Goal-setting

It’s easy to launch into a music production project without taking time to goal-set. “It’ll be what it is” is a seductive default mindset! As are many things that take no extra work.

When I was first starting out producing records, I didn’t have a clear compass; I wasn’t really sure of who I was yet. So a lot of the first records I made had sort of scattershot production. Like making a “clean the fridge” meal the last day before the big shopping run. A pinch of this idea, a spoonful of that idea — and at the end, we have a record!

But … is that record cohesive? Does that record hold together and reward deeper engagement across the songs as a body of work? My experience was sometimes yes and sometimes no; it was essentially luck of the draw.

What I’ve learned is that for me, these days, it’s an essential part of my process to do extensive and concrete goal-setting with the artist before I start a project. If we know what we’re aiming at, then we have a way to judge whether what we’re doing measures up. Otherwise I’m flying blind, and that’s not acceptable to me at this point in my arc. It’s a bedrock value for me these days that I work with intentionality. It’s how I access my best work, and I’m at a place where I’m not willing to do anything but my best work.

And if it’s an in-house project — a Shannon Curtis album, for example — then it’s no less important to talk about scope and set goals. Ideally this happens before Shannon starts writing, but sometimes she’ll start experimenting and we’ll get a song or two in before we have the “where is this going” conversation.

Either way is valid — the important thing is not to skip it. Because records made in an intentional way tend, in my experience, to have deeper resonance and longer-lasting emotional value. And that’s what we’re aiming at, right?

My aim is true — jamie