{"id":10733,"date":"2013-09-12T12:01:32","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T19:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=10733"},"modified":"2013-09-12T12:02:15","modified_gmt":"2013-09-12T19:02:15","slug":"ryan-tedder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2013\/09\/ryan-tedder\/","title":{"rendered":"RYAN TEDDER"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RYAN-TEDDER-Issue-No28\"RYAN TEDDER<\/b><\/h1>\n

Rock star, songwriter, hit producer\u2014he does it all and makes it look easy\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

By Michael Gallant<\/b><\/p>\n

To call Ryan Tedder a master of musical trades is an understatement\u2014the Grammy-winning wiz is an international rock-star-songwriter-producer phenom. Tedder\u2019s most visible gig is as frontman of OneRepublic, but pull away the curtain and his superstar production and songwriting credits are revealed. He\u2019s helmed landmark albums and penned hits for pop\u2019s biggest A-listers, including Adele, Beyonc\u00e9, Jennifer Lopez, Maroon 5, Leona Lewis, Adam Lambert, B.o.B., Kelly Clarkson, the Wanted, Gavin DeGraw, Natasha Bedingfield, Wiz Khalifa, Hilary Duff and many more.<\/p>\n

The son of a family of musicians and missionaries, the Tulsa, Okla., native graduated from Oral Roberts University and landed his first record deal after winning an MTV singer-songwriter contest that attracted the attention of producer Timbaland, who took Tedder under his wing. It was during this period in the early 2000s that Tedder developed as an artist while writing and producing for other artists.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Tedder\u2019s work with OneRepublic became national news in 2007 with the massive hit \u201cApologize.\u201d Timbaland\u2019s remix of the tune pushed the song\u2014and the band\u2014into the international spotlight, helping \u201cApologize\u201d garner a Grammy nod. Timbaland had signed the band to his Mosley Music Group label, which released their debut album Dreaming Out Loud <\/i>and another hit single, \u201cStop and Stare.\u201d<\/p>\n

After recently releasing the band\u2019s third studio album Native<\/i>, Tedder reveals challenges the group faced. \u201cI wanted to create something new and inspiring,\u201d he says, \u201cbut it\u2019s difficult because we\u2019re not Mumford and Sons. With those groups you know for the most part what their albums are going to sound like. But we\u2019re more of a moving target. Inspirations for Native<\/i> came from everywhere, from Muddy Waters to hip-hop to Peter Gabriel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musical inspiration in Tedder\u2019s singular career also comes from everywhere, whether he\u2019s touring and recording with OneRepublic or writing and producing with an array of artists. Tedder spoke with us about maintaining balance as one of today\u2019s most cutting-edge producers.<\/p>\n

What were the album’s challenges?<\/b><\/p>\n

Staying fresh without copying<\/i> what\u2019s current\u2014that\u2019s nearly impossible to do, especially if you\u2019re a producer who helps create a lot of what\u2019s current. If you walk away from a project for even nine months, your entire cache of sounds and methodology can become outdated. It helps that there are certain fundamentals of production that work a lot of the time\u2014tried and true techniques you can rely on.<\/p>\n

Such as?<\/b><\/p>\n

It all starts with a chorus. I get the chorus sounding as good as humanly possible and then work backward. At the end of the day, the verse is going to be a broke-down version of the chorus when it comes to drums and instrumentation. So I start with the biggest part of the song, getting the instruments as tight as possible and everything\u00a0in its right place.<\/p>\n

What’s next in the writing process?<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s about creating chapters. About every four bars, I\u2019ll introduce a fresh piece of information. Even if it\u2019s the slightest thing\u2014like high-hat on the two and four or some indefinably weird sound\u2014the ear picks it up. The result is this constant build, and then the chorus explodes. For the second verse, you might reapproach things, strip the track down to nothing and bring it back slightly. But even in the second verse, I focus on creating new elements of sound every four bars. And each chorus has a slightly different sound or percussive element than the one before it, so there\u2019s a subliminal build from first note to final chorus\u2014and that final chorus is the apex.<\/p>\n

Does this apply to everything?<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s more macro generalization of production. It\u2019s the fundamental approach I would take to any song in regards to radio. Although everything I\u2019m saying can go out the window if you\u2019re talking about acts like Arcade Fire, Elbow or Radiohead. Those rules don\u2019t apply to more esoteric music.<\/p>\n

Do you try to stay current?<\/b><\/p>\n

You have to be careful not to chase what\u2019s out there now. By the time you write or produce a song with that same sound and it gets pitched, placed, cut, recorded and released, it will sound dated. Producers need to be very cautious about that. You must have an angle, something different. Either the song itself has to be extraordinary\u2014and then it doesn\u2019t matter that the production is somewhat derivative\u2014or you need elements in the production that are unique. It\u2019s hard to do, since we\u2019re all dealing with the same equipment, software and instruments. There are only so many notes that a human being can come up with, and they\u2019ve all been written or recorded before.<\/p>\n

