Finding her musical footings in brass bands across West Yorkshire, producer and multi-instrumentalist Emma-Jean Thackray is a fan favourite in the UK jazz scene. Offering a plethora of genres and an impressive array of talent, the artist has returned from a hiatus with the album, Weirdo, with a new perspective on how she approaches music making, as well as a newfound admiration for how music can be valued as a healing tool while mourning her partner.
In this week’s Studio Files, Thackray takes us through her home studio setup, which includes an array of analogue synthesisers and instruments galore, as well as an insight into her all-hands approach to producing, ensuring she has control of all of the elements in her music. Thackray articulates her deep experience, which has seen her work with renowned talent including the London Symphony Orchestra and BBC Radio 6’s Giles Peterson.
It’s great to see you back with your new record after taking a break. Is there anything you’ve learnt over the last few years that has transformed your creative process with Weirdo?
Thank you! I’m a completely different person, to be honest. Losing my partner has changed the way I think and feel about absolutely everything, which includes my creative process. I’ve always known making music was my purpose, but after a lot of time staring at the wall and being unable to do anything at all really, I found my way back to art. I had to refind myself through music again, and making Weirdo gave me a reason to get up. It was cathartic, it was therapy, and it saved my life.
As a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, producer, and mixing engineer, do you find it difficult to separate yourself from all of the elements of your releases, or do you prefer having this amount of control?
It’s not just a preference but a need for me to have total control. The only person who can translate what’s in my head to some tangible audio that others can hear is me. From writing and arranging the material to the nuances of how that is communicated via the performance, to how it’s recorded and how the sounds are sculpted through mixing, it all has to come from me. Other people might have great ideas, but only I have my ideas. Only I can say what I want to say in the way I want to say it.
Tell us a bit about your studio
My studio is in South London — it’s the back bedroom of my house. I can’t do anything structurally in this place, so I have some panels for treatment, bass traps, and the back wall is full of vinyl which soaks up a lot of room sound. I’ve got it sounding nice in here despite it being a very small room. It’s too small to collaborate in comfortably, but I have had some friends over for a jam. It got silly very quickly and I won’t be doing it again. Fine by me — I don’t like people in my house anyway!
What’s your latest gear or plugin purchase?
One of only a few things I’ve bought in years is the UAD Minimoog. I try to use analogue things as much as possible, but space is limited for me here, so this is the next best way to get an absolute grail of a synth. There’s so much Minimoog across Weirdo. Some key bass parts, but a lot of lead lines too. Moog synths are beautifully singular, yet so versatile. They’re so recognisable in a track, but you can make them do just about anything, it’s an amazing paradox. I think my favourite ways I used it on Weirdo are some lines in the title track, where at the end of the chorus I go for a kind of Jan Hammer lead sound, and also the fat bass in the drop at the end of Maybe Nowhere.
What’s the best free plugin you own?
Without a doubt, it’s the tremolo from Rhodes. It’s serious. It’s got a few different waveform options and pretty deep parameters to use. It’s all over Weirdo. I use it on almost every track as a warming vibrato for my Rhodes Mark II (which has no tremolo), but I was also playing around with it a lot on different synth pads. Panning is so important in the way that I mix; I want to create a live performance in the space in front of the listener but with a few moments of drawing the attention much closer to the ears and playing around with what you perceive as your internal head space.
What’s been the biggest investment in your career/studio?
I was going to say my Rhodes because I use it on most tracks, and it’s a core building block of my production style, but actually I think it’s my speakers: Genelec The Ones. They’re three-way monitors but with just one point source of sound, so they can be put on their side without disrupting the stereo field (most studio desks aren’t built for the average height of women engineers – so I need them on their side to be at the right height) and it massively helps with ear fatigue, too. I spend so much time zoomed in on the smallest details and these speakers mean I can do that for much longer before needing a break.
Truthfully though, I think my biggest investment is me. I’m the one with all the ideas. Gear means nothing without the creativity behind it. The investment is my education, the time I’ve spent listening to so much music, and the performing, composing, arranging, and mixing techniques I’ve honed over the years. Screw the gear.
Since your last release in 2022, how have your habits in the studio changed? Do you find that your relationship with the space has shifted during this time?
I’ve become more insular, in general as a person, but also in my work. My studio is my safe space, it’s one of the only places I can fully express myself, so the space has become even more sacred to me. No one else comes in here and that’s how I like it. I often think about how Prince would track his vocals alone, and my reasons for doing so are the same. I like to be able to take risks and be vulnerable, and I can definitely do that in my studio.
You’ve had to process a lot of challenging emotions and periods during your break from releasing music – how do you channel a lot of that grief through your music and production? Is it easier said than done?
