Today, we dive into the world of bass playing and music production with the extraordinary Brian Bromberg. In 2019, we had the privilege of sitting down with this acclaimed bassist and producer for an enlightening interview.
Brian Bromberg is a name that resonates deeply within the music industry. With a career spanning over four decades, Bromberg has established himself as a virtuoso bassist and a skilled producer, composer, and arranger. His versatility across various genres, from jazz to fusion to smooth jazz, has earned him widespread acclaim and numerous accolades.
In this exclusive interview, Bromberg shares his journey from being solely a bass player to becoming a respected producer. He offers unique insights into the contrasting mindsets of instrumentalists and producers and how this transition has shaped his approach to creating music.
Join us as we explore Bromberg’s philosophy on music production, his experiences working with industry legends, and his meticulous approach to crafting the perfect mix. Whether you’re an aspiring musician, a seasoned producer, or simply a music enthusiast, this interview offers valuable perspectives on the art of making music.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Brian: In the process of my career, I grew into a producer, and I’ve been producing for many, many, many years. Producers don’t think like bass players. Producers don’t feel like instrumentalists.
The Narrow View of Instrumentalists
When you’re—when you’re a bass player or a sax player, guitar player–doesn’t matter what you do—you focus on your role, your job, and you’re very myopic, especially in jazz. I know a lot of guys who don’t care what their record sounds like. It could be the worst sonic recording in the world. There could be buzz, there could be noise—they don’t care.
“Man, did you check it out? I made that chord change.”
You know, all they care about is they’re playing over changes. That’s it. They’re, you know, they’re so “Listen how great I sound.” It’s like, “Yeah, but your record sounds terrible.” They don’t think like producers.
Learning from the Best
So, over years of learning how to produce and working with great people, I’ve been fortunate, you know, to work with people like David Foster and Quincy Jones and people like that. You know, when you work with people that, this is what they do. You learn how to hear things and do things differently.
The Producer’s Perspective
If you really listen to my records, my bass parts ninety-nine percent of the time are pretty simple. It’s just there’s nothing–you know, I played bass for the music, and then when I do my solos, I might do some crazy stuff, but I truly try to play for the music because it’s the music first.
The Human Element in Music
You know, you’re a person first, a musician second, and a bass player third. That has to be the order because—these are all gorgeous instruments–but what makes them make music is the person. I mean, my bass would be a nice piece of firewood, but it’s the human that makes the music on it [but], and it’s what comes out of your instrument. It’s the humanity of what comes out of your instrument is what sings.
That’s why, you know, 50 different sax players can play exactly the same thing, but nobody sounds like John Coltrane or nobody sounds like, you know, Cannonball Adderley. Everybody has their sound. Nobody sounds like Jaco. You know, it’s the humanity. A million people have a Fender bass. Do they sound like Jaco? No. He… could pick up a suitcase and make it sound great. I’ve seen him play all my basses. It sounded like Jaco. Didn’t sound like me.
The Art of Production
So anyway, you learn how to produce. When you learn how to produce, you do what’s right for the music, and what’s right for the music is the mix: knowing what to do where and why. So I spend a lot of time on my records making sure that you know, again, in production, it’s the big picture. It’s not this: it’s everything. So I make sure on my records that my records sound good. Because I want the whole experience of the music to be great. Not just, you know, the bass playing or the sax or whatever so you hear.
The Challenge of Mixing Bass
You hear the bass because it’s right in the mix, and if you listen to it on an iPod, or you listen to it on a laptop speaker, or you listen to it on a huge system, you can hear the bass. You know, I tell you, if you put the music on your cell phone and you put it on the table and you stand ten feet away and listen to it, how many how many records can you do that and hear the bass?
The challenge is to be able to hear the bass on your phone on a table and put it on a rig, and have the bass not be too loud. That’s the challenge because you’re dealing—again—you’re dealing with an instrument that’s putting out frequencies that a speaker the size of an eraser isn’t gonna put out. I’m sorry, an iPhone speaker’s not going to put out 30 cycles of a B string, you know, so there’s a challenge in trying to mix your records so you hear the bass and it’s got identity, but it’s not overwhelming the music.
That’s not easy to do, and that’s something that I pride myself on with my records–that you hear everything.
