Adam Schlesinger Quotes

When you produce an album, you're dealing with it theatrically. It has to have a structure, and the inner response to that is that the ear loves it.

I think it's his perception of knowing how to make a record build, keeping the integrity of the song in the music and really adding a lot of musical elements to compliment my voice and to compliment the song.

I'm not used to not having enough time to live with the songs. Usually, if I write something, I live with it for a little while.

I work very hard on getting the songs as direct and examined as I can before I go in the studio.

Music is a performing art, as any Native American will tell you. It isn't there in the score.

If you want to make people dance, you need to follow certain rules. Build-ups and breaks and stuff. I like to be free. On top of it all, I never really felt that I'm good at making fat-sounding dance tracks.

On a good night, I probably make three songs, and none of them are full songs.

I didn't know that there were many rules in music when I first started writing.

When I walked into the studio, the chorus of 'Nobody Love' was already set. For me, the challenge was to make it have depth.

I don't sit down to write a song, per se.

Before you worry about what genre it is, about whether it's a loop or a drum, it's about what suits the song. It's using what's within your reach, but also reaching for everything you can. I don't know if I always get it right, because I don't know every sound yet.

Do not let any record company disturb your creative flow. You are not writing for the record company. You're writing for the public.

You start to think in terms of making an album that might be greater than the sum of its parts. It's sort of like having a lot of footage and then editing it into something that will make sense to a viewer, you know. Sometimes it might involve even working on an older song that might complete that picture.

It's a weird thing when you make records. You try to hear it before you make it, so you walk into the studio with this idea of what you expect to happen, and that usually changes. That usually turns into something else, and that's a good thing.

I'm not technical. When I listen to music, I gravitate more toward the sonic aspect of it. The technical stuff of it, I get bored with it. These long solos? OK, already. You know your scales, big deal. I know it, too, but I don't want to do that.

I do a lot of editing and switching around and putting little pieces together to get the right mood and personality, and it takes me forever to get a song finished.

Typically I go in the studio and whatever I'm contemplating that day will wind up being a song. I don't come in with lyrics... I just go in and let it happen.

I love playing in Fantomas, which is very strict in terms of composition.

My approach is to be part of a band that makes music, not hit songs.

Nothing pleases me more than to go into a room and come out with a piece of music.

I don't think I really make singer-songwritery-type music - it's not my strong point.

There's many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.

I don't think I could have ever had a career as a pianist because I never ever wanted to play the notes the way they were written, I was too sloppy to learn them quite right.

When you're making a record, you try to achieve stylistically what fits on you. Like a good old coat, you know what I mean?

I'm inspired to do music. I really can't stop unless I stop being inspired.