Looking for a great producer for your next cd project?

Joe Hand can bring out the best in you!

Rock, Pop, Country, Acoustic, Jazz... whatever your style, Joe can deliver top quality sound. 

His team of musicians, programmers, vocalists, and image consultants are the best in the business.  Put them to work for you!   They work with the major artists and record labels, so you will ALWAYS get the best. 

Doesn't your music and career deserve it?  

Sure, you can get a demo anywhere.   But demos don't get you anywhere. 

do it right the first time.  Call Joe today to discuss your next cd.

An Interview with
Award-Winning Nashville
Producer Joe Hand

Joe Hand is a burst of musical and spiritual energy.  He wears many hats… artist, songwriter, musician, engineer, counselor, and of course, record producer.  He lives just outside of Nashville, TN, with his wife Jean Ann and his rather funny dog Boo Radley.  I caught up with Joe recently at his private studio to talk about music, how he got started, and producing music in the new age…

MM-            thanks for inviting me here!

JH-  thanks for showing up on time. (laughs)

MM-   Lets start with a brief Joe musical history.  What’s your earliest musical memory?

JH-  My earliest memories are musical.  I remember “Snoopy and the Red Baron” and “Raindrops keep fallin’ on my Head” and that magnificent trumpet in “Penny Lane.”  I was fascinated by sounds… music, noise, train whistles, anything. 

MM-  No surprise you are a producer today.  When did you start to play music?

JH-  I was 7.  My parents bought a piano for my older brother Shaun, who was 10.  He tried for a while… but it became obvious I wanted time at the keys.  He took up guitar, and I stuck with the piano. 

MM-  Classical lessons?

JH-  Not at first.  A Jazz guitar teacher actually taught me for the first few years… gave me a solid chord and music theory foundation.  Classical came later, when I got to high school.  A wonderful teacher, Sue Colvert, really challenged me.  Up to that point music was easy.  I also was playing saxophone and bass in the school bands.  Had a rock band with my brother for a time too.  I couldn’t get enough music. 

MM-  I see a degree from Berklee College of Music on the wall.   What did you study?

JH-  Anything I could.   My degree is actually in Production and Engineering, but I took tons of arranging courses, performance classes, improvisation,  and Japanese.

MM-  Japanese?  Ohio! (hello, in Japanese)

JH-  “Ohio, goziamas!” (a more formal hello)  That’s about all I remember.  And “Domo Arigato”, thanks to Styx.

MM-  Good thing the music courses took root…

JH-   I loaded myself up with the most insanely difficult classes I could.  I was there to learn… I wanted the best Berklee had to offer.

MM-  Your degree is in Production. But when did you start in recording studios?

JH-  I had my first recording experiences when I was in middle school.   I was one of those MTV children… I think I was actually watching when it came on the air the first time.   Back then they didn’t have any videos yet… so they showed a lot of the groups in recording studios.   I was hooked.  I said to myself, “ I want to do THAT!” 

MM- and you found your way in?

JH-  I actually was teaching piano and bass lessons when I was 16 at a studio, and was doing some light session stuff on the side.  Even got to record at Criteria in Miami a couple of times…heady stuff for a teenager.  My parents helped me get my first 4 track tascam cassette recorder, and I was off to the races.  After Berklee, I moved into an old recording studio, and have had some form of studio ever since.

MM- how did you get into the Nashville recording scene?  It can be very tough here.

JH-  A friend of mine, Frank Conway, moved to Nashville a month before I did, and was selling high end recording gear to studios and producers and artists.  He asked me to work for him.  I turned him down, because I didn’t feel like I would be a good salesman.  However, I told him if he needed someone to deliver stuff, or help install gear, or teach anyone anything about Protools (Digital Audio Software), I’d be more than happy to go out. 

MM-  so you got in on the tech side…

He’d call and say “Can you help the Osmonds over at this studio?”  or  “can you deliver this software to this writer out of town,”  and everywhere I went, people asked me to stay and help.  Word of mouth had my phone ringing off the hook.  There weren’t many people in Nashville who knew Protools at that time, and I was having fun hanging out with some heavy musicians and artists and producers.

MM-  What groups or artists had the most influence on you?

JH-  I like the way you phrased that.   Early on, it was the Beatles, Queen, Journey, Rush, Kansas, Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, Billy Joel, The Cars, Boston, Led Zeppelin, Chicago, Crack the Sky, Aerosmith…

MM-  wow... that’s some list!  Some very adventurous groups in that mix…

JH-  I actually saw King Crimson’s “Three of a perfect Pair” concert on MTV.  Taped it. It became my “Sgt. Pepper.”   The sounds… the virtuosity… weird instruments and electronic sounds… very strange stuff for a 13 year old to be listening to. 

MM-  And later?

JH-  I really got into more natural stuff at Berklee.  Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, Motown and Atlantic Soul, Michael Hedges, BB King, Paul Simon, Dinah Washington,  Elvis,  Joni Mitchell, and a bunch of scary 60’s hippie stuff.

