Successful Longford music producer chats about his diverse career in the industry

Many of the catchy country tunes that you have heard have been arranged with Jonathan Owens. Based in Granard with Spout Studios, Jonathan has worked with some of the biggest names in the Irish music scene, as well as many artists overseas. He is also a musician and musical director for RTÉ and TG4.

Multi-talented and with plenty of experience over two decades, Jonathan sat to chat with 'Longford Leader' about his career. This is his full interview. 

What/who inspired you to start a record studio?

My dad was a record producer. He was a session musician as well. Both my parents were musicians; they had a band. Music was always in the house. Being in gigs at an early age. Dad was working in studios. Occasionally, I’d be brought to the studio because my parents would be recording. I probably picked up the craft of the various instruments, like the drums. Yeah, probably my dad would definitely be the person who introduced me to the studio. He would’ve been encouraging me through my teenage years. I started in the bedroom with my keyboard, making backing tracks, and getting pieces of equipment. At that time, they were expensive. Not many people had them even in professional studios. I had my own bedroom studio and locked myself in there for hours, inventing, creating and then I became good at it. Whenever I started to get more of a feel, my dad started to use me for working on my mother and father’s material, playing with their records, which led to other people’s recordings when we started out. That developed into me wanting to start my own, from the age of 15-16; I was recording by 17. I had my own studio, which was a converted garage–a functional studio where I could record them. It was all hard-disk and the equipment was much bigger than now. Everything is in one box. That was the start of it for me. I expanded on it all the time; invested in new equipment, as you do as you try to get better at your craft. You find the new gear or software to make your workflow easier, to get the job done quicker. When you create music, you can’t sit on an idea. You want to do it now. You want your equipment to react immediately. That’s where I was always a step ahead, thinking what is the next piece of equipment that I can afford. You were working all the time, reinvesting all the time, and that got me to where I am today. I still have my own studio at home. Twenty-five years of recordings, full-time, professionally. 

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Do you predominantly record country music, have you recorded/produced or are you open to other genres? 

I’m country music focused because, stemming back to my parents who were country, even when country wasn’t cool, I was brought up on country. Other styles of music, I’m into any style of music. I don’t believe in any bad music. I don’t believe in good or bad. If it’s heavy metal to jazz, to hip hop and rock, if there’s something in it. As a producer, you have to have an open mind. If I got locked in country music, the way country has progressed, it’s become very commercialised where everyone could identify, it was getting very old. The rock and pop influence–the more producers infused into country has rocketed with a younger audience. The modern technology brought into country which wasn’t in my early days of country. Recording, I have done trad. I’ve done pop. I don’t produce bands. I’m more one-on-one working with solo artists. I’ve worked with certain acts that would be in a group in a trad sense, but nothing like a rock band or heavy metal. I’m not really equipped for that. It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but it’s how my studio is constructed. People come with an original song, and play it on their guitar, and tell me what I can do with it. This is cool; that kind of beat can come in; we can take a breakdown section from a rock classic and infuse it. That’s why I always listen to everything. My Spotify–you wouldn’t know what would pop up. When I used to listen more, touring more, I used to listen to music all the time and let it go in. The little ideas are at the back of your mind; it’s a subconscious thing. It’s in there somewhere. I believe it’s from listening to different genres of music. Still today, I love all styles. Even when people say you’re all country, I can produce pop and rock. As a producer, you’re there for guidance. You’re not there to tell people what to do. You do tell them what you think is best. If they understand, the goal, they trust your idea, and they go with it. And it works. The more I work with people and when people see the names that you work with, it gives you credibility. There’s something right here–maybe he does know or the man to go to? It’s nice to know that, but I don’t have that attitude with the person who comes through the door without the name. They are all talent sitting in front of you who could be the next big name. They might have something special that you don’t have. You’re collaborating then, which is more fun. If it’s strictly you, it’s all you. You have to bounce. The more people who throw ideas, the more chances you find something unique and special. Genre wise, I like all kinds of music and am open to the project. I’m client-based; I’m not out there selling my brand, as I have a strong client base and they keep rolling back to me. A new independent artist would come now and again, but it would be from country music. My name is more synonymous with the country acts, so I would be country. 

How long does a recording session for an album or song take?

It all depends on the song and in my case, because I’m a studio producer. I play drums, keyboards with modern technology with samples and virtual instruments. You can get the structure of a song in a couple of hours and minutes. You can paint a picture of the song, how it’s going to be, when you’re working with the artist. Then you recreate it with real instruments. Sometimes, the stock instruments are there. Sometimes, you collaborate with other musicians. That’s where time can be lost on a recording. The old way was everyone comes into the studio in one day until you get it right. That still happens, but not every studio is the same. I’m the centre. I produce, engineer, record and play. I suppose that 50-60 percent is me; the rest is the cream on top, the artist singing and additional players and instruments. I don’t put a time limit on something I do. If I’m waiting for a specific sound or something isn’t right, I’ll sit and wait for that musician to bring that. I don’t put time limits on what I do. To get it right, there’s a cut-off point because you’ll keep tweaking. Sometimes, the artist will chip in and say can we do something there–that can cause delays. I can’t tell you how long it takes. 

What artists have you recorded for?

