Meet Oastview Studio’s Resident Producer/Engineer
Kent Music Producer - Nick Wood
Nick has been in the music business in some guise or another for more than 35 years. Primarily a musician himself, he has played in many bands in and around the Kent area and has also toured both nationally and internationally. He developed a deep fascination with the recording process while in his teens, utilising a pair of 2-track reel tape recorders to record to one then playback and overdub on the other. Soon progressing to a cassette based 4- track porto-studio he began to learn the various processes to get good clean recordings and learn to mix. He then went on to build his own home studio in the basement of his house before getting a small industrial unit at Sittingbourne in Kent where, in 2003, he started Broadwood Music Productions Ltd. A self confessed ‘gear nut’ kent music producer Nick has amassed a good deal of recording and music gear a lot of which have found their way over to Oastview Studio along with same great additions, in particular favouring the warmth of analogue to compliment todays digital recording technology.
The Role Of The Music Producer
The terms ‘music producer’ and ‘record producer’ are interchangeable. In the days when record labels where the only means of getting your music heard, the label would hire a studio comprising of the engineers and assorted personnel to do the physical recording whilst also hiring the services of a recording producer to direct how the song would be produced. This would mean going through the songs with the band before even going into the studio to help arrange the songs in terms of structure, flow, musicality, instrumentation and delivery. It was, and still is, essential to have all these things in place before the recording process begins. The music producer would then go into the studio with the band and direct how every part was recording, down to the microphone placements and using any tricks or processes they had up their sleeves with the goal of making a song sound perfectly crafted and unique whilst remaining faithful to the band or artiste’s sound . The result of many well love and famous recordings were the result of the music producers input to the creative process. The producers skillset was such that they would have a good deal of music theory knowledge to help with chord structures as well as the technical ability of the studio engineers to understand the audio processes and technical aspects involved. A good example of this was when a world famous producer, not happy with some of the band members performances, would wait until the band went home and re-record some of the parts himself!
The Music Producer Today
With the advent of computers and digital recording in the comfort of your own bedroom anybody today can be termed as a music producer. In this instance the term covers literally ‘the production of music’. A lot of today’s ‘bedroom producers’ create songs from start to finished master completely on their own. Many of these songs get released and a notable few, as in the case Billie Eilish, are able to turn these songs into hits. I think it’s fair to say that with the advent of self releasing channels the age of the record label is diminishing…. to a point… because all major charting artists still have a label behind them.
So, the role of the music producer, although not essentially changed, can be slightly different for the smaller studio owners. Many smaller studio’s like Oastview Studio are owned and operated by a single person. In this case, the producer wears many hats as in - studio engineer/music producer/artist developer/cleaner/maintenance/businessman/marketer - you get the idea.
Nick Wood Producer/Engineer
Nick will approach his role as music producer at Oastview Studio using the values outlined above. He plays guitar, bass and drums and has knowledge of music theory to help with the production of harmonies and chord structures to elevate your songwriting to new heights making them sound polished and professional. His electronic engineering background puts him in good stead in understanding the technical processes inside and out and his absolute passion for gear, microphones and techniques means he is well equipped to bring the very best in sonic integrity and creative ingenuity to the table. Being an active musician also means he is constantly available to play or program parts for various instruments and he has numerous personal links to fantastic musicians who will come and perform other instruments for your Kent music production project.