Steve Wingfield is a talented producer, writer, arranger, and musician. His new compilation album “A Thrill of Hope” was released on September 25, 2020, and features stars like Sandi Patty, Kate Sanford, Jonathan Cilia Faro, and more.
Natasha Barbieri: How many records have you produced in total in your career?
Steve Wingfield: Wow, that’s a great question. I don’t know the exact number, but it’s definitely over 400 albums. The interesting thing is that it has been in so many different genres. We have done everything from classical to children’s music to pop to rock to relaxation to Christian music….and so on and so on. It has really been a wonderful experience, career-wise, to be able to explore all of these different styles and to work with so many wonderful people.
Natasha Barbieri: What’s the strangest project you ever recorded?
Steve Wingfield: There were a few, and always with the same artist, but this one was so bizarre, I don’t think I will ever forget it. I’m not going to say the name…haha, but I can tell you that it was extremely out there. It started the minute we got to the studio and the artist was late…he rolled in with no arrangements and just a handful of music books that were clearly just bought at the local music store. I asked where the piano player was, and he informed me that he was going to play piano that day. I knew that was going to be a disaster…and it was, so I excused myself from the control room and called one of my regular session players, letting him know the situation and got him to come to the studio. In the meantime, we tried to get some of the bed tracks down and the drummer was playing so lightly, that we had to keep turning up the mic pre’s. The more we turned them up, the lighter he would play…until there were basically no drums. It was such a strange experience. The day went on like this and just got more and more bizarre. I could probably fill up a whole page about this session. Haha. So after all of this nonsense all day, one of the strangest things that happened was when the drummer sent in his invoice. First, he faxed it…and this was way past the fax days. Second, it was a single piece of paper with messy handwriting saying “You owe me…” and whatever the dollar amount was. Needless to say, it was the last session I did with either of these people. Oh! I forgot to mention that the artist tried to explain to me how the government had implanted nano bots into his scalp…that’s why he had shaved his head. It is not something I care to experience again. But I suppose you are going to get a few weird ones in a long career. Lol.
Natasha Barbieri: Do you have a favorite album you’ve recorded?
Steve Wingfield: Now that is a very hard question to answer. Obviously, the new record is definitely one of my favorites, but there are some other standouts for sure. I arranged and produced an album of big band love songs in 2003. Just some really beautiful pieces of music and it was so much fun to arrange for the band. The two times I went to Moscow were certainly unbelievable experiences. We were able to get two albums done on each trip. What an incredible thing to sit in the control room and listen to some of the best string players in the world. I almost felt guilty because it didn’t feel like work at all. I would definitely have to say that one of the best experiences I’ve had is when I recorded Sandi Patty for the first time. She came into the studio and just laid the track down in two takes. I was floored and was so incredibly impressed with how she approached all of the songs on the album, but that first song will stay with me forever. I could go on and on and on. There are too many to pick from, but those are a few of them.
Natasha Barbieri: What was it like recording this epic project during Covid? How did you track this and do vocals?
Steve Wingfield: So this was something different for me. It is the first time I have not been in the studio with the players or singers. I’ll be totally honest and say that I didn’t like that part of it. I really love to have in-person interaction with everyone. I like the vibe that comes when everyone is together. Of course, with Covid, it was impossible…especially since I’m in Canada and the singers were all in Nashville. It took some getting used to, but I think it all turned out great. The engineers we were working with, were fantastic and really helped to make it all work.
I really wanted to have different arrangements for these songs. Christmas music has been done to death so, I worked really hard to try and make something unique. There is a great mix of vocal and instrumental tracks on the album and I think it flows really nicely from song to song. We’ve got some trumpet on a couple of songs, and Denver played it so beautifully on those tracks. I played Tenor Sax on two songs, and I think that added a dimension to the record that we haven’t had on previous releases. The vocalists were all just superb in their offerings, and I am so thankful for everyone who helped out with this. The orchestra and all of my players here in Toronto were world-class, as always.
As far as tracking, I did a lot of it at my place, then sent the rough mixes off to the musicians and the singers, so they could learn the songs. We had to do zoom meetings for some of the vocalists, and for a few of the soloists, they recorded at their own studios and sent the parts back to me so I could edit and get them imported for mixing. I love arranging and writing, but for this record, I really was into the mixing process. I wanted to have a certain feel and ambiance. I was playing around with different reverbs, but wanted everything to have a flow. I think we achieved that for sure. The hardest part of this, apart from the covid inconvenience, was sequencing the record. It had to sound good, while also telling the Christmas story. I really wanted it to be in the order of what happened that first Christmas night, as much as possible… but it also had to sound musical. I always find these things have a way of working themselves out and just reading the titles, tell the story I wanted it to tell. Listening to it from top to bottom, the story is there, as well as an overall flow. It’s always difficult mixing in vocal tracks on an instrumental record, but the vocal tracks are so strong, that it was actually pretty easy. There is always that risk of something sounding out of place, but that doesn’t seem to happen in twelve tracks. I am really happy with the way things turned out, and even though there were some new situations due to the virus, we were able to make it all work and the singers did an amazing job….especially under these circumstances. I am so grateful for all of the hard work everyone put in.
“A Thrill of Hope” is now available on Spotify and Apple Music
To learn more about Steve Wingfield visit his official website.
Steve is a true professional and always fun to be around.