Bay Area musician, producer and engineer Jim Greer taught himself piano as a child and became obsessed with four-track recording once he reached his teens. In college he frequented studios with various bands and began to learn production and engineering, largely through osmosis. Following graduation he worked at buzzy San Francisco venue Paradise Lounge where he connected with producer Dan the Automator and began to develop indie outfit the Gun & Doll Show. Later he worked with artists including Macy Gray, Big Freedia and Foster the People. He now creates primarily from The Rondo Loft, his Berkeley home studio.
“I thrive on the magical feeling of the sounds,” Greer observes of production’s appeal to him. “When I was little, I never listened to lyrics. I love to get into the intricacies of music and the way it all fits together. When I work with an artist and a song cracks open into something bigger, that’s very fulfilling. The best part is the joy of working with young artists. Bringing a song to life and seeing how happy that makes them gives me joy. It’s a great, fun feeling.”
Greer hails from the Midwest. One of the qualities he feels this has bred in him is a breezy yet focused approach to his craft. “I put artists at ease in the studio,” he observes. “People tell me that I have a really relaxed vibe; I don’t make a big deal out of anything."
Recently Greer helped young pop artist Sierra Alyse place her song “Girls Like You” in a third-season episode of Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q. He was aided by Michelle Bayer, a sync licensing agent with Shelly Bay Music in New York City. “Often I’ll write something and give it to [Michelle] to see if anyone wants it,” he explains. “She pitched ‘Girls Like You’ and it just happened to fit the show’s needs. It was my luckiest coincidence and was especially nice because the episode opens with it; it was right at the top of the show.”
Over the years, Greer has been treated to an equitable slice of magic in the studio. But his favorite memory is of the time that he worked with New Orleans funk band Galactic on its song "Heart of Steel," sung by the “Soul Queen of New Orleans” Irma Thomas. “We were working on the lyrics and House Man [late vocalist Theryl DeClouet] had just received some tough medical news,” he recollects. “I told him ‘You’ve got a heart of gold and a heart of steel.”
Music Connection spoke with Greer in late November when he was ears-deep into several projects. Work with rapper Del the Funky Homosapien, rising San Francisco-based artist please don't eat me (Ellie Stokes) and Bay Area singer and musician Butterscotch’s new single “With Grace” has demanded much of his time. His own band Cardboard People’s Tigress Lane dropped in October. “We’re not signed so we have to do all of the work ourselves,” he says.
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