 |
  |
Renaud Létang
The stars' favourite producer
Paris
27/12/2006 -
Making a date to see Renaud Létang requires a lot of forward planning because to say the producer's schedule is hectic is one of the biggest understatements of the year. On the day we finally hook up with him in the studios tucked away in the Rue du Capitaine Ferber, Létang is busy with Mickaela, a top model from Australia, the latest in a long line of artists whose record label has called upon Létang's services. And it is Mickaela's French record label that will foot Létang's personal bill as the producer works on a completely independent basis and is not employed by any one particular studio.
The producer as advisor and guide
Létang's reputation in the music world has spread by word of mouth, record label directors and artists passing on his phone number between themselves. Questioned about his 'man of the moment' status, Létang says he believes his popularity is based on the atmosphere of mutual trust he tries t o instil in the studio. "My role is to accompany the artist I'm working with and come up with what she or he wants. The artists are always the boss. It's up to me to make them feel comfortable once they get behind the mic. My role is not to judge, but to advise - and to guide them towards a final version of their work which is as effective and accessible as it can possibly be for the public."
Since he began making a name for himself in the early '90s, the thirty-something studio whizz has worked with the 'crème de la crème' of the French music scene. "The first time I set foot in Studio B was to work on Alain Souchon's Foule Sentimentale," Létang says, and since that momentous day he has stuck to the same studio producing some of the most significant albums in recent years. As Jean-Christophe Le Guénnan, the studio manager, notes, "The main reason musicians come to Ferber is for the atmosphere. But our clients, the artists and the record companies, also choose to work here because of our traditional 'savoir-faire'."
When working on an album Létang becomes a veritable studio mole, spending entire days and nights underground, rarely surfacing to see the light of day. In between takes, you'll find him wedded to his treasured Neve analog mixing console, "an English make - the best in the business!" Once he's finished the job in hand, he's already on to the next, long before the previous album he worked on ever hits the stores "Recording is just one phase in the process of making an album," he says, "Take Philippe Katerine and his album Robots après tout, for instance. Things moved along at a pretty cracking pace on that. Katerine came along to the studio with a demo already made for the entire album. It was full of barely sketched-out sounds you could hardly hear at times, but the majority of the musical 'climate' he wanted on the album was already there." Létang invited Gonzales, a musical acquaintance of his based in Berlin, to come along and help out at recording sessions for Robots après tout. "What I tried to do with Gonzales," he says "was to reinforce the musical aspect of the album because the whole thing was a bit raw at first. We tried to make it as clear and accessible as possible."
Robots après tout, as any self-respecting French music fan will know, includes the massive chart hit Louxor j’adore. "The song revolves around the concept of this loser DJ working in a nightclub in the provinces. I wanted the track to sound upbeat, but a bit ironic. So we used this '60s-style rock riff and this sort of annoying strident voice. We started the song off pretty softly with two drum beats, one quite cold attacking the track, the other booming deeper to create the ambience of a club. And then we added in a series of "claps" that went "tcha-tchap… tcha… tcha-tchap… tcha ." Then we brought in the bass riff, backed by a synthesiser imitating the sound of an overloaded bass…" And the rest is history - Katerine stepped up to the mic in between breaks in the music played by Létang and Gonzales and metamorphosed into the loser DJ, shouting "…Et je coupe le son!… je remets le son!… ("Let's turn off the sound!" "And bring it back again!")
1, 2, 3, testing…
Létang's work also involves "fabricating different sounds before the mix and testing them out in the studio… judging how long they last and how strong they sound." Each sound is then played through a range of different speakers in the studio to check whether it can be heard in speakers in shops, televisions and car radios. Once this practical test has been effected, Létang can then begin his creative mix, weaving the sounds together in different harmonies, but always respecting the overall 'climate' desired by the artist. His mix does not always meet with approval. On one memorable occasion, Létang says "I had mixed an entire Higelin album live in concert and I had to wipe the whole thing because Higelin didn't like what he heard!"
Once Létang has finished his mixes, an executive decision has to be made as to which of the different versions will be kept, "whether you want to use the one with more backing vocals or a bit less bass…" At the final stage, when the album is "mastered", Létang hands the work over to a specialist studio where, like a cabinetmaker carefully varnishing a freshly sandpapered piece of furniture, experts will hone things to final perfection, harmonising the different tracks on the album between one another.
Back to the job in hand at Studio B and Mickaela has already flown back to Australia, leaving Létang to attack the final mix alone. This should be ready within a week, at which point Mickaela will return to give her verdict – and, if all goes according to plan, Létang will not need to activate the "wipe" button this time round!
David Glaser
20/12/2006 -
03/11/2006 -
