Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Henderson.
Hi Joe, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Back in 2012, I was interning for a producer in Nashville. One of the biggest and arguably most valuable things he taught me was vocal editing. How to capture, edit, and perfect a vocal performance so that it was right for the record. Through him came loads of opportunity, other producers started recommending me to their producer friends. All the while, I was touring as a drummer full time, so I was doing a lot of this work, if not from home, on tour busses and in hotel rooms.
When I decided to step out of touring and push into production and songwriting, I took a year off to figure out what I wanted to do and how to go about it. LA was the move.
I knew I needed to leverage any marketable skill to get the ball rolling, so when I moved to LA in 2018, I was driving for Lyft and editing vocals. I had a friend that took me under his wing and taught me a lot and threw me in to opportunities that demanded I grow quickly.
Writing and producing was working, using vocal production to get in the room. (What vocalist doesn’t want to sound better than everyone else?) 2018 and 2019 were wild for growing in every lane. Holds, pub deal conversations, blah blah blah.
COVID.
2020 hit like a truck and I needed money. Another friend I knew heard of this opportunity to be an engineer and vocal producer for an artist who had a nice home studio and was looking to work during the pandemic (after the initial wave passed).
Fast forward to 2021, while still working with that artist, another artist had flown me to Colorado for a writing camp. While there, I got a call from a friend I’d made in Nashville.
He said “I can’t say much other than I’ve been working with Brent Kutzle and his band OneRepublic and we’re trying to send a pitch record out to a large artist and I can’t get the vocal right. They wanna send it in an hour. Can you help me real quick?”
So he sends me the vocal, I do my thing and I send it back. I think nothing else of it.
He calls me back and tells me they loved it and expressed his thanks. He then goes on to say that he feels in a little over his head and that he’s going to step down, and in doing so wants to recommend me for the position. Still being “pandemicy”, I said I’d be honored to be considered.
The next day Brent calls me and asks if I’d mind doing two songs on spec just to see what I can do. So he shoots me the records, I do my thing and send them back.
He calls me and says “the jobs yours if you want it.” That was August 2021.
It’s not lost on me that my story, probably like a lot of others, is riddled with “I had this friend…”
Relationships have gotten me where I am now. And they will get me where I’m going.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth? I don’t necessarily think smooth is the word I’d use to describe it. But it’s been a road and I’ve followed it from each opportunity to the next. If I had to highlight one struggle that was consistent until probably 2019 was standing up for my worth.
Learning that, to the right client, my work is valuable and the price that accompanies that value is worth it. I see that often with young people that are new to the arena, asking for little or no money just for an opportunity. No stranger to that myself, I understand there’s a time and a place for that. However, we can’t stay there. As we grow as creatives, so does our value. Standing up for it is an integral part of the process in growing and progressing.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My official title within the OneRepublic world is engineer/vocal producer. When asked questions of this nature I have to dodge a bit because of employment contracts.
However, I typically say when it comes to the vocal, I care more than you. Some people care about drums or sound design or synths. I care about the vocal. I care about the breathes, the lip smack in chorus 2, the auto-tune that tuned to the wrong note for a millisecond in the prechorus, the rhythm of the vocal and if it’s locked in the pocket of the drums…
I care about the vocal (the editing in particular) a lot.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
The vocal.
Does the singer emote the way they should? Did I edit it too strong and take the emotion out? Is that breath in time? Is that breath too loud? If there’s multiple vocals, do all the S’s and T’s line up or is it sloppy? Is sloppy the vibe for this track?
If your vocals and drums suck, your record sucks.
Relationships.
Nobody (to my knowledge) has done a creative journey alone.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/thejoehenderson
Image Credits
Brody Harper
