We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jayme Silverstein a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jayme thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I learned what I do by relentless looking for info anywhere I could and then going and trying out new ideas and techniques myself to see if they worker me. I still do that all the time to this day. I’m big on optimization. If someone has a better way of doing something I want to learn about it. Looking back, one thing I could have done to speed up the learning process is to have just stuck to one genre and mastered that. I have had the fortune (in previous career of being a touring bassist) to have played any and all styles of music so I never want to pigeon hole myself. However, each genre takes its own 10,000 hours to master so the road to being excellent at all genres is much longer than being great at just one. Also, my versatility came from necessity. As I was transitioning careers from a touring bassist to a producer, I needed to take any opportunity to get paid and keep a roof over my head. The skills that have been most essential to me in my craft have been the ability to be objective and not get emotional when someone doesn’t like a something about something I’ve created. Also the ability to research and the ability to practice instruments by playing small phrases slowly and then speeding things up as phrasing begins to feel natural. You can doctor things a lot in the studio but a natural, emotive take is still king. The main obstacle that stood in the way for me was my ego. In my previous career of playing bass, I was naturally gifted. I was immediately great on the bass. I honestly didn’t have to work very hard. But music production….not so much. And having the mentality and ego of someone who is naturally gifted in a new field where the talent wasn’t equivalent made me a bit of a head case for many years. Also, changing careers in my 30s added the extra pressure of, you should be better at this, you’re the oldest in the room! So I went from being young and gifted to being being older and hard working. It was quite the mentality and identity shift. I really just needed to get out of my own way.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Music has always been in my life. From an early age, my dad was always playing old soul records and often he would say “Jayme, listen to the bass line on this one!” And it would be something like “What’s going on” or “Bernadette.” So picking up a bass guitar at 12 year’s old was a natural fit for me. I want on to major in jazz bass studies at the Manhattan School of Music, where I had fun but it just wasn’t for me. I wanted to create popular music instead of conserving music. After 7 years of living in Manhattan, I moved back to Los Angeles to pursue being a touring musician. I got on tour in the first two years of me being there. Some artists I played bass on tour with are, Miguel, Estelle, Nico and Vinz and Cher Lloyd etc. But deep down inside, I’ve always had a deep yearning to put forth my own ideas, so I knew touring would be short-lived. When I turned 31 , thats when I knew it was now or never to make this transition happen.
I provide many musical services as a producer. I can make the instrumental track, I can write the lyrics and melody, I can engineer and vocal produce the artist and I can mix the final song. I also play the instruments and parts that are present. Many producers use samples to get realism in their songs. I will use samples sometimes as well but majority of the music I create involves me playing my own, bass, guitar and keys parts. I’ve also been know to sing back grounds too!
There are a few different types of clients that I work for and they all have different problems to solve. All clients are looking for the best song for their artist, client, campaign etc. When I work with major labels, theyre looking for the best song for their artist at the best price. From beginning to end, this process has the longest horizon unless the artist is closing on the album. My song with Quavo “Not Done Yet,” that happened quickly as the album was wrapping that week.
When I work in the world of Sync with tv, movies and brands, they need a song that works the fastest. They also need the red tape of singing off on the usage of the song between all collaborators and publishers to be lightning fast. Quality is important to everyone but speed and convenience is especially important to the world of Sync.
When I work with independent artists, (not signed to a record label) they actually need the most help and attention. Often times, it will be their first professionally produced body of work. They’ve saved up and they have high hopes that this can be the body of work that starts their career. Naturally, they put lots of pressure on themselves because the money is coming directly out of their pocket and this is their first impression they’re putting out. When I work with clients like this there is lots of patience and guidance involved. I really care about these artists because I always see a little bit of myself in them. Being so brazen to save up and give it your all to express yourself and change the trajectory of your life is admirable to me. I love seeing others willing to gamble on themselves as I have. The problem I solve for these indie artists is being a one stop shop to give them songs of the highest quality and to be source of knowledge and guidance to help them navigate the music business.
I don’t think there’s one song or moment I’m more proud of than anything else. I’m really proud of myself that I get to do this everyday and live on my own terms while supporting my wife and my son. My favorite feeling is the momentum that happens when a song starts coming together. The first few hours can be dodgy as youre trying to fit different ideas together and you’re really just operating off of faith that your hunch can turn out to be actually good! But when your gamble pays off and the song starts coming together it’s like sledding downhill. It’s so fun and addictive. It happen’s on every sng. It makes the discomfort of starting worth it. I am most proud of when my abilities can help others feel that same excitement and also realize how great they can sound and how creative they can be.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is knowing that your ideas matter and that they are worth something! No matter what you’re pursuing, theres a reason they hired YOU. YOU have the special sauce. YOU are one of one in this world. Yes many people can make a song, or hit a ball or cook a meal but the way you do it is special and means something. I love that.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
A specific goal that is driving me is to develop artists that bring the art back into the art of music. I aim to challenge people’s emotions and make music that makes people feel different feelings. I like to write songs on different subjects that are relatable like being biracial or parents being divorced. I feel like so many songs have the same subject matters and create the same emotions. I think they are many more subjects and moods thats people can find parts of themselves in. I strive to have hit songs that don’t like anything else at the moment. I love songs that challenge popular song structures or what the trendy chords or topics are. Put succinctly, to widen the boundaries of what pop music lives inside.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaymedsilverstein/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaymedavidsilverstein
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/jayme-david-silverstein-aa4a8089
Image Credits
https://www.instagram.com/storiimusic/