{"id":3112,"date":"2011-08-05T16:47:28","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T23:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3112"},"modified":"2011-08-05T16:47:58","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T23:47:58","slug":"bryan-michael-cox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/bryan-michael-cox\/","title":{"rendered":"BRYAN-MICHAEL COX"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

BRYAN-MICHAEL COX<\/h1>\n

He can make a hit record for you\u2014but he\u2019d like a conversation first<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Dan Daley<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Bryan-Michael Cox, it\u2019s all about the\u00a0conversation. That\u2019s the first point of contact between the 32-year-old producer and the artists with whom he works. The conversation builds a groundwork of trust and mutual understanding. Then he\u2019ll write a song about something meaningful that comes out of that conversation\u2014like Usher\u2019s 2004 chart-topping \u201cBurn,\u201d inspired by the R&B superstar\u2019s pain at his fading relationship with TLC\u2019s Rozonda \u201cChilli\u201d Thomas. Then Cox will turn that song into a great track, and more than likely it\u2019ll be a hit. \u201cAll my really, really big records came from conversations,\u201d he says. \u201cWhether it\u2019s about me or about the artist, through that is where the songs come from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox has been honing his method since high school, where the Miami native made his first demos at Houston\u2019s Performing Arts High School for classmates and future Destiny\u2019s Child stars Beyonc\u00e9 Knowles and LeToya Luckett. In the late 1990s, he moved to Atlanta, the burgeoning hip-hop capital, where he majored in music at Clark Atlanta University. But his real education took place simultaneously at rap impresario Jermaine Dupri\u2019s production company. Cox hit the ground running with Dupri, turning out hits as co-producer for artists including Usher, Mariah Carey, Monica, Da Brat and Bow Wow.<\/p>\n

The release of \u201cBe Without You,\u201d from Mary J. Blige\u2019s 2006 The Breakthrough<\/em> LP, marked Cox\u2019s debut as a producer in his own right. The single peaked at No. 1 on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s R&B singles chart for a record-setting 15 consecutive weeks and remained on the chart for more than 16 months. Cox and his production company, Blackbaby, Inc., have since become a force on the R&B landscape. The four-time Grammy winner has helped to shape popular tracks for acts like Alicia Keys, Jessica Simpson, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston and Fantasia. He has lately expanded his cross-genre reach by co-writing and co-producing teen phenomenon Justin Bieber\u2019s hit \u201cNever Let You Go.\u201d More recently, the Atlanta-based Cox headed to Nashville to help write songs for Faith Hill\u2019s next album. \u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019ve always wanted to do,\u201d he says of his unexpected foray into country music territory. \u201cStranger things have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was Atlanta like when you arrived?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I got here in \u201997 it was in full gear. Everything was so new for me, coming out here from Houston and just experiencing the energy, the synergy. Everything about the city was booming, and everybody was so positive because everything was on the move. It felt like you could make your dreams come true here if you were an urban songwriter, producer and musician. It felt like this was the city to be in. Everything came together and just blew up at one time. Suddenly I woke up one day and had 14 songs on\u00a0the chart. I produced or co-produced all of them, and co-wrote some of them. It exploded like a volcano.<\/p>\n

Do you consider yourself lucky to have been there at that time? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I like to call it blessed. You can\u2019t really dictate what your destiny is going to be. You have to just live life and hope that you\u2019re following the right path. Music is my ultimate destiny, and has been as far back as I can remember.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t typically produce full albums for one artist. Why? <\/strong><\/p>\n

For whatever reason, the labels don\u2019t like people to sit with one producer anymore. I don\u2019t know why that\u2019s the case. It\u2019s crazily insane, because [the label] is going to spend way too much money. The process of recording is absolutely ridiculous when there are that many people. But in some cases it has worked. We\u2019re not all in the same room making a record at the same time, so it\u2019s the A&R person\u2019s job to maintain the balance. It\u2019s a big job for them\u2014I wouldn\u2019t want it for nothing. Egos are flying. It means you may be in your own little world. I\u2019ve been doing it so long, it\u2019s like second nature to me now.<\/p>\n

Where is the line between songwriting and production?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It all depends. There are so many different definitions of the word \u201cproducer.\u201d For me, I\u2019m a composer who happens to produce. I think that most people who are beat-makers are actually composers. You have to look at it from that perspective. A lot of people don\u2019t even know what composing means, so they use the word \u201cproducing\u201d instead of the word \u201ccomposing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then what makes a producer for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A producer is a person who, from start to finish, brings the record all the way to the end, 100 percent. Somebody might give me a beat that\u2019s hot and has potential. Then I may get a writer to write to the beat, or I may write it. I cut the record with the artist, then mix the record with an engineer. Now everything from cutting the record to mixing, that\u2019s where the producing part kicks in.\u00a0A lot of people say they\u2019re producers,\u00a0but they make beats and hand it off to people who are really writers or producers. There\u00a0are so many other steps that go along\u00a0with producing.<\/p>\n

What are your feelings about the growth of home studios?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The home studio is getting better and better and better. Back in the day you went to a commercial studio and they were using the real deal, 24-track, the big SSL boards. If you had a home studio, you had a four-track or eight-track. Now home studios and commercial studios are almost one and the same. People use Logic and Pro Tools at home, and they use Logic and Pro Tools in commercial studios. It\u2019s all about your preference as to where you\u2019re most comfortable being creative. I know for a fact that the home studio has put a dent in the commercial studio business.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your setup like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I use Logic as my sequencer and do a lot of editing in Pro Tools. I\u2019ll create in Logic and then convert my audio files and drag them into Pro Tools. But Pro Tools 8 is actually really dope with the programming, so I\u2019ve been getting into that lately and I like it. I\u2019m still a Logic-head, but I do like Pro Tools 8.<\/p>\n

