Recording - June 2018 - 13

there are also some very deep orchestrations. He wanted to
explore a bunch of styles, and he asked a lot of friends in,
who were also my friends, and also an orchestra.

How did you make the jump from session sideman to
engineer and producer?

I was a session keyboardist in Chicago in the 1980s. Synthesizers were in their infancy and I took to them like a duck
to water; I could coax sounds out of them that others couldn't.
Today you don't need a "programmer" as much as you used
to, but it got me a lot of work in those days. I was also a
classical and jazz pianist, I could sightread, play blues B3...
Through this journey, I worked in the best studios in the
world, with the best musicians, engineers, songwriters, and
producers in the world. I also worked with some of the worst.
I learned what was good and what was bad.
In 2000, when Napster hit, the music industry changed radically. That's when I built my own studio and started working
on my own, to fit the new business model with its shrinking

Did you compose them at your studio?

A lot of the songs he actually had demos on. I got Derek into
using [Apple] Logic years ago. Once he got into Logic, he was
empowered to create without having to hire someone to come
over and do it. He got very productive, and when he'd gathered
enough songs, he started sending me stuff. He would send me
his Logic sessions, and I would arrange them and redo everything to make it into a "record-sounding demo." A lot of times,
that would entail me writing with him. Everything was completely
demoed out before we brought in any outside musicians.

Did you have a "house band" that you augmented
with the famous people on the album?

Not at all. Every track had a completely different band.

So was it recorded at many studios, or did you bring
everybody to you...?

It was recorded all over! Some guys recorded remotely, like
Larry Carlton, Donald Fagen, and Rick Wakeman. I'd send them

"I really enjoy that modular approach of recording... I
just happen to be really good at using my abilities as
a programmer and musician to create arrangements
with the artist before we go in with live musicians."
budgets. I had been doing at least a session at day at A&M,
Capitol, the Record Plant, with a full rhythm section, and that
all went away very quickly. I've always had the ability to
create my own tracks from scratch, and people came to me
for keyboard parts. Instead of paying for cartage of my gigantic
keyboard rig, they came to my studio.
About that time I met Greg Ladanyi, the brilliant engineer for
Toto and many others, and he became one of my best friends
in the world. I spent over 20 years working with him and
watching him engineer and produce. That's where I learned
to really mix. At some point, people started saying, "Hey,
your demos are sounding better than the finished mixes we're
getting back!" I got good enough that I was empowered to
not have to wait for anyone-I could do things on my own.
While other people were out in the other room making
jokes, I was over the engineer's shoulder, watching like a
hawk. I learned from the best, from people like Al Schmitt,
Ed Cherney, Chris Lord-Alge, and Greg. And producers like
David Foster and Phil Ramone...

How did this project proceed? Did Derek come in with
all the songs ready, or did you do some songwriting?

the arrangement and say, "Play a solo between these bars here
with this signature sound... give me a soundscape over there..."
And the parts would come back, and they'd be amazing.
Most of the time when I went out to other studios, it was to
do drums-in studios like United, EastWest, Village, and Capitol.
I used my studio for all of the vocal overdubs, bass parts,
guitars... all the intimate stuff with the artist was done at my
studio. They feel very comfortable there, it's a very intimate
environment. When I did Toto XIV a couple of years ago,
everything was done in my studio except the drums.
I really enjoy that modular approach of recording. A lot of
people go for getting a band together in a room and doing it
that way, which is cool; I just happen to be really good at using my abilities as a programmer and musician to create arrangements with the artist before we go in with live musicians.

One thing that must have been fascinating is that unlike
a modern session with an indie band that has 'their
thing,' you got to jump genres all the time...

Absolutely! Derek and I decided that this is the stuff that we
love, and that's how normal people think about music. Not
just country, or just indie, or this or that... the music that we
RECORDING June 2018

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