Can you be a producer in the classic Phil Ramone/Phil Spector sense with your own band?
I am more of a producer than a band member these days [laughs]. More often than not, it’s about helping your bandmates build a sound from the ground up. Everybody has an idea of what kind of sound they want. They might say, “I am feeling that this part is cloudy and blue.” Then, we move on from that concept. There’s creative input. Take the guitar sound for the first song, “Bixby Canyon Bridge.” Ben had dialed his sound in, but it wasn’t quite right, so I brought out this old Maestro Rhythm ’N Sound—a trigger box from the late ’60s/early ’70s. We set it up so that every time he played a string, it triggered the sound of an electronic clave. And we used its fuzz settings for the “straight” guitar sound—which sounds really beautiful. I think it’s what Spacemen 3 used on their recordings. Anyhow, that’s a gear decision, but it’s also a creative decision. I think that’s being a producer as much as it is an engineer. Is there a general rule of thumb you abide by for getting Nick’s bass soun
