Sounding Off: Seal

I laugh when I see these people that call themselves producers - these bloody glorified remixers that have just remixed two records that happen to be a hit... I just think, well you’re something, yes, and you’re talented, but a producer - in my eyes - you are not.

A producer is a multi-faceted individual. A producer is somebody who understands music theory so he can communicate and converse with other musicians. A producer is somebody who knows what it is to write a song, the process involved in writing a song. A producer is also somebody who can play an instrument. A producer is also somebody that has produced a great many, diverse types of records. That is a real producer.

A producer is somebody who can take the artist’s vision and realise it, and make it coherent and understandable to the masses. As simple as that sounds, that is probably the most difficult thing because you have to keep your ego out of the way. You have to keep your personal agenda out of the way. But at the same time you have to be creative.

You’ve got to keep your personal agenda out but you’ve got to use your expertise and the way that you listen to music. You’ve got to remember that it’s the artist’s record. But that’s quite difficult when you yourself are an artist. Especially if you’re in possession of all those things I’ve just rattled off. So you’ve got to do that – you’ve got to be able to realise the dream of that artist, help them. But then in doing so, you’ve got to deal with their temperament. Now that becomes extremely difficult when they’re a singer and a songwriter because that generally means they’ve got personal attachment to the stuff. And it generally means - as is the case with me - that I don’t always know what’s best for me!

Now you’ve got to be able to deal with my temperament as a singer songwriter. If I was just a singer you’d wheel me in and I’d just sing the songs you’d already written and then I’d leave you and you’d go and produce the record. But if I’m writing it that generally means that they’re quite personal so I can be quite precious about it... You’ve got to be able to deal with all the different musicians because I’m not a band I’m a solo artist. So you’re wheeling in musicians that both of you have agreed on and you’ve got to be able to deal with all their different egos and their temperaments. You’ve got to know when to push all of us when we’re not being pushed enough and when not to push.

I could never be a producer because I don’t have one of the most important qualities that Trevor (Horn, Seal’s producer for each and every one of his albums) has: the focus. The fucking focus. The ability to stay in the studio hours after everyone has gone home, figure it out and bear the responsibility and figure it out. And try and make that record the best you can make it. The care and attention that is given to my vocal track so that when a person is listening to the record, they have all these things, all this depth going on around it but they never lose sight of the very essence of what they’re buying the record for which is the vocal. Very difficult to do…

Trevor’s attitude towards producing – he will try and make something work, as far as the orchestration is concerned, but if it’s getting in the way of the vocal it is out. He’ll axe it. It’s out. If he finds that when he’s listening, that he’s in any way, shape or form distracted by something and he can’t bury it or make it mix, it’s out. It’s out. And Trevor once told me, he said, ‘look, my job as a producer is to make you sound good’, he said, ‘if I make you sound good then I’ve done my job’.

As far as I’m concerned, yes I am aware that there are many different types of producers but producers that I have respect for are the last of a disappearing breed. They’re disappearing! I feel that music is suffering because of it.

There are certain producers that are the flavour of the moment, that everyone is very quick to herald as the greatest producers, and talk about them in the same breath as Quincy Jones, who is a fucking genius. What are they talking about? Everything they do with every artist sounds like them. And to me that’s an artist, that’s not a producer. I listen to certain tracks and – don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that these people aren’t talented because I enjoy their music - but I don’t want to hear the production. I want to hear the richness and the depth in the record but I don’t want to hear the identity of that person. I just want to hear the artist first.

Seal was interviewed by Ian Peel. His new album, Seal IV is out now.