Questions for Dan

Videos Dan Nigro Producing Olivia Rodrigo
1

Hi Dan,

thanks so much for diving into the making of Vampire and for making music the way you do in general!

I am huge fan of both you and Olivia and there are so many great inputs in your process that inspire me in so many ways, so I am very excited about these videos and about asking questions.

And I totally agree with the loudness war lol.

Anyway, questions…: :slight_smile:

  1. In Part 1 you mentioned the multiple changes in the tempo map, could you explain how the change in tempo can affect differents sounds or instruments and maybe how you deal with that on a more technical level? Like when you chopped up the piano, how exactly did you get it where it is now? Could you explain that a bit more?

  2. And when the tempo, as well as the vocal production and the reverb all is in a way painting an arch or a story line, do you have any instruments that you keep constant, or that build a foundation, or do you adjust everything to those archs?

  3. Also in Part 2 you explained your go to hardware vocal chain (Sounddeluxe U99 + BAE 1073 mic pre + 1176 LN Silverface compressor ) I was wondering could you detail a bit more what you like about that sound and also maybe how that chain shapes the frequencies stuff in your opinion? And if you maybe would have to pick a software alternative would you have something in mind to achieve that perhaps almost same goal?

  4. I really adore your work with Olivia, basically everything but especially the dynamics in her voice and the vocal production, so I was wondering when you explained how you have to cut away more artifacts and ds more when she is singing really close to the mic, how exactly do you do that and how do you compress, gate and eq that? Can you explain that a bit more and at what point would you suggest to step a way a bit more from the mic to the artist?

  5. When working on projects and putting making music first, I would love to know since you mentioned learning about sample libraries - if you start out with the same sounds when writing or if you limit yourself to samples or instruments to fit a genre or tone? So basically do you paint with a pencil in some (and then what) form of instrument first or do you pick up specific sounds and shape them right away (to create the right athmosphere for the feeling and to underline the writing process with that) or does it differ every time and how? And in that sense as kind of a double question how much do you dive into sound design and when in your process do shape sounds or samples? And how much time do you spend maybe on building samples in your library?

  6. Obviously I don’t know neither you nor your collaborators and their teams personally but it seems to me that you all work really well together to pull the strings of each others strenghts and I was wondering if you have any advice how to build such an environment if you don’t really know anyone yet or how to identify and how to become part of such a “creativity first in some good way” environment?

Thanks!

Cheers

Wiebke