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Matt Serletic
Songwriter/producer/arranger Matt Serletic is best known for producing Matchbox Twenty's two previous smash hit albums, 1996's Yourself or Someone Like You and 2000's Mad Season. This summer he will return to the studio with them to start work on their third album. But as the hyphenates imply, his various talents keep him working on many different projects. He produced Willie Nelson's latest album, The Great Divide, and co-wrote a few of the songs that appear on it. He is also the president of his own record label, Melisma Records, and is using his formidable musical instincts to discover, produce and promote some exciting new artists. ASCAP's Mike Todd recently talked to Matt about what he thinks is a "great" song and what his plans are for the future.
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You got your start in the record business as a band member and co-producer of the band Collective Soul. Were you co-writing songs with the band then and how did your career as a writer/arranger/producer evolve from there?
I learned the art of songwriting from the leader of Collective Soul, Ed Roland, who's a great songwriter/"hook"writer. Growing up through my early teens I was working with Ed in studios usually after midnight. We would go in and try to make our little demos sound like real records. Through that whole process and what was key to my development, I learned about songwriting, record making, how it relates to songs, and how to know when you have a song that's meaningful or memorable. Along with that, I studied at the University of Miami School of Music, which tied in the arranging and orchestrating with the core curriculum. This helped me harness my skills to make better pop/rock records. I'd be sitting in an advanced orchestration class studying how Mozart or Beethoven wrote, then studying how Count
Basie wrote Big Band charts and at the same time being in the studio at nights working on a rock song. I learned that most arrangement principles, although one might use different textures or instruments, sounds like an electric guitar or a tuba share some basic fundamentals in common. Once you understand those fundamentals, you can work in a lot of different genres. I like to play with those fundamentals to create new and exciting music.
Matt Serletic and ASCAP's Mike Todd |
You're primarily known as a record producer not as a songwriter, yet you've co-written some hits with Rob Thomas of matchbox twenty. How involved are you as a songwriter or co-writer these days?
I'm very involved in co-writing and I think it's a very exciting part of artistic growth for me. I just co-wrote a song called "Mendocino County Line" with Bernie Taupin that's going to be the first single for Willie Nelson's new CD, which I produced. It's a duet with Leanne Womack. Willie and I are very excited about it! I've also been co-writing with a new songwriter in town named Kevin Kadish. He and I wrote another song on that album called "Be There For You" that is sung by both Willie and Sheryl Crow. I think it's a natural outgrowth of record making for me as an artist and record producer as I become more actively involved in the songwriting process. Just as I might inherently know what is right for a record, I feel it also makes me think about what is right for a song. It's nice to work with other talented songwriters on that level.
As a producer who also is a songwriter, how much do you look toward production tools to enhance a song from start to finish?
I believe that production should always try to enhance, but yet get out of the way of the song. To me the important thing is to begin with a great song and if there are some rough edges in the song, it should be done almost in pre-production, if possible, to make the song feel powerful, whole, and moving if you played it on a kazoo. Whatever instrument you play it on, it needs to have some sense of resonance. From there you just place the song in the appropriate world, whether it is dark or moody or whatever. I usually try to illustrate the lyrics to give the listener what the singer is conveying.
What kind of approach do you take in crafting a song, either by yourself or when you co-write?
Many times I view a song and a record similarly in that there is usually some sense of momentum. It's like some kind of rope that pulls you along through the song. As you're listening to the song, you're getting pulled through the song and instinctually I think most people know when that rope breaks. At that moment, you need to maybe back up two or four bars. You'll know where the song is going a little awry and one can work to understand more and more where that is. I really focus on that when working with other songwriters. A lot of times I'm usually the quietest one in the room until something I hear is perfect or I hear something that's wrong. My job is a lot of times to sort of shepherd us towards the light. You've got to really keep saying something in the song to keep the magic going. You can't have one magic moment with a bunch of nothing around it. How you define that magic is who you are as an artist. It is important to really understand yourself and what turns you on or excites you about songs.
Do you get involved creatively on a songwriting level with every artist you produce?
