some point in the future, as I talk her into guesting on another album I'm
working on. 

--
Lazlo (lazlo@triton.unm.edu)

NIBBLE SAY ELVIS IS DEAD