Meet music producer Bart Mckay
Meet music producer and star maker Bart Mckay
Music producer Bart Mckay doesn’t like to book expensive Nashville studio time in three-hour blocks where the results will probably sound rushed in the final mix.
Instead, Bart Mckay Productions Studio is based in Saskatoon where he works on “Prairie Time.”
“There’s always a time constraint in Nashville,” says the indemand Saskatchewan producer, engineer and musician. Mckay has recorded in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Nashville studios with world-class musicians and engineers. “When I’m working with an artist up here, I can really spend time on the songs, especially the vocals. Vocals are king.” Mckay’s website (Bartmckay.
com) link “Awards” boasts a list of industry awards, nominations and recognitions longer than his arm: the Junos, Saskatchewan Music, Western Canadian Music and the Canadian Country Music Association.
The “Credits” page is just as long since it lists all the musical acts he’s worked with since he produced a Johner Brothers album in 1990.
The multi-faceted artist played keyboards with The Pride of Midale, Saskatchewan. “I did a pretty solid 20 years with the Johner Brothers (Ken and Brad), touring everywhere,” says Mckay who is originally from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. “But it makes you who you are by being on stage that much.”
He learned the studio ropes when he produced five albums for the Johner Brothers. He’s since produced Gord Bamford, Brett Kissel, Shane Yellowbird, Kelsey Fitch, Tanya Ryan and many others in a variety of musical genres. “I’m comfortable tracking at my place,” says Mckay who moved to Saskatoon from Winnipeg in 1992.
Mckay attributes his success to his parents and his wife, Jo-anne, who he married in 1994; they now have four children, ages 12 to 21. “I’m glad that my parents put me in music lessons (he started piano at 7) and my wife is so supportive when I have to take off and play a show,” he says. “She picks up the slack at home.”
He says the country music scene in Canada is pretty small so everybody gets to know each other. “I like to support Canadian musicians. We want to sustain the industry up here.”
So how does a Saskatoon-based studio hold its own against Nashville and other big city production facilities?
“These days the playing field is slightly more level because most people are using computer-based recording,” he says. Mckay uses Pro tools HD, which is a universal program that most studios use around the world.
“For me, it’s about the past material that you put out and if people gravitate towards it then the artist will want to work with you,” he says. “People hire you for your ideas; they like the way that the music comes off.”
So what philosophies and strategies guide Bart Mckay’s production? “First of all it’s about picking a great song and you need to sound like what’s on radio in order to get airplay.”
He says it’s also about the work ethic and that he’ll work hard for the artist because he wants them to succeed. “There are a lot of people doing the same thing as you. So when your material is handed over to radio, it has to be top-notch. It has to stand out. It has to be something special.”
Brett Kissel from Flat Lake, Alberta is one of Mckay’s bestknown artists. Pick Me Up was nominated for a 2016 Juno Award for Country Album of the Year. Kissel has had a number one song and most of his singles have charted in the Top 30.
Mckay says he’s working with some new and some not-so-new talent these days, mostly from Western Canada. He recently produced 18-year-old Justin Labrash from Lumsden and he just finished an album with Winnipeg’s Don Amaro who Mckay says “fits into the pop-country style that dominates the country charts right now.”
Mckay is also excited about Edmonton’s Adam Gregory, who had a big break when he signed his first recording deal at just 13. After a hiatus from the music industry, Mckay has produced Gregory’s comeback album.
“This is like a second career for Adam and he’s still young at only 33, which is pretty cool,” says Mckay. “He’s living in Phoenix now so I guess some artists will come from a little ways away to work with me.”