BJ BAARTMANS

PRODUCER

Making a great recording is all about creating space. Giving room to exciting, honest, heartfelt music. Shaping sounds that breathe. And most important: making musicians feel at home. Almost as if in their own... but far enough from daily distractions, phone bills, dish washes, dog walks, family matters...

I’ve always been looking for a recording environment that feels, looks, smells like a living room but at the same time is channeling music all the way. Been collecting beautiful, groovy, inviting musical instruments and a decent set of mics, preamps and effect gear capable of capturing ‘their’ output…  Well in the end it’s all in the hands of the players and the voices of the singers of course. But there’s no red light holding them back!

That and finding great songs, strong arrangements and happening bands is what production is all about. Letting it flow. Making it come across. Communication. Having lots of fun and sharing thoughts, emotions, jokes. Enjoying fine meals, a drink or a few and digging in intense listening sessions. Raving about favorite players and things: songhero’s, superpickers, vintage guitars, singing snaredrums, slap back poetry and good old plate reverbs...

My own home studio, Wild Verband, in our Boxmeer backyard is a dream come true. It has that special ‘vibe’ so I’ve been told already often since I started working there a year and a half ago and well... I believe it’s true. It’s a place of its own. A music room. And what a way to make a living!

You’re welcome...

BJ Baartmans,  April 2010