PRODUCER CROSSTALK
KEN LEWIS
P
– ROB PUTNAM
roducer, mixer and artist development dude Ken Lewis grew up in Ohio and studied production and engineering at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. He moved to New York City in 1993, sharpened his skills at Soundtrack and soon rocketed up the engineering ladder. Less than three years later he went solo and has remained so ever since. Artists he’s worked with include Kanye West, BTS and Taylor Swift. In March, he launched his live YouTube show “Mixing Night with Ken Lewis.” He describes his career as one with “the weirdest resume in the business.” That’s due in large measure to the breadth and range of genres in which he’s worked. “I have all of these different experiences working with a lot of the best artists in the world,” he observes. “One of the things I get called to do often is to bring one genre of music into another for a specific artist. For instance, J. Cole had me produce all of the live string sections and choirs on Born Sinner. I got that call because I understand how to bring live strings into the hip hop world, make it sound authentic and have it make sense.” Throughout the pandemic, Lewis has stayed not only active but, indeed, prolific. “I closed down initially for about two weeks,” he recollects. “But after that, it was an onslaught. No clients came into my studio for a year but I produced vocals via Audiomovers and Skype from Tokyo to Texas. My mixing work hasn’t changed much either. The biggest thing the pandemic taught me was that if you’re . . . lessons he’s learned as a already established, it doesn’t matter producer and mixer are: anymore where you are, unless you need to meet with your clients in per• Collaboration. Most of the best son. That was quite the revelation.” results happen when multiple It’s not unknown for artists to step great, creative brains come into the studio and suffer pangs of together. A single creative brain anxiety. To quell such feelings, Lewis can get locked into its own bubble and not be able to see employs a spectrum of tactics. “I try the best decisions. to immerse them in their own world as much as possible,” he explains. “An • Humility. People who treat othartist won’t put on their headphones ers as lesser because they’ve until they sound like a record and the found a little success are almost mic is ready to get the first take amazalways the ones who never find ingly well. This allows them to escape real success for themselves. It into the world of the record they’re takes a team. When you find one, making. And I usually put something lock it in. up on the screen. With Skrizzly Ad• Work ethic. The number one ams, it’s often Lana Del Rey on mute. reason I have the career that I She makes these deeply Americana, do is because I’ve outworked visual videos and he makes real everybody. Talent takes you but Americana music. All of the imagery so far. Hard work carries you to speaks to the songs that we’re trying results. The two together take to capture and it distracts him from you to great results. obsessing over every word he’s singing. This lets you capture something the artist didn’t even know he or she had in them.” Currently Lewis is working with Skrizzly Adams and has some productions on the upcoming Des Rocs’ record. He’s joined forces with Brent Kolatalo to form the production team Katalyst and Harlor. Popular components of “Mixing Night with Ken Lewis” are Q&A sessions, ear-training exercises and instruction on how some of his bigger mixes were crafted. Lastly, he aims to release GreenHAAS, his pitch-spreader plug-in for all of the major DAWs, in the summer. Contact kenlewis.co
20
August 2021
musicconnection.com
