avamusic4

Mixing with the Best Steve Thompson mixed Sweet Silence for Ronny Morris. But when Brian Draper telephoned the world-renowned producer, writer and arranger in New York, the only thing he was mixing was an organic shrimp salad… (“I’m making a very special shrimp salad,” he reported, “with organic spinach, fennel, asparagus, ricotta, organic carrots, celery, cucumbers, and a little honeyed Dijon…”) Steve has worked with many artists, including Korn, Metallica, Guns N' Roses and Tesla. Can you remember each album you’ve worked on, or do they tend to blur into one? No, I remember most of them. So what do you remember about Ronny Morris’s? I loved working with Morris. His music is very satisfying. It’s may be even too good for today’s market. But I really like the sensibility of his songs, and his passion for making a great record without worrying about whether it’s going to go top-40 or not. He was really sticking to his guns. I think his sensibility is amazing. You’re a very experienced producer. What kind of role do you play when working on an album (and in this case, in mixing it)? It’s all subjective. Everything is in the ear of the beholder – in this case, mine! As a producer, mixer and arranger, I want to make sure we have the right songs before we go into the studio. And every project is different. With Korn, I spent about two months helping to write the album. So it really depends on the project. Once you feel comfortable, then you go into the studio and start recording. As a mixer, you get all the elements together – it’s like making a salad. You take all the information and see what works with the sensibility of the songs. An outside mixer can often bring a fresh perspective to the songs - sometimes there’s too much information in there, and they can help can weed out a lot of it. What did you bring to Morris’s album, in particular? I took all Ronny’s ideas and tried to fit them into the songs – whether that be strings on this or that arrangement, putting instruments in their proper perspective, analysing vocal performances to see which one works better, backing vocals, guitars, drum sounds, bass sounds… there were a lot of ideas on tape, and we didn’t have to use them all. But the ones we did used made sense. Did Sweet Silence change much, in your hands? It’s much more dynamic now. The songs felt a little bit flat at first, and the excitement of the production didn’t seem to come through on the original mixes. Mixing is about trying to get the best of what the artist has tried to do. I would say there’s a lot more dynamics in the songs now. How would you rate the finished product? There’s a timeless quality about this album. A lot of the time, people make records that are kind of disposable. They’re only good for about a month, then you get rid of them. But with Ronny’s material, you really can’t put a stamp on it and say, ‘OK, that was recorded in that year…’ Music is something that affects all of us. It shouldn’t matter what you look like or how old you are, and the music itself shouldn’t have an age or a style – but MTV screwed that up when they started ‘imaging’ music instead of leaving the listener to figure out what the song’s about. The problem with having a video is that everyone ends up with a preconceived idea of what a song is about. Morris has done much of the legwork on this project – from writing and recording the album to setting up a label to publish it. Is that unusual, in your experience? Or is it the way ahead? In this day and age, it’s going to be more the norm - which I think is a good thing. It’s important that artists are free to be a creative force. Some of the best music was made in the 60s and 70s (I guess when everyone was doing drugs) and the music industry let the artists be the artists, and let them experiment. They gave them time to develop, and they didn’t have to break it on single one. Today, I think artists like Ronny Morris have a chance to hone their own craft, without having a record company looking over their shoulder saying, “Beyoncé’s big – you’ve got to sound like her.” Or Amy Winehouse. Or Duffy… Record companies always try to chase a trend. But to me, music should be about great songs, regardless of genre. It shouldn’t be about what’s flavour of the month. But then, I was weaned with [the legendary producer] Clive Davis, so I’m kind of spoilt. I presume you get to choose who you work with these days. Yes. So why work with someone like Morris, when you could be with Guns N Roses or Korn or Mick Jagger or …? With Ronny, it’s kind of a selfish thing - his songs are songs I like listening to. It’s kind of a personal thing. I’ve worked on a lot of genres of music, and I can go from Coldplay to Muse, from here to there. I liked Ronny’s because it was good listening music. I wanted something I could listen to in my car after finishing it. But I don’t want to over-analyse this, you know? Music for me is like breathing. It’s all about the vibe of the song… ~ To listen to Ronny Morris' Music Visit// Myspace: www.myspace.com/ronnymorris Web: http://ronnymorris.com/

I haven't heard about her in a long time. I see she had an album out in 08, never knew. what label or marketing team is backing her because it seems like they're doing a really bad

I am so glad that i dont watch this show. it seems to get worst and worst every season.

I love this band. haven't seen them live though...would be awesome if i have

Really loving the the title that Lucid Fly came up with for their new EP. Listening to Nikki's amazing voice and MySpace songs off of Escape Stage has really given me a good vibe about this band. Curious to see them live.