Interview with Barry Beckett, record producer
March 1999

Robyn Taylor-Drake: What do you look for in a song that would make you record it?

Barry Beckett: First, I look at how the melody line will work with the lyric. If you're dealing with lyrics that you want emphasis on, then the melody has to coincide and work with the lyric. The melody has to be structured to help with that emphasis, to exaggerate that emphasis. Like if you're gonna write a lyric 'I Love You,' the primary word there is love, so you have to have that melody emphasize that word.

RTD: What are the most important elements of a song?

BB: The first one is melody, next lyric, and how the lyric is worked into the melody--how they compliment each other and the story line. The lyric catches me first, but if I get bored in the melody, then it doesn't work. A person gets bored first with the melody.

RTD: So when a song starts breaking down, even though the lyric might be working for you, if the melody isn't working, is that an automatic pass?

BB: Yes.

RTD: What makes you hear the magic in the combination of an artist and a song when selecting a song?

BB: You have to imagine how the artist is going to sing it. Imagine the sound of his voice when you hear the demo, which is sometimes hard to do, especially when you have a bad demo singer. The vocal sells the song. The better the vocal, then the easier it is to imagine the artist performing the song.

RTD: What do you like or dislike about songpluggers? What makes you choose a song from a songplugger?

BB: The first thing a songplugger should recognize is that the song should stand on its own. No hype should surround the song. A producer is going to choose what he thinks is a hit song, period. He doesn't think about catalogues, he only thinks about a hit.

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