I came across a video recently that I had seen a several years ago and I was reminded of how profoundly it helped me as producer. It was not an EQ trick, it was not a snare sound tutorial, it was a video by the amazing Bootsy Collins, the king of funk bass.
In the video Bootsy does a really simple straight forward explanation of funk bass and where to put the rhythmic emphasis on classic funk grooves. But the way he explained it got me rethinking how I put parts together for not only funk, but rock, pop, EDM etc. It influenced a lot of my production decisions. I had a similar experience watching a drum tutorial by the great German drummer Benny Greb. He explained concepts about playing ahead of the beat or behind the beat that solidified my understand of what I knew internally but could not articulate. It helped me build grooves and communicate with other musicians I was collaborting about feel in ways I could not do before. It made me a better producer.
So as much as I have learned by watching producers and engineers talk about EQ and compression, etc, the things that have had the most significant impact on me have been hearing great musicians talk about MUSIC. Great production is much more about bringing out the best in the performances and the song than what kind of snare sound you can get.
Check out the Bootsy video.