How about for writing? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I still use my [Akai] MPC [4000]. I was\u00a0an MPC fanatic, I have like 10 MPCs. I\u00a0have a 60, a 62, seven 3000s and a 4000. I\u2019ve been organizing how I\u2019m working between MPC and Logic. I\u2019m using Logic heavy, but I brought my MPC back into the fold about a month ago and I\u2019m loving what I\u2019m coming up with.<\/p>\n

Is there a danger of getting lost in all the technology? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely. Sometimes it\u2019s hard. I look at my computer and I\u2019m like, \u201cMan, I\u2019ve just got so much stuff in here. Where am I going to start?\u201d I try to spend time building that, so that when I come in I\u2019ll be inspired and know what to do.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your philosophy about processing, especially on vocals? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I try to let the song speak. We can get in here and put a lot of effects on a lot of different things and try to make it bigger than life, but nothing\u2019s bigger than the song. I learned that with Jermaine. So my primary objective is the song. I don\u2019t have a lot going on in my tracks, although my tracks are actually very layered. I don\u2019t program against myself, you know what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n

Please explain.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I may use a lot of sounds, but I don\u2019t use them against each other. I have to leave it open for the writer\u2014whether it\u2019s myself or someone else\u2014to be able to fill in the space. I\u2019ve turned tracks that I think are incredible sounding, but I can\u2019t get the right song to it because there\u2019s too much going on. So I have to scale it back to make sense of the kind of record we\u2019re trying to make. To me, there\u2019s nothing more important than the song.<\/p>\n

How do you tell a big-name artist that something isn\u2019t working? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the producer\u2019s job to explain to the artist why it doesn\u2019t work. I take my job very seriously, just like the artist should take their job seriously. You hired me, you obviously trust my ear and my track record probably proves to you that I can do the job. If you sit down and have a conversation with me about music, you must be very, very impressed with my knowledge. This thing is about trust. You wouldn\u2019t be in the studio with me if you didn\u2019t trust me\u2014so trust<\/em> me.<\/p>\n

Does having a pre-existing relationship with the artist help?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you absolutely know people, it makes the creative process easy. With people like Mary and Mariah and Usher, it\u2019s easy. It\u2019s harder when you don\u2019t know the artist, because you\u2019re trying to figure them\u00a0out\u2014figure out what they like, what they don\u2019t like. That\u2019s the challenge. I\u2019m executive producing [new act] Day26\u2019s album, and that\u2019s been a challenge because we need\u00a0to make an impact. It\u2019s been about\u00a0getting in and understanding where they\u00a0are emotionally, and trying to draw from\u00a0that and hit on that.<\/p>\n

Recording budgets are getting tight. Is that affecting what you do? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I have my own [studio] space, so it hasn\u2019t really affected me as much. The only way it\u2019s affecting me is that the labels are reluctant to work with me because they say, \u201cOh, if we work with Cox, this record\u2019s going to cost this much money.\u201d So I went to all the labels and I restructured my [production] deals from a larger number to a smaller number, so it\u2019s affordable for new artists to be able to work with me. The only way I stay relevant is to be able to be on all these projects. If I priced myself out of that range, then that\u2019s a problem. It\u2019s about the work for me, because that\u2019s what\u2019s going to bring the money, the publishing money, the money I count. The front-end money, that money don\u2019t really count to me. You\u2019re making money on publishing, you\u2019re making money on these royalties, that\u2019s what counts.\u00a0I\u2019ve been in this game for a long time and I want to be in for a little while longer, so I have to think like that.<\/p>\n

What has been your most challenging production situation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris Brown is a person who inspired me initially. I went in the studio to make his second album and we ended up doing 10 songs in a week. I was probably at my best creatively during that period. He came to the studio and was so full of life. I\u2019ve known Chris since he was 15 years old, and I wanted to be his Quincy Jones. I was going to produce the whole album, but I think there were some politics going on with\u00a0the label and with management that didn\u2019t allow that to happen. I think when they realized\u00a0I was going to make a lot of money, they\u00a0just winged off. I ended up having two\u00a0songs on the album.<\/p>\n

How did the Faith Hill project happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I went out to Nashville because I was going to produce Anita Baker\u2019s album. We went to go look at some studios, and I fell in love with the city. I knew I wanted to come back. The Anita Baker deal fell through, but this thing with Faith Hill came up.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m finishing up a little solo project that I\u2019m working on myself called The Love: Exposed<\/em>. I\u2019ve been passively-aggressively finishing that. It\u2019s been a mysterious project of my life, but I think that I\u2019m ready to bring it to the forefront. I think it\u2019s ready to go out there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BRYAN-MICHAEL COX He can make a hit record for you\u2014but he\u2019d like a conversation first By Dan Daley For Bryan-Michael Cox, it\u2019s all about the\u00a0conversation. That\u2019s the first point of contact between the 32-year-old producer and the artists with whom he works. The conversation builds a groundwork of trust and mutual understanding. Then he\u2019ll write […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[861,623,2296,970],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3112"}],"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=3112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3115,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3112\/revisions\/3115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}