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Misha Kachkachishvili

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Behind The Board: Esplanade Studios Owner & Lead Engineer Misha Kachkachishvili On Capturing The Magic

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The producer/engineer dishes on how he learned to be a producer, creating Esplanade, where the real magic heard on a record comes from and more
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
May 18, 2020 - 5:01 pm

Producer/engineer Misha Kachkachishvili has a pretty cool office. As studio owner and lead engineer of Esplanade Studios in New Orleans, Kachkachishvili has created one of the most inspiring locations to record found anywhere on earth. In the latest edition of Behind The Board, he talked about how it came together, his path to becoming a studio professional, and where the magic of a great record comes from. 

Behind The Board: Misha Kachkachishvili

Kachkachishvili got a jump start on a life in the studio, starting music school at just 5 years old. Later he became a defacto producer and honed his ears and his chops by helping friends make music in any genre you can throw at him.

"I ended up producing Irish records that I didn't know much about, so it was kind of a learning curve." he rememberd. "What I learned is how to make any record regardless of genre."

As his career progressed, he was often working with Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and found himself looking for a place to record them. After hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, he found the abandoned building that now houses Esplanade. Kachkachishvili was blown away by the vibe and the acoustics of the big room, and Esplanade Studios was born. The world-class studio is known for it's spacious control room and glorious live room.

"The control room that used to be a choir loft. this is a 1,700 square-foot control room." he told us. "Originally I was going to partition a little differently, but because of the stained glass, I decided to keep it big and open. So that makes the space [and] the control room unique to me."

With such an awe-inspiring space to create in, you might think Kachkachishvili relies on Esplanade's hallowed walls to provide the creative energy for the records he makes. Not so...

"Everybody thinks the studio is the solution for everything. No, the magic doesn't hapen here," he said. "The magic happens on the writing side of it. Just writing the great song and delivering the song, delivering the emotion, the message. That is the most important thing. Our job is to amplify that and just make sure whatever the artist brings to us, we do justice to it."

Find out more about Kachkachishvili's path and Esplanade's history in the latest edition of Behind The Board above.

Behind The Board: Manny Marroquin On Mixing, Balancing Confidence With Humility, 'The College Dropout' & More

 

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Manny Marroquin

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Behind The Board: Manny Marroquin On Mixing, Balancing Confidence With Humility, 'The College Dropout' & More

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The GRAMMY-winning mix engineer shares the moment he discovered his passion for mixing music and reveals what he feels it takes to be a world-class mixer
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
May 11, 2020 - 1:17 pm

Manny Marroquin's credit list reads like a Who's Who of 21st Century popular music, including everyone from Kanye West to Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift to Lizzo, BTS to Beyoncé and so many more. The eigth-time GRAMMY winner has 28 GRAMMY nominations to his name on his way to becoming one of the most sought-after collaborators in music. 

Behind The Board: Manny Marroquin

In the latest episode of Behind The Board, Marroquin goes all the way back to his childhood, growing up in Guatemala. He recounted how the country's civil war during the late '70s and early '80s led to his mom moving the family way, but not before music made its first imprint on young Manny. 

"I remember being really young in Guatemala, music is a huge part of some of these really poor countries," he said. "I remember really, really falling in love with insruments and playing [music]."

When Marroquin got to high school, he enrolled in an electronic music class taught by current Executive Education Director for the GRAMMY Museum, David Sears, who explained to him what the process and craft of mixing involved. 

"The moment I realized that you can manipulate everything with just frequencies and levels without even changing a single note just blew my mind," he said. "I'll never forget that at that point I knew that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life."

Marroquin decided to forego college to begin his life's work in the studio. That's when his wildly successful carrer truly began. "Then one day, the classic story, the guy doesn't show up, and I'm in there," he said. "The next thing you know, you have a career [laughs]."

"You've gotta think you're the best mixer in the world. But you also have to be humble enough to know that you don't know it all," Marroquin said. "They're conflicting personalities, right? Know how to utilize those personalities when you need them."

This concept of balance, perhaps the mix engineer's most necessary concepts to master, shines through in his mixes and keeps his name at the top of many mixing wish lists for big-time projects of all styles.

"I think artists and producers see my passion for [mixing]," he said. "That I still want to makes sure they have the best sounding, feeling record that they imagine." 

In the episode above, Marroquin also reveals the most important thing to him in making records, what it's like to work side-by-side with great artsts and be a part of so many musical movements and moments and more.

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Behind The Board: Catch Up With Afrobeats Hitmaker Kel P In Nigera To Talk Music Production

 

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Shooter Jennings

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Behind The Board: Shooter Jennings On Growing Up In Music, His Dad's Best Advice & Producing Great Records

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The GRAMMY-winning producer, who has recently made albums with the likes of Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker and Marilyn Manson, takes on his journey Behind The Board
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
May 4, 2020 - 12:58 pm

GRAMMY-winning producer Shooter Jennings hit the ground running, born into a family of musical royalty with parents Jessi Colter and Waylon Jennings. And Shooter has taken what he learned from those early experiences and turned them into a spectacular career as a producer. In the latest episode of Behind The Board, we learn more about his journey and how he's never done learning from the artists he works with in the studio.

Behind The Board: Shooter Jennings

"I learn from every record that I do. I'm very fortunate because I'm getting all this knowledge from other creative people that serves me in other areas, and I love that," he said. "I'm really respectful of the fact that they take me into their band. Getting to jump in and get in the mix is addictive. It's really fun. It's kinda like going on a date, a first date where you really like the girl [laughs]."

