At this Atlanta Chapter and P&E Wing event, Dave Cobb and Butch Walker reminisce over different stages of their journey to the recording console.
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Atlanta Producers Cobb And Walker: "A New Birth Every Time"
"Up Close & Personal With Dave Cobb & Butch Walker" was hosted by the Atlanta Chapter in conjunction with the Recording Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing, providing an inside look at these top producers' paths. Walker has been nominated for Taylor Swift's Red album and Cobb won Best Country Album and Best Americana Album at the 58th GRAMMY Awards for Chris Stapleton's Traveller and Jason Isbell's Something More Than Free respectively. Both started by recording the band they were in and both thanked Leslie Fram and local Atlanta radio for their first hits. Walker had taught himself ProTools, reading the manual in the back of his band's tour bus, before he even knew how to use a computer. "It's a new birth every time," Walker said about the process. "It's like being in a new band every 6 to 8 months," replied Cobb. "You're always working with a new artist and getting inspired yourself from it." Walker took it another step. "You don't have to worry about sticking to one sound when you're behind the console," he elaborated. "You can indulge in all your influences, which I find one of the most amazing parts of it," he summed up, emphasizing that artists need genres commercially, but producers who jump genres like Rick Rubin can express more of themselves musically in a wider range of styles.