Joe Jennings.

Since completing his MA in Music Production at Spirit Studios, Joe Jennings has continued to build his career through collaboration, production and original music projects. He has developed an impressive catalogue of work that has gained recognition from industry professionals and audiences alike.

Among his achievements, Joe has received the BBC Introducing ‘Track of the Week’ on two occasions, as well as securing ‘Track of the Year’. The projects he has worked on have also amassed more than 300,000 cumulative streams, reflecting the growing reach of his work as a musician and producer.

We caught up with Joe to discuss his journey since graduating, the importance of collaboration, and the lessons he’s learned while building a career in music.

What inspired you to study an MA in Music Production and what made you choose to study here at Spirit Studios?

One of the biggest reasons I selected Spirit to study my Music Production MA was the fact that the lecturers are all current active participants in the music industry themselves.

This meant that I could have full faith in their understanding of the modern music industry and completely trust their insight and skills, and I was extremely satisfied with their ability to enhance my music production abilities.

Another huge reason for selecting Spirit is the optimal location. Being in central Manchester means that there is a huge opportunity for social networking, and also loads of opportunity for work in the music industry. Being able to bring people into the university for collaboration in such an accessible location is a hugely unique positive that Spirit has that I was unable to find anywhere else.

Can you tell us a bit about your journey into music production since leaving and how you got to where you are today?

Since I have left Spirit Studios, I have continued to collaborate with other students that I met at the institutions. I have attained a BBC Introducing’s ‘Track of the Week’ twice, and a ‘Track of the Year’ once on these collaborations.

How did your time at Spirit help shape your skills or confidence as a music producer?

I feel that Spirit really bolstered my confidence and capability in collaborating with other people.

With music production largely being an isolated hobby confined to my bedroom in the past, attending Spirit helped to transform that hobby into an opportunity for collaboration to better my musicianship, working opportunities and social connections.

Spirit also provided me with the opportunity to learn and utilise equipment that helped to expand my toolset as a music producer, that would otherwise be extremely difficult to access. The lecturers’ adept know-how really helped to streamline my learning processes, making getting to grips with industry-level equipment extremely easy and an enjoyable experience.

You recently collaborated with one of Spirit’s Popular Music, Songwriting and Performance students on a new track ‘Bad’. What was that experience like and what advice would you give students who want to start collaborating with others in the music industry?

Collaborating with Issie on ‘BAD’ was both an extremely enjoyable and incredibly helpful opportunity for expanding my songwriting ability. Being able to collaborate on this track allowed me to open myself up to new ways of song creation I had not previously considered, as prior to Spirit my song creation was largely isolated.

Being able to hear objective feedback and fresh ideas from collaborators that you would not normally come up with yourself is a really refreshing change from working by yourself. As an example, for ‘BAD’ Issie came up with the ambitious idea of creating a fake choir, which is something I would never have thought about or considered attempting on my own, but the choir ended up massively levelling up the track and we were both really pleased with the idea in the end.

I could not recommend collaborating more to anyone who is considering working with new people.

If I could give some advice to someone who wants to begin collaborating, it would be to be prepared to be a bit malleable; be prepared to potentially work in a slightly different way than you are used to. Everyone has different ways of working, and being able be adapt to other’s ways of working will both massively expand your capabilities and also provide the best results. From findings new ways of working, to expanding your social network, the positives are endless.

What does your typical working process look like when you’re developing new music?

As a primarily commercial pop music producer, usually when I create new music I am doing it with the aim of collaborating with a vocalist to create an original track.

It can vary, but I usually tend to begin by creating the drums for the chorus, as personally I feel that creating the drums first helps to establish the vibe of the track, while also focusing on the most important section of the track. In other instances though, beginning with a catchy hook written on the guitar or a synth can be another great way of starting songs for me.

Once the track has been built a bit more and has some established sections, I like to work with or send the work in progress to the vocalist. This helps to see a fresh perspective on the track, and hearing written vocal ideas on the track helps to further shape the rest of the track’s genre, and helps the instrumental to mould around the vocals.

This usually leads to a back and forth between me and the vocalist to get the track finished with feedback in between. Eventually, we go into the studio together to get all the vocals and layers properly recorded.

Do you have a favourite piece of equipment or software?

By far my favourite piece of equipment is the Juno-106 found in the Synth Suite. With the massive resurgence of 80’s music in pop music recently, I had so much fun experimenting with the Juno as a pop music lover. I loved sampling the synth and getting the sounds to fit in with a more modern context, giving a result of nostalgia in a modern production. I loved the sounds so much that I bought a digital emulation of the synth for when I graduated!

What has been your biggest career highlight so far?

I would probably say my biggest achievement of my career so far is having over 300,000 cumulative streams on projects that I have worked on, whether that be producing, songwriting, mixing or mastering.

What advice would you give to students at Spirit who want to build a career in music production?

My main bit of advice is to make sure you work with anyone you possibly can. Working completely alone trying to build a career in the music industry can feel daunting.

Working with others and creating connections provides opportunities that you might not have previously considered.

Where can we find your work?

You can follow my music account at – @joejenningsmusic