I think being eclectic is bad when you're just starting out.

But when you're beginning, you should try to focus on something you love and your own way of doing things.

Music has become a bigger business, and with that there is more pressure to succeed; I think that it creates a negative pressure for being creative.

I think that technology has both introduced new sounds but also allowed an increasingly painterly approach to recording music as you can now paint over what you've done and more and more refine an existing performance.

The vocals are what immediately draw people in and sell the song.

Most bands have a sound that they're already identified with, so for the producer it becomes a process of helping them find their muse in the studio to make a record that will not only satisfy them artistically, but will also do something in the marketplace.

Normally when I work with bands I'm trying to refine and improve what's already there.