Shooter talked about learning from his experiences growing up on the road and in the studio and how it's led him to a life of learning from the artists he works with, each one offering something different to teach him.

"All the records that I've worked on this year have had their own special experiences," he said. Shooter produced Brandi Carlile's By The Way, I Forgive You album followed by Tanya Tucker's Whille I'm Livin', both of which earned GRAMMY Awards. Most recently, Shooter has gone back to his hard rock roots, producing the latest album by 4-time GRAMMY nominee Marilyn Manson, a project that had a huge impact on his career and life.

"The Marilyn Manson record was hands down the most big journey I've ever been on," he said. "It's really this poetic journey with him, and it's like this wheel of chaos that has been spinning for a year and a half of my life that I love. My life is completely different because of that record." 

In the video above, Jennings also discusses what makes a perfect record and reveals the best advice his father ever gave him.

"My dad said to me when I was younger, 'Don't ever try to be like anyone else, because you're never gonna be,'" Shooter shared. "It took a long time for me to really get that, you know. But, that to me has always stood the test of time."

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Behind The Board: Catch Up With Afrobeats Hitmaker Kel P In Nigera To Talk Music Production

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Kel P

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Behind The Board: Catch Up With Afrobeats Hitmaker Kel P In Nigera To Talk Music Production

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The latest episode of Behind The Board takes you to Lagos, Nigeria, to hear how sought-after producer Kel P makes music: "Most of my sessions happen in a hotel room"
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Apr 27, 2020 - 2:44 pm

From on location in Lagos, Nigeria, we sat down with Kel P, musician and producer who has worked with SolidStar, Burna Boy and more to hear about how he's become one of the hottest beatmakers and producers in the Afrobeats global movement. 

Behind The Board: Kel P

"I'm not putting the beat first because I'm a producer, no," Kel P explained why the beat is the number one thing that makes a great record "I'm putting the beat first because the beat speaks for everything." 

Kel P came from a strong musical upbringing and was a musician and an artist before venturing into producing. In 2017, he began to make his own beats, and recalls how nervous he was the first time he played his work for "One In A Million" singer SolidStar. Kel P was beyond nervous, shaking as he played his best beats for SolidStar, who was able to calm his nerves. Together, they recorded two songs that first day. 

He went on to produce and co-write 10 of the 19 songs on Burna Boy's African Giant, which earned a nomination for Best World Album for the 62nd GRAMMY Awards for 2019.

"Most of my sessions happen in a hotel room," Kel P says, revealing how many of the artists prefer to steer clear of a conventional studio. "You can make music anywhere."

Follow us to Lagos and find out what mentality Kel P takes into a session with him and the what he feels are the other three things that make a good record and more in the latest episode of Behind The Board above. 

Behind The Board: Tainy Traces His Path From Selling His First Beat To Working With J Balvin

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Tainy

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Behind The Board: Tainy Traces His Path From Selling His First Beat To Working With J Balvin

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The GRAMMY-nominated producer talks about growing up surrounded by music, his journey into a studio career and collaborating with some of music's biggest names
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Apr 13, 2020 - 3:26 pm

GRAMMY-nominated Puerto Rican producer Marco “Tainy” Masís has played a key role in the continued explosion of reggaeton and Latin pop around the globe through his work with J Balvin, Bad Bunny, Wisin & Yandel, Anuel AA, Arcangel and more. In the latest episode of Behind The Board, Tainy takes us through his career's journey, how he got his start and some of the keys to his massive success.

Behind The Board: Tainy

 

"Music is a part of every house," Tainy said of his musical beginnings. "I  was growing up, reggaeton was starting to boom."

Tainy, called "one of the architects of modern reggaeton" by Rolling Stone, quickly became part of the movement. His childhood friend Josias de la Cruz, known as the producer Nely, introduced him to FL Studio and eventually to Francisco Saldaña and Víctor Cabrera of the production duo Luny Tunes.

"Even when I started to do music, I never knew this was going to by my career," he recalled. "I used to draw a lot, so that's what I thought I would eventually be doing. I'd be an architect or an artist. I was in love with music but I never knew how to create it."

Tainy began to pickup the tricks of the trade from his heroes while developing a sound all his own. Once he sold his first beat, he began to realize this was something he could excell at, and his career has come a long way from pitching packs of his beats to collaborating from the beginning of a project with some of music's biggest names. 

"[With] Balvin, it was a totally different experience for him to sit down beforehand and say, 'Okay, this is my vision. This is what I want to do. I want to try these sounds,'" he said of the formative expereince. "Giving us all those ideas and see how can we make this into music. Having him trust us with that input helped me grow as a producer."

Tainy was nominated for his first career GRAMMY nomination, a nod in the Record Of The Year category, for his production work on "I Like It," the star-studded smash hit by Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin. Reflecting on his success, Tainy talked also about how he incorporates what inspires him with his own ideas and what makes a great record.

"I think I understood, 'Okay, I have something that's me. Nobody else can be this or do this,'" he said. "All of these influences that you have will create something different eventually.. You're learning from them, taking different pieces to create something totally different."

Hear more from Tainy in the video above and stay tuned for more episodes of Behind The Board. 

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Behind The Board: Joel Little On Working With Lorde, How Vans Warped Tour Inspired Him & More