Benjamin Rice is a Grammy Nominated Record Producer, Vocal Producer, Musician, and Mix Engineer. Benjamin started his career at Record Plant Studios in Hollywood, CA as an assistant engineer. He quickly turned the relationships cultivated at Record Plant into a budding career with Top 40 credits including Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Julia Michaels, Becky G, Zedd, Nick Jonas, Robin Thicke, John Legend, and Liam Payne.
You really do have an incredible list of credits behind you. What’s been the most challenging project you have ever worked on?
The most challenging project I’ve had so far was “A Star Is Born” with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. It was challenging in a very fulfilling and rewarding kind of way though. I engineered and vocal produced the entire project. I also co-produced the Golden Globe, Grammy, and Oscar winning single “Shallow” with Lady Gaga, as well as “Maybe It’s Time” with Bradley Cooper and “I’ll Never Love Again” with Lady Gaga. I was also Album Producer of the project along with Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, and Lukas Nelson. This was a long and exhaustive project that we worked on for almost 2 years, and it has been the most rewarding and unforgettable project of my career. I learned so much in the process and I am very proud of what we created. I’m very thankful to have had that opportunity.
If your studio caught fire and you’re only allowed to take one piece of gear with you what would it be?
I’d probably just grab all of my hard drives and run.
Interesting! What’s your favourite plugin from us and why?
Picking a favorite PA plugin is difficult because I regularly use so many of them. But lately, I’ve been really enjoying the SPL Iron and Blackbox. They’re both extremely powerful tools and add a ton of character. I also really love the VSC and VSM plugs. The Elysia Museq, Alpha Compressor, Millennia TCL-2 / NSEQ-2, and the BAX EQ are regular staples for me as well.
Do you ever look back at productions and wish you’d done certain things a different way?
Yes and no. I regularly listen back to things I’ve worked on as a way of referencing my progress and challenging myself to find areas of improvement. I think that its very important to operate with a mindset of always growing and improving. So its very important to me to reference not only my work, but the work of those that I admire as well. In doing so, I regularly find things that I might do differently….yes, but I also discover certain aspects of my work that I’m proud of, which then helps me to maintain those elements of the work that I like as I try to build upon them. In the end, if you’re consistently doing your best work and striving to be among the best, then the things you create in those moments along the way will be special for what they are. Its easy to get wrapped up in the pursuit of perfection, but the judgement of art will always be subjective, so I think its important to trust your instincts and to pay attention to what matters most in making a song….Which in my opinion, is a combination of good songwriting and how a song ultimately makes people feel. Aside from those two things, we’re probably all guilty of sweating the details more than we should. That’s what I try to remind myself anyway when I get lost in the weeds of perfection.
Any advice for upcoming producers out there?
I would say to always put in the extra effort and to take full advantage of every opportunity. Work ethic, respect and integrity are the most important aspects of any career, so I would encourage others to keep those principles at the forefront of their mind. Aside from that, always push yourself and never settle for what seems good enough.
Thanks for chatting with us! We wish you all the best for the future.
Thanks for the interview, and keep up the awesome work!
More on Benjamin Rice here: https://www.instagram.com/thebenjaminrice/