MM-   I won’t ask.

JH- (Laughing).  Maybe it’s better that way.  Seriously, I like anything that’s good.  Style doesn’t matter.  Honesty and quality matters to me. 

MM-  Isn’t that hard to come by nowadays?

JH-   You were setting me up for that, weren’t you! (laughs)

MM-  A common complaint I hear about modern music…

JH-   I don’t agree.  Is there junk out there?  Of course there is.  But some of the best music ever made is being done now.  Paul Simon… Peter Gabriel… John Mayer…Mark Knopfler… Sheryl Crow… Alanis… Lyle Lovett… Ben Harper… 

MM-  More surprises there. 

JH-  Not to me. Superb talent. GREAT MUSIC. It’s out there.  Sometimes you have to look a little harder to find the gold, but it’s worth it.  And hey, now it’s instant gratification… find it… try it… buy it on itunes!  Or order a cd online, and it shows up a few days later.  I used to wait in line at a store for new records on their release date…

MM-  That’s funny. 

JH-  Those days are long gone. I’m glad they are.  Much better making music now.

MM-  Let’s move on to your productions.  An artist wants you to produce their new CD. Where do you start?

JH-  You’ve got to get to know them a bit, and they need to get to know you.  References are very important.  Most of the artists that have come to me recently already knew my work on other projects, or heard my CDs.  They come to me and will say, “great sound.  Can you do that for me?”

MM-  What’s step 2?

JH- I’m not a dictator producer.  I can be, but that’s not fun.  I want to have fun… share a vision with an artist.  Step 2 is that vision… deciding what the goal is, and establishing a budget.   That’s the most difficult part of the process, actually.

MM-  Not surprising.  Can’t really shoot and ask questions later, unless you have very deep pockets.

JH-   Exactly.  Organization up front is critical for smaller budgets.  The larger the budget, the more creative freedom you have.  You have time to try more things.  If you only have $20,000 to make a cd, you’d better be efficient about it, or you’re dead.

MM-  Great advice. But how flexible is that plan?

JH-   Depends on the project.  No project goes exactly as planned.  It’s a journey. Many times the artist says, “Can we…?”   To which the answer is almost always YES, if the funds are available.  I like to think I’m a man of possibilities. Stretching boundaries.  I have a wonderful musical team around me.  I can get just about anything, musically speaking.  But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here…

MM- Important stuff there!  You have a vision, you have a budget.  Next step?

JH-  Step 3 is choosing the right songs.  Most of the artists I work with write their own material, so it’s ESSENTIAL they choose the right songs.  That can be a struggle because often a song the artist is passionate about is one that is really lame, from a commercial point of view.

MM-  I bet there have been some battles in that department over the years.

JH-  Nothing major.  I don’t operate like that.  I only fight the battles I can win.  If an artist absolutely insists on doing something that doesn’t make sense to me, I have learned I can’t stop them.  That’s why they are artists.   They need to have the creative freedom to blow it.

MM-  You’re kidding?

JH-  Making mistakes is the only true way to learn.  I have made just about all of them.

MM-  Ok… Step 4… you have vision, a budget.  Once you’ve chosen songs, and musicians, do you track a band one musician at a time, or all together?

JH-  It depends on the style of music, and the artist.  Lately, I’ve been tracking a full band in the studio all together, unless some computer programming is an essential part of the sound.  Big pop stuff requires lots of creative keyboard programming and tons of loops and crazy sounds.    All depends on the artist, and the overall sonic goal.

MM-  What if the songs themselves aren’t finished?

JH-  I help with arrangements and chording and lyrics if the artist asks.  I bring in other master writers to help too.   Sometimes the song is finished in the studio by playing with sounds and musical riffs or experimenting somehow.  That’s what I love about being in the studio… when the true creative vibe happens and you end up with a great song or performance. 

MM-  How important is the computer to music now?  Many people depend on it.

JH-  Again, it depends on the style of music, and the artist.  The computer is a tool, like a drum machine, guitar amp, keyboard, or reverb unit.  That’s all I see it as.

If I have a great singer, a great band, and a great acoustic space,  I can put up cheap microphones and run it all through an inexpensive console to a 2 track and get great recording.   Great gear helps, and I’m a total gear head, but that’s not what’s most important.

What IS most important is the SOUL of the artist.  Music is communication.  Hopefully it is conveying the same emotions, desires, dreams, and hopes it always has.  

MM-  What advice do you have for young artists today? 

JH-  5 things

1.  Look your best.  That (unfortunately) is most important in commercial music.
2.  Find/write the best songs you can.
3.  Work at your craft…every aspect of it.
4.  Take care of the people around you.  You’ll need lots of help. 
5.  SAY THANK YOU.   You’ll be remembered well for it.

MM-  great send off.  Thanks for sharing an hour with us.

JH-   Thank me?  Thank YOU!  I hope it helps someone.