Insight on Ricky’s inspirations and what it was like working with artist’s such as Jason Derulo, Twenty One Pilots and etc.
With hits such as Jason Derulo’s “Get Ugly,” “Wiggle” and “Talk Dirty,” Ricky Reed has slowly become one of the music industry’s go-to record producers. He also produced hits such as Fifth Harmony (“Boss”), Icona Pop (“Emergency”), Pitbull (“Fireball”), Robin Schulz (“Headlights”), Twenty One Pilots (“Tear in my Heart”) and many more. He worked with a Colombian electro-folk band Bomba Eséreo, whose new album Amancer recently received a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album. Reed is extremely stoked about it, writing on twitter… “An album I produced #Amancer by @BombaEstereo is nominated for best Latin Rock or Alt album at @TheGRAMMYs!”
Check out our exclusive interview with Ricky below:
How did you get started in the music and entertainment industry?
Ricky: I guess that depends on what point you consider the starting of it. I played in a punk band in high school and then WallPaper became a thing in college. My career started to move when I got to L.A four years ago. WallPaper did a record deal with Epic Records and then “Talk Dirty” happened and everything started to spiral into what it is now.
You produced Jason Derulo’s top hits, “Talk Dirty” “Wiggle” and “Get Ugly.” What was it like working with Jason?
Ricky: Jason is great. He is really musical and daring. When we’re in the studio he comes in and says “give me the weird sh*t Rick.” He likes me to kind of give him the strange, out of the box material and it’s fun for me because I get to go crazy. I love working with him and he is also such an insane singer. I can sort of suggest any melody or any vocals and he can pull it off, which is nice when you’re making records with someone.
Can you speak about working with Icona Pop on “Emergency.”
Ricky: I’m crazy about the girls. We became pretty good friends working on that. We did that whole EP, but we also made about ten or twelve other songs over a couple month period. I’m just crazy about them. As far as working on “Emergency” specifically, it was fun because we had Erik Hassle in the studio. It’s one of those songs where you follow the vibe in the room and don’t try to force anything. We wrote that song in one day. It was fun!
“Headlights” has been a huge hit. Can you talk about working on that track?
Ricky: “Headlights” is a fascinating one. I did that one with a crew I worked with called Start from Infinity. It’s a collective of six of us total, including me. Producer’s named Axident and Joe London…and writers John Ryan, Ilsey Juber and Tom Paton. We go to these sort of desert retreats and write crazy sh*t with no regards for who will cut it or who will make sense. We’d just go out and write songs. We did that one and Ilsey recorded the label laying in the bed. We were at a beach house which is why it sounded so relaxed. We sent it around and Robin Schulz heard it and said “Yea, I want this.” Then he flipped it into a dance record.
Twenty One Pilots has had an epic year. Speak about working with them on “Tear In My Heart.”
Ricky: I guess I can say this about everybody that I worked with, but I am also crazy about Tyler and Josh. They’re so talented and so funny that you don’t really enjoy being around them because it makes you feel less funny for how funny they are. It kind of screws you up. They’re so awesome to be around. We did 8 songs for their album, so “Tear in my Heart” was one of many and they’re all so diverse and fun for me because Tyler wrote all the songs. I didn’t do any song writing. With DeRulo I’m a song writer but for Twenty One Pilots, Tyler wrote all the songs and I simply produced them. That meant helping to get the instruments, the music and the vocals performance all together so the fact that I didn’t have to write anything on the song. I just got to produce. That allowed me to creatively focus on the sonics of the album; Put all my attention into that and that’s really really fun for a nerd like me.
How has being an artist and in bands prepared you for where you are in your career now?
Ricky: There are a couple of big things. One is that I care a lot about the integrity of the artist and not twisting their words or making them say something they don’t want to say. That’s really important to me. Also, honesty in music and the artist being truthful about the story in their lives. That’s also really important to me. I think being in rock bands informs how I make rock records, but also hip hop and pop … which is that things need to be heavy, it needs to be loud, and it needs to impact the listener. You can’t get by with something that doesn’t really rock you at your core. That’s something I learned when I was playing in bands.
What other producers, songwriters and/or artists do you see as your primary inspirations?
Ricky: I’m a big fan of Rick Rubin. Also growing up in the Bay Area, Rick Rock because he did all E-40’s stuff and kind of fueled the hyphy movement. That was really big for when I first started making beats. Paul Epworth is a little less notable, but he is a friend and I am a huge fan of him. He did “Rolling in the Deep” and a lot of Adele’s last album. He is just a genius and a total sweetheart.
Is there an artist you want to work with that you have not yet had the opportunity to work with?
Ricky: There are a couple. Oh! I should have mentioned… for who I look up to because he is in the same category, but Kanye West … I am a big fan of him and would love to work with him as well as Beyonce and all the other big dogs. But I’ve also had fun lately working with the new class of weirdos. This is going to sound strange to say, but the person I’m most excited to work with I probably haven’t even heard of yet.
Do you have advice for young people who want to become music producers?
Ricky: Yes. Like anything it takes a lot of practice. I first started producing awful punk bands when I was in high school. It was the worst grunt work trying to make really bad bands sound really good. It was not glamorous and I had to do a lot of late nights and at times it was pretty un-fun, but the skills I have now came from that.
What’s next for you?
Ricky: I’m producing this band’s album and they’re called Phantogram. They’re incredible and we’re making an amazing album. I have the first few singles from my new album lined up, so I’m thrilled about that.