GRAMMY-nominated producer Harvey Mason Jr.'s first professional production gig involved a Motown artist named Impromptu and $2,500.
"I thought that was the greatest thing ever," Mason Jr. recalls about getting paid for his first professional experience in the latest episode of Behind The Board.
Mason Jr. comes from a line of music makers. "I grew up going to the studio with my dad and sleeping right under the console that looked just like this," he says sitting in the producer's chair in a studio. "It's definitely influenced and impacted my career 'to this day."
Mason Jr. has worked with Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and more.
"As a producer your job is to ensure that the artist gives the best performance," he says. "So the mindset is 'What can I bring to the session?', not what are they going to bring, what can I bring to the session that heightens the quality of what we make. That makes that artist or that singer, that performer do something they've never done or at least better than what they have done before."
Watch the rest of the interview above for more insight on Mason Jr.'s thought process when making music, what he believes producers should bring to the table and more.
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