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How we live affects what music we produce — and right now technology is the “bridge” between those two things, record producer Warren “Oak” Felder said today at the Code Media conference in Huntington Beach, Calif.
Onstage, Felder recreated the technical process of how he produced the hit Demi Lovato single “Sorry Not Sorry.” Starting from a blank canvas in the music production app Logic Pro X, he said his first job was to create a “vibe” before the songwriting process could begin.
“The people in the room are looking at you for the initial spark of inspiration,” he said. “You are the catalyst, you are starting everything up.”
After that, he added a “booty shaker” — a low, bass-y rumble often heard in hip-hop music:
One of his most important tools, he explained, is Splice, a library of samples for music producers. During the demo, Felder cruised through several potential sounds before finding the “snap” effect he wound up using in “Sorry Not Sorry.”
“Every producer can tell you there is no better feeling than the feeling you get when you find the perfect sound,” he said.
Felder and his frequent music partner Andrew “Pop” Wansel have also produced songs for music artists like Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Alicia Keys. Songs he crafted with the latter two won Grammys, and other songs made with Usher and R&B artist Kehlani have been nominated for Grammys.
This is what the finished song sounds like:
And of the course the final music video from Demi Levato:
Here’s the full video of Felder’s presentation at Code Media:
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
