Blake Slatkin on what really matters in music production

While a relatively young producer at 27, LA-born Blake Slatkin has worked with the likes of Lil Nas X and The Kid LAROI, so he knows a thing or two about making a hit.

And in a new interview with MusicTech, he shares a similar opinion held by many producers and musicians nowadays: that crafting a good song should always come above the technicalities of the production that follows.

“Now things are getting so accessible, the only thing that separates good music from bad music is just good ideas,” he explains.

“I’ve been a part of songs where we spend so much money – we’re at fancy studios, and we have the best gear and the best engineers, and we make something that doesn’t do well. And then there’s a kid in Wisconsin who’s in their closet, making a song that goes massive.”

But this is “exactly how it should be”, he explains. “I’m not mad at that at all. There are no rules. No one is listening, thinking, ‘Ah, he didn’t use the right kick mic for that. This song isn’t good.’ It’s really just like, ‘make something good.’ And I think we’re in one of the most inspiring times ever for music. It’s very punk rock.”

He says production is “nothing without a good song”, adding: “Anything I do when I make music is just in service of the song itself.”

“At the end of the day, song is king. We’ll get the good drum sounds later. When I’m making music, I only want to be thinking about the song.”

Elsewhere in the interview, he speaks of his dislike of Pro Tools, often seen as the industry-standard DAW.

“I use Pro Tools and it just sucks ass,” he laughs. “It’s harder to do stuff in Pro Tools; it makes you think a little bit more about what you want to do. It takes that extra five seconds to change the tempo. So it makes me think, ‘Do I really want to change the tempo?’”

Read the full interview with Blake Slatkin at MusicTech.

Sam is the Associate News Editor for Guitar.com and MusicTech. Thoroughly immersed in music culture for the majority of his life, Sam has played guitar for 20 years, studied music technology and production at university, and also written for the likes of MusicRadar, Guitar World, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer.