Recommendations of the Editorial team
Andrew Watt is the man the veteran stars trust. At the moment there is hardly any way around the producer, who was born in New York in 1990 under the name Wotman. The sessions with him were so productive for the Rolling Stones that the upcoming “Foreign Tongues” was the result of their second album.
If you look at the agile American’s rock star face, you’d probably suspect other clients. Watt actually achieved his success with the young guard. His clients as of 2013 included: Cody Simpson, Justin Bieber, DJ Snake, Post Malone, Rita Ora, Avicii, Cardi B and Lana Del Rey. Of course also Miley Cyrus, who transformed Watt into a rock tube with “Plastic Heart”.
But then came Ozzy Obsourne and the work on “Ordinary Man” (2020) – and from then on the word got around that Watt could carve out a fresh, pleasing sound for all those who don’t really want to change much anymore and still want to sound as young as possible.
A question of the right energy
If you trust Keith Richards, then Andrew Watt not only succeeds in getting the controls right, but above all in pushing the right artist buttons for the musicians. Regarding the successful recording of “Hackney Diamonds,” he told Rolling Stone: “Andrew just had the right amount of energy and the right know-how to pull it off.”
That’s exactly what Elton John (who also went straight back to Watt after recording with Ozzy) and Iggy Pop (“Every Loser”) saw exactly that. After Eddie Vedder put his third solo LP “Earthling” in the hands of the producer, he also persuaded his colleagues from Pearl Jam to rely on him for “Dark Matter”. So that Pearl Jam could remain Pearl Jam and still sound like a band from the 2020s.
One can now argue whether his real masterpiece is not to have brought Lady Gaga back into the spotlight with “Mayhem” and to have confirmed, with minimal changes to her well-known pop beats, exactly the musical image that people have formed of the singer over the years. Or the production of “The Metallica Blacklist,” which brought the metal veterans closer to a new generation. But the impression still remains that Watt is one of the few producers who manages to bridge the gap between generations.
Because he relies on speed and raw energy? Watt is known for his first-take fetishism. Just don’t rehearse forever and put the song together in the studio. Whatever is in the box first usually releases something magical. Added to this is absolute efficiency. On Ozzy Osbourne’s album Ordinary Man, he wrote and recorded the majority of the songs in just a few days. Probably because the musician was hardly fit enough to worry about little things all the time, he brought the producer back on board for the following “Patient Number 9”.
Andrew Watt is a super fan
It’s not clear whether Pearl Jam or the Rolling Stones really want to sound like a twenty-something garage band again, but Andrew Watt manages to preserve that freshness. As some musicians say in interviews who have worked with him, this is probably because the producer approaches them as a kind of super fan. He knows every B-side and every guitar solo of his clients by heart. He preserves instead of changing. Mick Jagger confirmed that the band were immediately told if anything in rehearsals didn’t sound like the Stones’ DNA. The classic sound should be preserved without it seeming old-fashioned.
When mixing the pieces and putting together the tracks on the albums, Watt deliberately relies on a mix that functions as a vinyl record, so to speak, and with individual parts that can hold its own well in playlists and in the regular rotation on the radio. The sound may have a certain snotty quality, but it is a clean dirt that dries quickly and then crumbles finely.
Watt also likes to lend a hand to this himself. Watt not only sits behind the mixing desk, but also always grabs the bass or guitar to provide support. In the best cases – like “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” with Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder – the producer captures the free-flow feel of a good jam. What Rick Rubin – the other great interpreter of legends – does according to Paul McCartney in a dry, almost too analytical way, Watt achieves in a more physical and direct way.
Get to the point quickly
The typical ingredients of a song produced by Andrew Watt are: direct introduction, fat rhythm sections, little sonic ballast, vocals way up front and a noticeable live impulse. Not to forget: the spice lies in the brevity. Watt demands that his musicians get to the point quickly and only exaggerate in exceptional cases.
Since most producers earn their money with pop, hip hop or electronic music and only make rare forays into the rock genre, Andrew Watt has now developed a unique selling point with his powerful, vital guitar style. The supposedly old guard is still queuing up for him.
