Danise: You may ask any questions you like. All record producers do things differently. Some don't have any hand in the arrangements or song choices, they're basically just around. Some don't even bother going to the mix - without naming names, one record producer of cast albums doesn't attend his mixes - just lets the engineer do it. I'm not like that. I'm hands on from the day I say yes to an album till the day it ships to the stores - every aspect. Certain vocalists I let alone until late in the game, then I hear what's going on and give my opinions. Many albums I'm involved very heavily in the arrangements. I work closely with the singers, very very closely on every aspect of the performance of every song. Because Vinnie and I worked together on so many albums, he's able to get rough mixes up of everything, and I just finesse them with him. I comp the vocals personally, no one else touches them. On cast albums, I sit with the creative team and tell them what I think the routine of the album should be, we discuss it, come to a meeting of the minds, etc. Again, it is my job to insure that the performances being given in the theater translate to CD, which is sometimes very tricky.
