We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Booher . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.

Emily, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I think the most meaningful project I’ve worked on so far was the NPR Tiny Desk Concert I played this past June. I’ve been a big fan of that series since high school and one of my biggest dreams has always been to play on one. I grew up playing classical music; first voice, then piano, then cello, but I was always really passionate about the music I listened to. I never really thought that I could take playing cello into the modern music industry as opposed to classical orchestras. So when I finally got to DC and got to the Tiny Desk office, I was in awe that I was in the same place that so many of my favorite artists (and people that I’ve looked up to for years) had been before.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into the recording/music industry by accident. I was a cellist in high school that wasn’t sure if she wanted to do classical music anymore. I’m not from a big music city, so I thought my options of working as a musician were really limited. I was really passionate about the music I listened to and going to see bands and artists live, but in my brain it was never an option to play those genres as a classically trained cellist. That whole world seemed like a pipe dream or something that wasn’t realistic to pursue. I also had no clue how recording studios worked or what went into making my favorite records.
My senior year of high school, I found out that we had a big recording studio right outside of El Paso called Sonic Ranch where some of my artist heroes had actually recorded at. I decided to draft an email to them while I was sitting in my yearbook class one day, as I had started becoming interested in artist management and thought maybe I could learn something from interning there in the future. I accidentally hit send on the email and was invited to visit the studio that week. I started an internship there some days after and I recorded cello on a song for the first time on my first day at work. Something about that session just made me feel like I belonged in that world, and from then on I was obsessed with studios and started working as a session assistant/runner. I recorded with different artists almost weekly for the whole school year. After high school graduation, I interned at the studio every summer between my college semesters.
After 11 years of working in studios, it’s still my favorite environment to be in and I feel like my love for working on records has grown even stronger. The thing I’d say I’m most proud of is the playlist I keep of all the songs I’ve worked on that have been released. All those songs feel like a big scrapbook of memories and I love to go back and relive my old recordings. My favorite thing is working with artists, so as I honed in on my skills as a session cellist over the years, I started getting really good at coming up with my own parts. I took my love for cello part making and turned that into full string arranging which has also led me into the world of production. When I’m not in the studio, I also like to play live with bands and artists. I find it so fun diving into the artistic universe of others and helping make it come to life.
I think what sets me apart from other people in my field is that it’s not common to find a classically trained string player that works in studios. I love being able to take my classical music degree and mix it with my recording education. I feel like it’s given me a unique perspective in terms of how I write music. I think something I would want future clients to know about me is that I really gravitate towards magical spaces when I’m composing and arranging; I love lush string lines, experimenting with sounds, and really pushing the limits of what’s considered “correct” in the string world. I love working with all genres, but I know I really shine in the indie alt sphere. I love projects that really aim for maximum creativity, and world building. I also have synesthesia so interesting colors and textures are something really important to me when I’m working on a project. I’m a big dreamer and I love to disappear into the world of what I’m working on so for me getting to help someone realize their dream record feels like a privilege- whether it be through improvising a cello line, writing a string arrangement, or producing the whole song.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part about being a creative is knowing that I get to take part in something that can really impact people. Everyone listens to music, and everyone has at least one song they love that has carried them through an important event in their lives, so I love knowing that I get to contribute to music that could impact someone positively. I actually have a song I cowrote on a few years back that ended up being a fan’s engagement song, so knowing that I was apart of it is really cool. On top of all that, when someone calls me to work on their songs with them, I know they’re trusting me with an important and very personal task so it’s always a privilege to be given that trust.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I think a lesson I had to unlearn was the thought that music has to be perfect. I love my classical background, and I’m so appreciative of it, but when I was introduced to the studio world, I feel like I had to unlearn everything I knew about music. Working on sessions taught me to play by ear and to let loose; to let the music speak through me, as opposed to just reading what was on a page. When you’re working on a session, everyone in the room is important and part of a greater whole. The final product always ends up being bigger than everyone in the room (or everyone connected to the project) and takes on a life of its own. I realized that the best recordings are the ones that break the rules I grew up with in classical music. Once I learned there’s not just one right answer, it helped me find my style of arranging/composing and my voice as a cellist.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lajemilybeth
• Other: Tiktok: @jemilybethspotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4VaQ5CiEMFJc4ZhjSNXffj?si=6df7c5339a8a4dd4

Image Credits

Enrique Alvarez, community manager at Panoram Studios