Brent Kolatalo (Kanye West, Eminem, Bruno Mars)

With sixteen years of experience making hit records, New York-based mix engineer and producer Brent Kolatalo has worked on more than 24 Gold and Platinum albums, nineteen number-one albums and singles, and sixteen Grammy Award-nominated records. Working across a range of genres, his credits include Kanye West, Eminem, Bruno Mars, Jay-Z, Lorde, Drake, Lenny Kravitz, One Republic, Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga, and more.

What do you enjoy most about working with independent artists?

Nothing's more satisfying than helping an artist see their vision through and being part of that musical journey with them. An artist could be living with their song for a year or possibly more even before it comes to me, so when I can come in with a fresh perspective and give them new ideas that take their song to the next level, even if it's just one of them, that's a huge honor for me. I'm sure it can be a scary thing for someone to share their art with a complete stranger and put their trust in them. I don't take that for granted. Being able to come in and help make that journey just a bit easier is a beautiful thing.

Are there any common issues you often find in songs sent to you by independent artists that you might not see so much in the bigger production budget material you typically work on?

I feel like a lot of artists - especially new ones - get caught up in overproducing their song and don't pay enough attention to the most important parts, which are the vocals and melody. You can throw the kitchen sink at a song production-wise, but if the melody and vocals aren't there, it's still probably going to be a bad song at the end of the day. Melody and vocals are the foundation of a great song.

What essential plug-ins can you recommend to artists who are self-producing their own music?

If an artist can afford the Komplete bundle by Native Instruments, I'd highly recommend that. The Komplete bundle pretty much has any instrument a producer could want with high-quality sounds. It'll probably take you months just to go through everything. Also, the Waves Horizon bundle is a great pickup for basic mixing and mastering plug-ins. It's very affordable and gets the job done.