How do you deal with that obstacle?<\/b><\/p>\n

You stay inspired. I listen to a lot\u00a0of new music, and that keeps me on my toes. I always try to mine for new music,\u00a0and noncommercial music in particular. That\u2019s where I find a lot of ideas.\u00a0Regardless of whom you\u2019re working with, you\u00a0can adapt ideas from more underground cultures to help create a song to be\u00a0commercially successful.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s an example?<\/b><\/p>\n

Maroon 5\u2019s single \u201cLove Somebody.\u201d The original idea was inspired by Robyn\u2019s electronic music\u2014songs like \u201cHang With Me\u201d and \u201cCall Your Girlfriend.\u201d We loved the vibe, feel and the huge, emotional choruses. Another example is Adele\u2019s \u201cRumour Has It.\u201d That song exists because of Radiohead. I was a massive fan of their song \u201cI Might Be Wrong,\u201d and that was the inspiration behind my work with Adele. So many hit songs come from a songwriter sitting in a room and saying, \u201cMan, I wish I could go back and write Peter Gabriel\u2019s \u2018In Your Eyes.\u2019\u201d Then they sit down with that song in their mind, and what comes out could be something extraordinary that was inspired by\u00a0Peter Gabriel, even though it may\u00a0sound nothing like it.<\/p>\n

How about from the new album?<\/b><\/p>\n

On \u201cCan\u2019t Stop,\u201d I\u2019m basically channeling Gabriel with the drums, weird synths and piano. The chorus is Annie Lennox\u2014I\u2019m a huge fan. Somebody in their 30s might get those references, but to an 18-year-old it just sounds new, and that\u2019s all that matters. M83 was also a big inspiration for the album, and we even incorporate one of\u00a0their songs into our set.<\/p>\n

Do you have your own sound?<\/b><\/p>\n

A lot of the hits I had prior to the last two years were me creating my own sound without realizing it. It was basically massive, percussive drums combined with the opposite end of the spectrum, which is beautiful, super-emotive, ethereal, cinematic music. I loved where those two worlds met, and I got there from years of listening\u00a0to Peter Gabriel.<\/p>\n

How\u2019d you write Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cHalo\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\n

My Achilles tendon had exploded while I was on tour and I was put on bed rest. My wife was out of the house and she\u2019d warned me to not work, but I was getting antsy. I called my friend Evan Bogart and said, \u201cI have three hours at the house by myself. Let\u2019s write something for Beyonc\u00e9,\u201d since she\u2019d hit me up a couple times and I wanted to deliver something. He showed up, and the first thing I started playing was the opening pad of \u201cHalo\u201d\u2014that angelic-sounding,\u00a0atmospheric sound.<\/p>\n

How close was the demo to the final?<\/b><\/p>\n

I get a call a week before they were mixing and mastering the album\u2014while I was on tour\u2014saying, \u201cBeyonc\u00e9 wants to do vocals, but we need a dissection of the song because she sang it in a different key.\u201d It was pure panic. I locked myself in Germano Studios and worked on recreating the entire track because I hadn\u2019t written down the patches I\u2019d used or saved the settings. I had to dig through multiple keyboards and folders on hard drives to re-create the song from the ground up\u2014and I did it in an afternoon. It\u2019s infinitely harder to re-create something than create it for the first time.<\/p>\n

What was it like working with a singer like Adam Lambert?<\/b><\/p>\n

Adam is one of the most authentic, funny people I\u2019ve ever had the pleasure to work with. His energy is amazing\u2014and he\u2019s also one of only three people that I\u2019ve ever had blow out a microphone from the sheer power of his voice. We went through five or six before finding the right one\u2014he was distorting the capsule with every one we tried.<\/p>\n

How about Gavin DeGraw?<\/b><\/p>\n

Gavin is one of my favorite singers, and he\u2019s had some really good success, but he\u2019s overlooked and should be way bigger than he is. He can pick up an acoustic guitar or sit at a piano with nothing else and just blow everybody in the room away with his singing, lyrics and talent. It can take the two of us forever to finish anything we start, but once it\u2019s done, it\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

Any advice for aspiring producers?<\/b><\/p>\n

These days most demos sound like final recordings, so it\u2019s important to learn how to mix. If you\u2019re going toe-to-toe with another songwriter or producer\u2014with all things being equal\u2014if you have the better sound, that\u2019s going to make your chorus pop more to whoever\u2019s listening. A great mix could be the deciding factor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RYAN TEDDER Rock star, songwriter, hit producer\u2014he does it all and makes it look easy\u00a0 By Michael Gallant To call Ryan Tedder a master of musical trades is an understatement\u2014the Grammy-winning wiz is an international rock-star-songwriter-producer phenom. Tedder\u2019s most visible gig is as frontman of OneRepublic, but pull away the curtain and his superstar production […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3844],"tags":[6978,780,850],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10733"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10733"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10736,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10733\/revisions\/10736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}