Graduate Spotlight – Jamie Holmes

As a graduate of Riverside who has gone on to establish yourself at Castle of Doom Studios, what key lessons from your time at college proved most valuable in your professional career?

Firstly I’d just like to say that my two years at Riverside was completely invaluable, I learned so many foundational skills that I still use to this day. A few key lessons would be DAW operation, in particular Pro Tools as I’m yet to work in a commercial studio that doesn’t use Pro Tools. My advice would be to get as comfortable and as proficient as possible using Pro Tools, it will make your life a lot easier during a recording session. Even things like knowing how to set up a different I/O from studio to studio can be really useful. Editing on PT is extremely powerful as well and there are lots of different ways to do this and I’d suggest practicing editing Drums, Bass & Guitars in Beat Detective, Polyphonic mode and manually slip editing.

You’ve worked with notable artists like Gerry Cinnamon and The Lapelles – how did you make the transition from session drummer to becoming a full-time producer and mixing engineer?

For everyone this will be slightly different as there’s no set blueprint when it comes to the music industry. For me personally I had the privilege of already being a member of a prominent band in the scene which meant I knew a lot of other artists, producers, live sound engineers & promoters. When I made the decision to get into production I reached out to some of those contacts and asked for a shadowing opportunity to gain some experience. I ended up shadowing in a recording studio and live venue around the same time and I knew that once I had my foot in the door, I had to really prove myself and become invaluable to the engineers I was working for. I became really good at anticipating what was needed during a session for either the producer or the artist. If drums were needing set up and tuned it would already be done before I was asked, if editing had to be completed before the next member was up that would be ready to go – forward thinking is key. From there on I focused on building rapport with artists who I would meet at gigs and seizing every available opportunity to market myself as an up and coming producer & mixing engineer. Almost ten years on I’ve maintained this same attitude and built up a discography and client base that I’m exceptionally proud of.

Can you walk us through your typical approach when producing a new artist at Castle of Doom Studios? What’s your process for helping them achieve their desired sound?

My approach always starts with the initial conversation and what the artist/band are looking to get out of the experience with me. We chat about influences, references, taste and style of production. I believe it’s important to understand the artist before jumping into a production or mix session and work hard to understand what I can do for them with my skill set. I’ll ask for a demo of the song(s) that they are looking to work on and we’ll discuss if there’s anything that could be improved on. Once we get to the session I’ll have two different methods that usually use; the first one is setting the band up live and really trying to capture that raw, live energy that they might be looking for. From these takes I’ll normally only use the live drums and bass as I like much more control when recording guitars and vocals; things like tuning, arrangement, doubling and timing is important to me as part of my production style. The second method is building up the track in a multitrack recording style. I do lots of this when I am also the drummer on the session and it becomes impossible for me to engineer and drum effectively at the same time. This usually starts with guide tracks and demos that we use to record over and then build up each instrument individually. I constantly reference during recording and mixing to give myself that slight safety net of knowing I’m on the right path. It’s really important to keep a constant dialogue with the artist during this process and to not be precious about ideas or direction, at the end of the day it’s about getting to the finish line in any way possible where the artist will be happy with the finished product.

Having built such an eclectic discography, what advice would you give to current students who want to develop versatility in their production style?

I’d say when you’re first starting out just say yes to everything and throw yourself in at the deep end. It’s hard to be picky at the start as you’re just looking for anyone to come and work with you, if you say yes you’ll learn much quicker than saying no and waiting for that perfect artist to walk through the door (which most likely won’t happen). On top of that you’ve got to listen to as much music as you can, watch tutorial videos of recording techniques, mixing tricks, songwriting and arrangement examples. There’s so much to this sector of the music industry so best getting a head start while you can.

What do you consider to be the most important technical and interpersonal skills for succeeding as a producer in Glasgow’s music scene today?

Technically there’s not one skill that’s more important than the other but if I had to choose one it would be simply operating a studio that you’re comfortable with. Now there’s a lot that comes with that but it’s a skill that not many people have in this city as there’s not a lot of producer/engineers around these days. Get comfortable with the room, patch bay, desk, speakers, equipment, software and all the things that come with running a top class session. In terms of interpersonal skills I think being able to relate and understand the artist is of such high importance. The interpersonal skills are what can make a session great or a disaster. Get to know your artist, find out what they like and don’t like, learn about them personally and where they have come from as every single person is so unique and interesting.

Lastly learn to read the energy of the room!!! Vibe and energy during a session is how great things happen, if you start to feel a dip where things aren’t going so well then it’s your responsibility to quickly make a change and flip it on its head. Scrap that idea and try something new, start recording something completely different, experiment or literally just have a break and go outside for the first time that day and let everyone get out of that intense environment for half an hour.