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.

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 had previously been in the band the Modern Lovers with Jonathan Richman.

My other advice is to start writing songs and singing right away.

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

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.

I see myself as the buffer between the band and the record company.