Thinking about music is nothing new....if you're an artist. I've spent enough time in recording studios to know that songs go through the wringer before they're released to the public. Vocal parts are agonized over; guitar solos are fought over: there is a lot of passion that goes into record-making. Artists have had many sleepless nights brought on by worries about what kind of record they’re working on. Any given minute of a recording session could contain dozens of emotions: expectation, surprise, disappointment, humiliation, joy, happiness, fatigue, anger, rapture, wonder, satisfaction, or even the feeling of not getting no satisfaction. I've seen music stands launched across rehearsal rooms, chairs thrown, yelling, screaming, tears of joy, tears of sadness...sometimes actual fights break out, all because of the music.

And after all that emotional turmoil and sweat*, when a listener hears a song, he or she either connects with it or....doesn't. Why?

I grew up listening to records and - especially - the radio with my Dad. We spent a lot of time listening to classic rock on Atlanta's old Z93 station, and at some point, inevitably, he'd ask me, "what's driving that song?" I'd have to listen hard and identify the structural elements of what I was hearing. Was it the bass guitar? The kick drum? Was it the stomps and claps on "We Will Rock You" or was it Freddie Mercury's semi-breathless vocal delivery? (Spoiler: the momentum of the vocal pushes the song forward.)

Actively thinking about music led me to a completely new level of musical enjoyment. It opened new vistas of emotional possibilities for me. It inspired me in a such a way that I wanted to show everybody that active listening leads to total submission to - and immersion in - the music.

I was eleven.

Almost thirty years later, and now as a music industry professional, I still think like this: what's driving the song? What makes it tick? Why do people like it? Why should anyone care? To answer that (eternal) question, I work with artists to move the listener into an intense emotional experience on every song, be it intense joy, intense sadness, or just maybe, as Mendelssohn said, a feeling too specific for words.

-Andy Freeman, Studio Punch-Up!

*Not all sessions have to be all-out war, by the way. Some are sweetness and light and good times. I love those too!