I believe so, whether it's working with an artist in which I am selecting songs or when I'm working with a band. One band called The Exies who are on my label are a really great rock band. They're amazing writers on their own and are fully functional as songwriters. But still I get in there to discuss things and to challenge each other. I want them to either convince me that a certain part of a song is right or if it isn't right to convince me by changing it and trying something else. At all points I'm really studying the song endeavoring to make it better.
What is your definition of a "great" song?
A "great" song is something that moves you. Whether it's the lyrical content or the melodic information, it is something that really feels true to you and that's the interesting thing because so many people are different. But I believe there is some kind of magic when great songs can transcend all age groups. There is a universal-ness to great songs that speak to everyone whether it's the language of hurt emotions or happy emotions or even powerful political statements. There are so many different topics, but there's the universal-ness to great songs. I really strive to reach for that in both songwriting and record making.
What do you do when an artist you're producing wants to record a song that you don't feel is a "great" song?
That's a good question. Artist and producer relationships are built on trust. You're working with an artist as a producer because you trust them. Likewise, the artist is working with the producer because of trust. I think there is some area where you say okay let's try it, let's track it. So if you're with a band maybe it only takes four hours to run the song down and see what it sounds like on tape. Those two or four hours could be spent really discovering something somebody doesn't really realize about the song. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it doesn't. I always find that a person who thinks something is great is hearing the song differently than the person who doesn't think it's great. I try to capture what that person is actually hearing by finding a way to realize it in a musical form. It is sometimes difficult to figure out. But if you could really mold the song into being truly what that person is hearing in their head, often times it's a lot better than what your first impression was.
Do you find that budgets or restricted deadlines get in the way of being creative in the studio when producing a song?
That's a tricky question because I find that most of the time, when you're there for 18 hours a day because you have to get it done for a movie or for an album release, some of the greatest creativity can happen under that pressure. I think that as a creative individual you step up to the plate, whether you have one day to make a record or you have a month. Everyday you have to challenge yourself and strive for the best results and a deadline just makes you realize those results by a certain time.
In 1999 you launched your own label, Melisma Records. How have you been involved with this label and what is your focus for the label's future?
We have a very exciting future with Melisma Records. I function as head of A&R and President of the label. I guide all artistic decisions as well as business matters. My strategy and belief is that great music helps make great business decisions. Let the music come first. The music dictates the marketing strategy. The music dictates the promotion strategy, the imaging strategy. Really by getting involved with the artist and making great records first and foremost it allows us to make better business plans. So we're very actively involved with that aspect. We have three artists coming out next. We're in the stage now where we have found great artists and we're making records with them now. There is a great hip-hop/rock band from Atlanta called El Pus who I signed and they are off the hook! For me, I've definitely had success in the rock format and believe in the power of rock music. So at the moment our label is heavily weighted towards rock, but I believe that music knows no boundaries. Great music will remain great music and getting involved with different artists is part of my plan.
What is on the horizon for you as a label president, record producer, and songwriter/arranger?
We have so much on the horizon. Releasing Melisma's three new acts early next year is a primary focus of mine. All of which are incredible in different ways. I'm also very focused on the release of Willie Nelsons' next record since I produced it. The original idea was to produce two or three songs on his record. We had three days to get two or three songs done. But, in that amount of time, the band was so great we had time to track a whole album during that week. I decided to record some other songs that I had written myself, some songs with Rob Thomas and some Willie had as well. It was really a joy and an incredible experience to work with Willie.
Do you have any aspirations of scoring music to film or producing a soundtrack for a film?
Absolutely! There's a lot of interest in scoring and tying songs into a soundtrack on Melisma records. I have done a little bit of work on films already. I helped score Aerosmith into the movie Armageddon, directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Harry Gregson-Williams and Trevor Rabin composed the underscore. It was real exciting to be involved on that film. As a student of music I've studied the language and I've also studied with film composers. I love the marriage of music to visuals. We are in discussions with several of the studios in town to do just that.
- BY MIKE TODD
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