If you are producing, the most important thing is to surround yourself with the best people possible. Recording people talk about gear a lot, but the best gear in the world is meaningless to the wrong people. People write the songs and people play / sing the songs. People make a record.

I've been working with singer/songwriter Daniel Sexton on the weekends now for months. At first, we were trying to do most of the work ourselves. We wanted to keep everything simple and didn't want to deal with others. It turns out that this was a huge mistake.

Specialization

I always tell bands who are considering the notion of recording themselves, that there are probably a few benefits to this, but none of them have the experience, the facility, the familiarity, and the gear that I do. It's hard for them to compete with what I can offer because I've been a full time recording guy for 5 years. Most of them are not exactly sure how to plug in their recording rig.

The power of uniting people who specialize in given fields is enormous. When each task is handled by a person who knows exactly what he is doing without any guesswork or even hesitation, the process can be magical.

Music is no exception. Daniel and I were trying to add piano to one of his songs. Neither of us are piano players. In fact, I would say that we are quite terrible at the instrument. However, we were working to do our best. This actually worked out pretty well for a few songs because we played parts that were extremely simple but extremely powerful.

Well one song called for a real piano player. It called for a guy who knew what he was doing. I called up a buddy who is robo-amazing at piano. He's a real musician. I didn't even have to show him how to play the songs. He just said “Hit play” and he was off. By the second take he knew the whole song. I never told him a single chord.

Daniel's jaw dropped when the piano player did his thing. Normally, we'd be frustrated and tearing our hair out trying to make something remotely interesting and here this guy was doing it instantly.

The Creative Benefits

You'll find that every decent musician has a style. Sometimes this is called a “rut”, but this sort of thing can be quite beneficial to a song. For example, my guitar playing style hasn't evolved much from the metal I was playing religiously in my late teens. However, on a country song, it can be really cool to hear 1/8^th note palm mutes during a bridge or something. Basically, my character is infused into the song and can take a song into an exciting new place.

I actually hate playing guitar on songs I'm producing (because I'm busy producing!!!!). I want to do my thing and listen. I want to make comments from a listener's perspective and I can not do that when I've got a guitar in my hand. I'm listening from a guitar player perspective.

We ended up hiring a rock guitar player to handle the electric guitar duties. I had a friend come in and , again, the results were phenomenal. He took one song to an entirely different mega exciting place. It's something that neither Daniel or I would have came up with on our own, but took tons of pressure off of us.

A Fresh Perspective

One a musician hears an incomplete song for the first time, it's usually quite easy for them to imagine what they could do to improve it. Ideas start pumping and usually something really cool happens very quickly. This happened with both our hired keyboard player and our hired guitar player.

After Daniel and I had worked on the first batch of songs for quite a long time, our creative brains were totally fried. Having a new, fresh perspective from players that have the ability to express their ideas well will end up making this record!

Convenience

This is a whole other issue, but must be noted. Normally, Daniel and I are stressed out trying to figure out how to add to the song. Well, Daniel sat on the couch and I sat in my producer's chair with my feet up while our hired guns did all the work. I just had to contain them when necessary and inspire them to get wild when necessary. I can do that!

Musician's Want To Help

This is another thing. Every guitar player on the planet wants to get paid a few bucks to play on a record. Most people want to play on records anyway. Getting paid more than they make at their job per hour is an exciting opportunity that most people will totally jump at, for sure!

These musicians do not have to be Nashville A-list type of people. I'd love to work with those people, but in this setting it works just having someone competent come in and add to the songs. There are times when a mega badass is required and it's so gratifying to see a real guy come in and blow our songs out of the water.

Conclusion

You don't have to do everything yourself when it comes to producing. Pay someone who is better than you at this or that to take care of the work. Local musicians love to help with recordings. Give them a few bucks and they will save you hours of work and push your songs to a level you may have never realized before.