There are moments in a recording session when you can feel things start to click. If you’re wondering how to get the best performance in the studio, part of the answer is knowing when to stop forcing things and let the musicians react to each other. That’s often what makes a great recording session. Not because somebody found the perfect plugin. Not because every note was planned in advance. And definitely not because anybody announced, “Okay, now the magic is going to happen.” You just keep working. You try something. You listen. The musicians react to each other. Somebody plays something nobody expected. The arrangement shifts. The energy changes. And suddenly there it is. This was one of those moments with Jet Black Iris at Mix City Music. That’s one of the reasons I still love producing records after all these years. You can prepare, edit, arrange, engineer and obsess over details — and you should — but you also have to leave enough space for something you didn’t plan to happen. Because sometimes the music has a better idea. The magic happens whenever it happens. Keep at it. If you’ve got a song that’s close but something still isn’t clicking, send it my way. Sometimes another experienced set of ears is exactly what it needs.
