producing

I did maybe about 80 percent of the album on my own with an engineer.

Did you miss working with the team you’re accustomed to ?

We would program together. I would describe a vision and describe a lot of sounds, and the engineer would help me with the rest. Three years ago, I knew what sort of album I wanted to do. I usually start out with a pretty clear vision, and then I sort of color in a picture after that. Because I’m not such a good craftsman, I would do all the basic beats and harp and string arrangements. I then get specialists in each category to take it that one step further. I’d get a string orchestra or a harp arranger who would take my arrangements and add some of their own. They add about 10 to 20 percent of their own sounds.

AOL webchat, 4 September 2001