John Otto Quotes

Every single note on this album is there for a reason.

I love to work with producers who are very good with their chord progressions.

You hear it in your brain. Whatever makes sense. Some songs work well as quartet songs, sometimes they don't.

I'm used to making songs; that's how I learned to make music. My structures will always be more like pop songs than dance tracks.

In my mind, my music feels so big, a true production.

When it comes to making a song, whatever the beat tells me to do, I do.

I try to make explosive and catchy music, haha.

Songs can click together really quickly, and other times, they're really laborious and heavy-lifting.

I know melody. I know rhythm; I know bass guitar; I know the piano. I know everything about music that helps build the music that go along with creating the whole art form, you know what I'm saying?

If you're writing a piece for the Boston Pops, the balance is towards one end. If you're writing a piece for a chamber music society, then it's towards another point. I won't make a final answer on that. I think it changes with every piece.

It's not about retro or modern, it's about this note or that note, which sounds better?

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 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.

The bass line is the anchor for me. I started with the bass, and either doubled that and then added the harmonies, or sometimes added my own harmonies that I've always wanted to sing on the song. And then it just went on from there - singing violin parts and trumpet parts and just trying to emulate the sounds of the instruments.

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

I aim my arrangements at what will fit and colorfully frame the song in the best way possible.

Doing the instrumental thing, you're really looking for the power of the melody to carry the record.

We knew that we wanted to play heavy music but I hadn't gotten into melody and things like that.

For me it always comes down to what is a good song and I'm very old fashioned in the way that I like to make songs that have something classic about them whether you can play them with an orchestra or an electro synthesizer or an acoustic guitar.

It seems when I put together records, as Henley used to say, they're just like movies. They should have action, tension, love scenes, places to relax.

Lyrics can be important, but ultimately, what pulls people in on a song is melody and the tracks and the way music feels.

The original 'Don't Let It Get to You' started with a beat. The drums came first. All the musical and lyrical elements were written over those drums.

It was important for the first piece of original music that I release to have a timeless feel because that's the type of music I want to make.

Once I've got something that I feel is strong, if I get long enough to think about it, it'll turn into something. I'll start thinking about the drums - what the drums are doing, what the bass is doing. Then, if I can remember it by the time I get to a recording device, it'll turn into a song.

Most of the time, I write songs with the arrangements all at once, in my head. There's the producer side of me that's always thinking sounds, like, 'Wouldn't this be a great sound if it existed to put in front of a song, to open it up, and then, when it did its thing, something else would happen?