Meet Your Makers: Learning By Doing with Jacob Zacharia
Jacob Zacharia has spent more than a decade recording, mixing, and sound designing, always putting the project first. Inspired by Rudy Van Gelder and the classic Blue Note records, Jacob has had the good fortune to grow his skills at some of New York’s premier recording and post production studios. He has since brought the best of his learned experience to life in CornerStore, always looking to improve the experience.
LBB> What first attracted you to production - and has it been an industry you’ve always worked in, or did you come to it from another area?
Jacob> I’ve been working in production since before I graduated from high school, so about 12 years now. Almost every job I’ve ever had has been in production in some capacity, from live events, to music, to post production now. What originally enamoured me with it was hearing albums at the local record store in my town, and talking about the recording process: kind of the idea that as a producer, you’re able to manipulate time, and add on top of it.
LBB> What was your first role in the production world and how did this experience influence how you think about production and how you grew your career?
Jacob> The very first gig I had was shadowing the engineer in a recording studio inside of a carpet factory in New Jersey - lots of love to Erik at BrickWindow for that opportunity.
I was pretty much a fly on the wall, helping set up and tear down sessions for rock bands. Being there emphasised the importance of maintaining the spark throughout the creative process, and always keeping the joy of the process itself at the forefront. I’ve made these concepts pillars of my career, and keep them at the core of every project that I take on.
LBB> How did you learn to be a producer?
Jacob> I’m still learning how to be a producer. I learn new and different ways to be a producer every day. A lot of it has been allowing myself the space to be curious, the space to be wrong and learn from mistakes and interpretations, and integrate those lessons into my practice. I try to analyse sounds I like from productions I like, and find out about the producers who worked on those pieces, and their process.
I was also very lucky to be able to study a lot of these concepts and techniques in university with a fantastic group of professors and peers, in the music technology program at NYU.
LBB> Looking back to the beginning of your career, can you tell us about a production you were involved in where you really had to dig deep and that really helped you to grow as a producer?
Jacob> Honestly the project that helped me grow the most was a feature film I did all the post audio for about a year ago, called ‘And Through The Portal We Go’.
This was the first feature I’d worked on, certainly the longest and most meticulous piece I had gotten in: I was doing everything from dialogue editing to music editing, sound designing and mixing; pretty much everything but the score itself, and even then I had a hand in producing one of the songs used in the film. I needed to learn different ways to use familiar tools, I needed to learn completely new tools - the whole process very much a reinvention of how I approach any creative project now, at every level.
From the way that I first bring a project in and set up my session, to the conceptual and aesthetic discussions I’m having with the creative collaborators I work with, everything is coming from a more holistic understanding and appreciation for the end goal. So much appreciation to Mike and Allison Hayhurst at Evening Squire for having the trust in me to bring their world to life through sound.
LBB> A good producer should be able to produce for any medium, from film to events to digital experience. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why/why not?
Jacob> I don’t think it’s so black and white: A good producer can have helpful and impactful input and ideas in any medium, because they’re a creative-minded person and generally understand effective team dynamics and workflow. However, different producers specialise in different mediums, and have beautifully unique ways of understanding and interpreting the world that may translate more effectively to some mediums more than others.
Ultimately what I’m getting at is the importance of being able to play to strengths and understand the time when there is someone better suited to producing something in a certain medium; not being afraid to ask for support and guidance is critical to producing something that is greater than the sum of its parts, which is the ultimate goal of any worthwhile creative endeavour.
LBB> What’s your favourite thing about production and why?
Jacob> The ability to reimagine a piece with other people, and create something that none of the collaborators could have done on their own. We are lucky to be in an industry that encourages collaboration, learning, and resource-sharing.
My life is so much more rich because I’ve had the opportunity to work with and learn from other people, and the projects that I have the privilege to work on are that much more interesting for it.
LBB> How has production changed since you started your career?
Jacob> When I started my career, people were still listening to music on CDs and buying DVDs. I was just getting started around the time when BlockBuster died: The way that people both create and consume media has completely changed.
Attention spans have grown shorter, messages have grown simpler, time has become more precious, from a production perspective at least. The internet, and the internet of things, have also allowed creative people to take their education and professional development more into their own hands. That means that there are a whole lot more people doing production work, as well. The production world has both gotten bigger, and smaller, at the same time.
LBB> And what has stayed the same?
Jacob> What always remains is the passion and the dedication to putting out excellent work that tells incredible stories. There is also an evergreen appreciation for those who came before, paving the way for the people creating now.
LBB> What do you think is the key to being an effective producer - and is it something that’s innate or something that can be learned?
Jacob> The key to being an effective producer is being able to look at a project from a variety of different angles: the ability to get outside of a single perspective and explore many ideas that could accomplish the same goal. It is also knowing the right pieces you need to complete something as best and efficiently as possible.
Looking at a piece from many angles is something that is either innate, or learned through experience: it cannot be taught in a book, or through lecture. Picking an effective team, I think, is a skill that can only be learned through experience.