Yeah, there’s a list. I try to be careful. There’s a huge client list and I hate people thinking that you look after the big guys, you only mention them. The most recent one is Nathan Carter, and I would’ve produced Wagon Wheel, which was the breaking song for him. At the back of that, Derek Ryan will be up there; you have Cliona Hagan, Lisa McHugh. Jimmy Buckley, Robert Mizzel the 3 Amigos. Prior to Nathan Carter, Wagon Wheel launched me as well. I worked with Declan Nerney, Big Tom–way back to the standard country. Larry Cunningham, Roly Daniels. A bit of TV with Daniel O’Donnell. The Tumbling Paddies, working with them; they’re not really country but they’re folk-trad. Michael English, Gerry Guthrie, Claudia Buckley, Philomena Begley–it’s very wide. I’ve pretty much worked with every country artist in Ireland, everyone in-between, new. That’s experience that you can’t buy or learn from a college course. That all stems back to my parents, from the kid that was brought up in the genre. I was meeting a lot of these artists from an early age. I had a respect for them. I would’ve known their style, very importantly, and understanding how to work with people. When you work with an artist, every artist is different. It’s like a client and a patient. Certain people like a certain way. You have to know all the little things that you know that you can push a certain button to get something out of them. It’s like a manager in a football team to give them the best result. I found that working with the older acts to the newer acts; you get to know their dedication is to get the best out of what they have. 

Would you consider country music to be as popular as it was a decade ago, or have you seen a change in musical tastes?

Country music has always been popular. My living has been on country music. I do agree that it has changed; the sound has changed. I’m in the centre of that, and am always trying to keep it current. It resonates with a younger audience, because you need a new audience, but you don’t want to alienate the old audience. You want to keep the wider audience happy. Always 10 years, you do analyse. For me, 10 years ago was a flash. Right up to now, I’m still really busy. A lot of those artists I’ve mentioned are still producing and recording and as strong today. You have to look at it with events that are on, and you see the names at these events. That’s a good indication as to what people are going to say. From the American side, you have the big artists coming over all the time, filling the arenas. It shocked me in the earlier days when I went to see some acts and thought nobody knew the lyrics, and 10,000 people are singing these songs. Whoa, this is amazing. It’s not that you discredit, just that you’re not aware. Underneath it, everyone is a country fan. There was a time where people were like it was too old. There was a snobbery, but there are friends of mine who wouldn’t listen to country, but they go to shows. They go ask me about the acts, whether I recorded them. Go back to 15-20 years ago, no way. It’s evolved and keeps evolving. I think it’s coming full circle. There’s only so far it can be pushed progressively. Then there’s a new act that brings something to the table. The next person beside me may have that quality and change country music. I think country music is very strong. Speaking from myself, it’s my industry, I’m still involved. Country music has taken me all over the world. Got me to work with other artists, so I tour and play with bands. I’m the musical director of The Late Late Show; that’s not country music. There’s part of me that I can bring. There are country specials on the Late Late. That’s how it stems. Country was popular so RTE had it. It’s as popular as the Toy Show. It’s got me working with Michael Bublé, Westlife, Rick Astley–-all that’s on my Instagram. It’s brought me from producer to musical director; it’s nearly similar. You’re in charge of what’s in front of you. When we work on The Late Late Show, it’s a lot of fun because we’re not stuck to the one genre. We’re playing every type of music from whatever artist and have to work with them. It could be country this week; folk next week. As I say, about this wide knowledge of all types of music, it’s all in there and times like that, you need to have that. They’re things you need to pull out your bag and put on the table. And when you’re working with a team, everybody helps each other. That’s very enjoyable. That’s a side to production. I also work with the Opry le Daniel on TG4. That’s a lot of work, because we prerecord 7 shows in a week. I’m musical director for that. That’s brought me to work with Daniel, but international acts like Charlie Pride, Crystal Gayle. For the mind, it’s a lot of work but it kind of helps me with what I do. I’m not just stuck 9-5 on one thing every day. 

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How do you feel about AI starting to affect the music industry? Would you use it?

Yeah. I take the positives on everything. There’s a downside to it. People say things like it’ll take this. I like to use it to your advantage. For certain things, I haven’t used it really, if I’m honest, but it’s in the back of my mind that if I need a project to be a little different, I’d consider it. Not to be all the time, I wouldn’t use it every day to ask it for ideas. No. It would affect the brain; I have to create my own ideas. For a little help, it’s no harm. 

What would you say to those in Longford who would like to get into record producing? Have you got any advice to share?

Record producing is a wide span there. Musician, musical director, tour musician–it spans across a lot of things. From record production, advice? It was always something I wanted to do. I still have my parents to thank for that. Dedication and respect for music, musicians, and people trying to learn their craft. That’s something you have to respect as a producer. Take in all genres and respect all genres is a huge, huge thing. It’s a tricky question, because it’s different for everyone. It’s a little bit of a calling thing. You can’t just be a record producer overnight. The musician thing starts. For me, it was starting to play for music; listening to different types; trying to play tunes. The next stage was trying to make my own music with certain equipment, which is easy now. Next stage is working with people–very important–respecting genres. It’s not always the case to work with musical people who are mutual to what you do. There are people who work way above what I do. You kind of shy back, so you encourage people you do what you do well. You don’t need to be the best. You’ve just got to work at it. Have a special quality that people like. If you have a good attitude, and you get on with people, that will overlook a lot of things in my experience. There are people who have the imposter syndrome, they can do better than me, why does he get to do that? It’s hard work. I’ve a lot of things to balance, but I’m dedicated to it. I don’t switch off. If you want to be good at what you do, you’re dedicated to it around the clock. If I’m driving, I’m listening to the radio going I like the sound of it. If something jumps out, that’s working. That’s developing your craft. The more music you listen to as a record producer, you have to stand up for what you think is right. It can become a stand-off if you know your idea is better, you have to diplomatically see. You have to listen to people. All ideas are on the table. A small idea can turn something around. My advice is to listen to people, respect people in any time of business; don’t hole yourself in one style of music. Don’t follow trends because you never know when you need something, someday, that was in your brain as a child. I have people say ‘how do you know your song?’ but my parents played it on the way to school. The more you can soak up the better.