There’s a lot of guitar on the album, I feel like that drives a lot of the connection with my emotions. The guitar is such an immediate and cutting sound, so it’s not a coincidence that people associate it with ‘angry’ music. I don’t think my record is particularly angry, but the anger is definitely there, chugging away with a distortion pedal. However, that distortion is a warmth — it’s driven and focussed, rather than something destructive and metallic. I think where I’ve used the trumpet and other brass is quite telling too. It’s been difficult to connect with that side of myself over the past couple of years, so in the album where there are trumpet solos or brass arrangements, that’s where I’m really feeling something heavy. Those are the moments I’m baring myself to everyone.
Do you have any studio rituals that help you get into the creative zone and figure out what you want to write?
I usually go into every track with a very clear idea. Sometimes a fully realised track just comes to me and I have to rush to make it a reality, like in the middle of the night or when emerging from a daydream. It can feel like the music is coming from somewhere else.
But there are also times when I have a fragment and I work hard to develop it, where I really have to listen to my internal voice and hear what’s going on in my head. It’s not easy because I either have the worst attention span in the world, or I’m so hyper-focused I forget to eat and drink. I’ve had rituals in the past where I’ve sprayed a certain scent to get me in the creative mind of a particular project, and I burnt a lot of palo santo throughout making Weirdo, but recently the creative framework for me has been more holistic. I’ve been focussing on trying to take good care of my mental health and creating is essential to that. If I don’t sing or write a line of poetry or strum a guitar every day I’ll die.
How do you approach working with brass in your projects? Are there any production techniques lean into, or do you prefer the sound to remain quite raw?
In terms of the arrangement I never force brass into a track just because I play brass instruments. They only become part of the world if they’re supposed to. A lot of the Weirdo world is guitar and synth-focused, so the few moments from the brass are quite powerful. I’ve played trumpet and other brass since I was 8 years old and my sound is very special to me, so I definitely keep it raw when recording and mixing my brass sound. I usually use a Coles 4038 ribbon mic and very little processing, especially the compression. The consistency in the sound needs to come from my performance.
How do you see your sound and studio evolving in the next two years?
Processes are always evolving and rightly so! I remember tweaking the way I was approaching my bass guitar production throughout making the album and I actually went back to some tracks and redid it. I always say exactly what I want to say in the moment, but sometimes you learn a new word that helps you to say it better. In this case, it was figuring out that a plugin I already had (based on a DBX 160) was exactly the right amount of in-your-face punch I’d been needing. I don’t see myself evolving the studio too much in the near future; I have all the tools I need, the evolution will be me.
Do you have a dream piece of gear?
You know how I just said I have all the tools I need? Well, I’d love a reel-to-reel. Saturation is so important to the way I approach sound and getting a reel-to-reel would be incredible.
I’ve used beautiful (and huge) machines in other studios and the raw takes sound magical as is. I don’t have a lot of space here, but there are smaller machines I could incorporate. Over the years I’ve used 4-tracks, digital tape, and even down-sampling to use effects on my SP404 and rerecord my multitracks back into my DAW. A mix of techniques can be really interesting to do, and provide a lot of richness and depth, but also I kinda wanna sell my bed and have my bedroom be the reel-to-reel room whilst I sleep in the corner on the floor.
What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
That gear will get you where you wanna go. What really matters is your ideas and your performance. Sure, you can perhaps better communicate your ideas with good gear, but if you only have an iPhone, your voice, and a great song, then you can still do something really powerful. Most of your effort should go into gaining more knowledge and working on your composition skills. A lot of post-production is unnecessary if you get the performance and sound right while tracking. If you can arrange well, some of the mixing process is done for you already.
A good mix is invaluable, of course, but it’s the icing on the cake and it’s pointless icing a shit cake. Develop your skills before you go and buy something.
Who gave you the biggest lesson in your career?
Not to sound corny, but me. The lesson is about trusting yourself, and not only trusting yourself but being able to stand up to that trust being tested. I trust my artistic decisions completely and I only ever make what I want to, rather than making what I think other people want. People can question it all they want when the record is finished and I’m satisfied, but it’s much harder to stand up to questioning during the process of making it.
I remember once working with another engineer when doing some recording at Abbey Road some years ago, and the engineer said “Oh really, you wanna do it that way? I wouldn’t, we should do this instead” and it was difficult to stick to my guns and do it my way, a way that felt unconventional to him. But, at the end he said “You know what you were right, this sounds great”. It’s particularly hard to stand tall in these situations as a woman. Less than 2% of producers in the UK are women. Less than 0.5% are engineers. But what about women that engineer, produce, mix, perform it, write it, arrange it, and sing it? My artistic voice is singular. It won’t be everyone’s favourite and that’s fine, cos I have the trust in myself to do what I do. To be me.
You should have the trust in yourself to do what you do. To be you. Do it your way.
Emma-Jean Thackray’s ‘Weirdo’ is out 25 April via Brownswood Recordings/Parlophone Records and is now available for pre-order.