LBB> Which production project from across your career are you most proud of and why?
Jacob> Probably a fashion spot I worked on with my incredibly talented friend Ewrakua Dawson-Amoah, and an excellent Emmy award-winning DP by the name of Ty Rogers: It was so beautifully shot, the concept was tight and it left a lot of room for me to be able to create without any inhibitions.
It was also such an immediately natural process working together with Ewrakua in the studio; even on the first day it felt like we had been working together for years because of how quickly and effectively we were able to make choices, and how open to experimentation the process was. That project was the start of an incredible working relationship we’ve been developing since, and it serves as a milestone for when much of the sound design and editing process clicked for me.
LBB> And in terms of recent work, which projects have you found to be particularly exciting or have presented particularly interesting production challenges?
Jacob> We just finished wrapping up an ad for PanOxyl. The message was that they’ve been a trusted brand for more than 50 years; so the brief had us making multiple pieces of music spanning five decades, so within a few seconds, each piece of music had to encapsulate the corresponding era. It was great working so closely with the other partners at CornerStore to get to the essence of each track, and a fun challenge fitting five completely different pieces of music into 15 seconds, and doing it tastefully.
LBB> Producers always have the best stories. What’s the hairiest / most insane situation you’ve found yourself in and how did you work your way out of it?
Jacob> To make a very long story very short, we had a 7’x4’x1’ mixing desk shipped across the country just to find out that it wouldn’t fit in the elevator to get up to our space. The only option was to get a crane to bring it in through our 7th storey window in the middle of Manhattan at 5:45 in the morning. Many serendipitous connections, a lot of good faith, and seemingly endless patience got us through.
LBB> What are your personal ambitions or aspirations as a producer?
Jacob> My ultimate goal is to get people to connect more deeply to themselves; much of what this role necessitates is the ability to understand the various inner and outer worlds that are trying to be communicated through people and pieces, and helping to allow those worlds to be brought to life by facilitating the ability of those creating these works to understand themselves better. So my aspiration is to help people reach a higher level of personal understanding.
LBB> As a producer your brain must have a neverending "to do" list. How do you switch off? What do you do to relax?
Jacob> I guess the short answer is that I don’t. I rarely switch off. I’m constantly buzzing with ideas, and I’m very lucky to be working with a team who is also continually inspired, and in constant communication. If we have an idea, we put it in our group chat and if it’s ‘after working hours’ we table it for later. The only time I really switch off is when I meditate. To relax, I love movies so I’m always watching classics and immersing myself in various worlds. Between that and meditation, that’s how I take the edge off.
LBB> Producers are problem solvers. What personally fuels your curiosity and drive?
Jacob> A desire to understand more about the world and the people I share it with. The more I understand, the more I have to draw from to solve problems, to enhance projects, to help people…it helps with everything.
LBB> What advice would you give to people who are interested in becoming a producer?
Jacob> I’d invite them to dig into their own creative process, learn more about themselves and become confident in what they have to offer. The most effective producers are people who have a strong handle on what they can offer and what their limitations are, and thus being able to use their strengths in concert with the strengths of others to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
Being confident in your own offering also enables you to challenge your collaborators to go beyond their comfort zone. So to boil it down, the best advice I can give is to get to know yourself as best you can, and be OK with not being the loudest, most important voice in the room.
Also getting to know the language of every part of what you’re working on: the most successful producers are able to have an informed conversation with everyone at every stage of a production, so being able to confidently speak everyone’s language is necessary.
LBB> From your experience what are the ingredients for a successful production?
Jacob> The ingredients for a successful production are a strong team, a clear vision, well-communicated objectives, and a productive revision process. A strong team plays to each other’s strengths and fills in each other's gaps. A clear vision gives a strong team somewhere to go, and well-communicated objectives lets them know how they’re doing in the process of getting there. And last but not least, a productive revision process ties the whole thing together and brings a production into the best form of itself.
LBB> What’s the key to a successful production-client relationship?
Jacob> Getting outside of the myopia of your own creative ego, and serving the needs of the project.
The client hired you because they like your work, you don’t need to worry so much about proving your own individual prowess: the way to prove yourself is by showing the client you care about what they’re trying to achieve, and making their goals your goals - not the other way around. It’s also being clear about what is and is not doable kindly, and as early as possible so that the objectives can still be reached, or changed as quickly and efficiently as possible.
LBB> One specifically for EPs: Producers are naturally hands on - they have to be. How do you balance that in the more managerial role of an EP?
Jacob> By letting producers do what they do best, and maintaining the goals of the project in mind at all times when working on it. By not getting in the way of the creative process, and removing obstacles for your people to be able to create effectively within the parameters of the project. It’s also about keeping your people on task and ensuring that they understand the vision and objectives of the project.
A good EP is someone who makes sure the flow is as uninterrupted as possible, and addresses and helps move past the inevitable interruptions that arise in production.
