16 MusicWeek 15.06.12 INTERVIEWJENNIE MUSKETT REFINING RUMER
PRODUCTION DANIEL GUMBLE
I
n her role as lead producer on Rumer’s Boys Don’t Cry, the follow-up to 2010’s critically acclaimed Seasons of My Soul, Jennie Muskett could well be seen as treading somewhat
unfamiliar territory. Having carved out a reputation as one of the
world’s most revered composers in the field of TV and film, she has amassed no fewer than two Emmy awards and five Emmy nominations. Splitting her time between such studios as Air and Abbey Road, as well as her home studio in Highgate, London, Muskett has written and produced scores for a raft of TV dramas; most notably, her BAFTA- nominated work on BBC’s Spooks. With these projects, she has honed her talent for storytelling with sound; a talent that has lent itself perfectly to the task of bringing to life the tales that lie at the heart of Boys Don’t Cry – the new Rumer album made up entirely of songs written by male singer-songwriters from the 1970s. So, just how did Muskett come to be involved
with the LP? “I had decided to take a year off to write my own project, which is an album of songs,” she explains. “I was friends with Rumer at the time so I asked her if she’d like to sing on it. So, we recorded a couple of tracks together, but then her
“We only had a limited time together, so we
just worked and worked and worked. It was about as intense an experience as I’ve ever
had in my musical career. We all contributed ideas. It was amazing.” JENNIE MUSKETT, PRODUCER
debut album took off, which was amazing. We still managed to work on a few sessions together - but our time was restricted due to how busy she was with promoting her first album. “However, during her work on Boys Don’t Cry,
she unfortunately fell out with her producer and asked me for help. At that point, we tried a few things to change it a little bit, which didn’t really work that well, so I thought about all the musicians I’d been working with over the years, put a band together and mapped out all the tracks. We then used some of the vocal takes that she’d originally done, as well as some new ones that she did here [Highgate studio].” With a hand-picked band now in place, the
album’s music, as well as some additional vocals, were recorded in Studio 1 of London’s RAK Studios. “I think we initially went in to do seven songs
with the band, which went really well, and then [Rumer] asked me to do another 12. It was a brilliant time, and it is from those recordings that she eventually selected the tracks for the album.”
ABOVE Top 5 success | Jennie Muskett (top left) helped get the best out of Rumer’s “beautiful vocals”
There was little over a month between Muskett’s
initial involvement with the album and its completion; a time scale and environment, which, on the surface, presents a stark contrast to the “warm and fuzzy” sound produced on the record. “We had a limited time, so we just worked and
worked and worked,” she says. “It’s about as intense an experience I’ve ever had musically. But when you’re writing for film, that’s also intense, so, to me, this felt luxurious; being able to produce one or two songs a day. And it meant that everyone, from Rumer, to the band, and myself was contributing ideas. It was amazing.” Muskett is keen to point out that the approach
to both the recording and production of each song was tailored to meet the needs of each number specifically: “Sometimes Rumer would go off and do vocals with Helen Atkinson, who was the recording engineer on the album, and then sometimes she would sit down and sing live with the band. Those occasions were especially moving, as they really showed what a wonderful vocalist Rumer is; they would rehearse a couple of times, get the feel right and discuss it a bit, and then just go for it.”
Muskett adds: “One of the challenges we had
was to bring out the emotions of each song, respecting the original, but finding a new voice for it. For example, Same Old Tears on a New Background; Art Garfunkel had a massive, lush string arrangement. This was far too expansive an approach for this record. Knowing I could not hope to ‘compete’ with this, I had the idea to go the opposite way and used the simplicity and intimacy of a solo guitar and piano as the accompaniment for Rumer’s beautiful vocals. “One magical evening, Rumer came into the
studio and sang it live with the band. It was one of those occasions when I just couldn’t stop the tears – it’s a litmus test and when that happens, I know I’ve got the right take.” One of the album’s core values was the absolute
authenticity of both the vocals and the band’s performance; an especially rare commodity in a pop industry obsessed with artificial processing. “There wasn’t even a synth in the room on this
record," Muskett concludes. "Some singers may choose to process their vocals in post-production - Rumer simply doesn’t need to.”
Rumer’s sophomore album Boys Don’t Cry went Top 3 in the UK last week. Here, the LP’s producer gives us the inside track on the British star’s celebrated comeback
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