Local Talent Spotlight

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Local Talent Spotlight - Adam McCandless

Many times in the Local Talent Spotlight, there’s a feature on a local band or musician. This time we’re going to go beyond and look at what goes on in making music. It’s about someone who not only performs music but also can mix, produce and record music – Adam McCandless.

Some people have a great voice, others play a particular instrument well and others develop a wide range of musical talent. Adam is one of the latter. He started playing piano around age six, bass guitar by middle school, and then began performing as part of a band a few years after graduation in 2002. Some of the local bands Adam has played with are Jason Clutter, SecondStory, Chad Tharp, and Brad Lemmons, as well as filling in a few times with Tailgate Revival.

Adam refers to his interest in music recording and production as “a work in progress.” He’s been writing since around 2008, and has joined Nashville Songwriters Association International. He traveled to Nashville for meetings, writing workshops and mentor sessions, to learn the craft. A few years later he bought an 8 channel recording rig and started recording.

“The first song I wrote/recorded and mixed (that people actually heard) was in 2011, for the father/ daughter dance at my wedding. Since my wife couldn’t find one she wanted, I co-wrote one with my buddy and band mate, Brad Lemmons,” Adam reflected. That was the spark that kept the vision of creating music going.

In 2018, Adam built a large room in his barn with high ceilings and lots of absorption and acoustic treatment. It holds all of his instruments, amps, and recording equipment. Everything is set up so that he can walk in and press record or start a mix within a minute. The reason that Adam can do this is because of the assortment of musical and recording equipment that he’s collected. He explained, “I’ve got four basses, electric and acoustic guitars, a ‘70s Wurlitzer 200A, early ‘60s Hammond organ, some vintage amps, a banjo, mandolin, fiddles, keyboards, a Yamaha drum kit and more.” He built a custom mixing desk with a 16 channel mixer for his analog gear, and all the studio connections so that he can, “walk in with an idea and walk out with a song.”

However, the timing is different when you do every bit of a song yourself, Adam admitted. “The last song I released, it was just me. I recorded myself, playing everything, one instrument at a time, one per night usually. I ended up playing, recording, mixing and mastering that whole song all myself. There’s many different ways to get to the end result, you just have to get there. And I want to be able to get people there from start to finish, or at any point along the way.”

In today’s digital age, it’s important to be mobile. Adam has a MacBook Pro with all of the recording software so that he has “the ability to go meet a singer-songwriter and cut the vocal and guitar session, then come back to this room for the rest of the production.” When writing his music, Adam has a variety of styles that have influenced him. He jumped from Motown, to Beatles, to Bon Jovi as a kid, and then to Alan Jackson and Third Eye Blind in middle school. He’s always looking for something new to listen to, which is why he finds writing and recording appealing. Currently he listens to new releases. Friday is usually when he tunes into, “New Music Nashville . . . (to) see what a lot of new artists and independent artists are doing. There’s something special about hearing a song for the first time.”

As far as future plans, Adam says that, “I’m always going to be writing and working on new music . . . but my priority is being available for producing artists, recording sessions, bass sessions, mixing and mastering songs, and artist development for new songwriters or artists just trying to get started.” There are new methods of making and marketing music with today’s technology. It’s no longer getting a studio contract, cutting a record, having it played on the radio, and then performing concerts to get paid. Now it’s digital marketing through social media, making videos for YouTube and TikTok to be distributed to drive consumers on Spotifiy, Youtube, Applemusic, iTunes, and Amazon. For anyone interested in Adam’s original music or skill set that creates music, you can find him at adammccandlessmusic.com.