Enrique Gonzalez M\u00fcller has collected career-defining epiphanies in studios around the world\u2014whether it\u2019s Tina Turner stopping a session to remind everyone why they make music, Dave Matthews rewriting a lyric sheet an hour before stepping to the mic, or MC Hammer dancing behind a control-room couch. He has also worked with Nine Inch Nails, Joan Baez, and a long list of artists in the US, Europe, and his home country of Venezuela, where his productions have earned multiple Latin Grammy Awards. As a Berklee professor and the program director for Berklee Online\u2019s Music Production Graduate program<\/a>, he brings those principles\u2014and that curiosity\u2014to every class. Here, he talks about early inspirations, full-circle hometown collaborations, and the moments in the studio that helped define how he works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enrique Gonzalez M\u00fcller:<\/strong> The year was 1986. I\u2019m from Venezuela originally, and I remember being brought to the US to go to a summer camp, and all the cool kids were listening to this one cassette they would always pop in the boombox. And I remember thinking, \u201cThe sounds that are coming out of that boombox cannot be made by humans! What is this wizardry?\u201d Obviously, that was the first cassette I ever bought, Licensed to Ill<\/em>, by Beastie Boys. And yeah, the rest is history. \n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Enrique Gonzalez M\u00fcller:<\/strong> The Beastie Boys did get me in trouble but also Tears for Fears got me in trouble. I remember opening my child eyes and looking at bands playing instruments and thinking, \u201cI can understand that,\u201d but I also remember hearing Tears for Fears and thinking, \u201cI see two dudes singing, but I\u2019m also hearing horns, and way too many drum\/percussion things, and I don\u2019t see the people playing them. So for me, that really sparked my imagination, realizing \u201cThere are no rules! We can put anything in these sonic concoctions and move people\u2019s hearts!\u201d So I think that was the start.\n \n With Berklee Online, \n \n Enrique Gonzalez M\u00fcller<\/strong>\n <\/a> \n is the author and instructor of:\n <\/p>\n\n Enrique Gonzalez M\u00fcller:<\/strong> One year before graduating from high school, some professional came into my classroom and said, \u201cNext week we\u2019re giving you all a test to see what you\u2019re good at.\u201d And I remember doing my test, and I was so daunted and haunted by the thought of this person who was going to tell me what I was going to be for the rest of my life. And I take this test. And literally, it gave me two choices. \n Enrique Gonzalez M\u00fcller:<\/strong> It\u2019s all making sense now! So I am a coach who guides people onto sonic betterness. I gotta go hit up that pro that gave me that test and apologize. So thank you. \n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Enrique Gonzalez M\u00fcller:<\/strong> My 18-year-old brain told me that I was going to be a guitar player, and that\u2019s what I was going to be. My heroes are Steve Vai<\/a>, Joe Satriani, and Jennifer Batten, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do. And then I came to Berklee and I started practicing and practicing and practicing. But then I also got to hear different people doing arranging, doing production, doing electronic production design, doing all of these different things. And I felt that guitar was just too limiting and constricting for me, so that when it came time to choose a major, Music Production and Engineering<\/a> just fit like a glove. \nWhat was the first song you remember being moved by?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What was the first music you heard that made you realize you wanted to go into music production?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nAnd the second thing was the audition tape I had to send in to apply for Berklee College of Music. The assignment didn\u2019t have many details or restrictions so I didn\u2019t assume I had to send an impressive shredder guitar solo to prove that I\u2019m a worthy guitarist, it just said: \u201csend us a tape of your stuff.\u201d I had a four-track cassette recorder, and I remember making this whole epic story with narration and singing, kind of like a little rock opera that I did with my guitar and my little multitrack. Even though I saw myself as a guitar player first, when I got to Berklee, Berklee did its thing, which is: you come here and you see all of the possibilities that Berklee has to offer. And this environment gave me a space to realize my potential, fully, which welcomed bringing together all of those creative ideas that didn\u2019t conform to just playing one instrument or being one thing, or becoming a two-dimensional pigeonholed pro, in that sense. So, yeah, that\u2019s what started it all.\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\nBefore Berklee, when did you know that music had a hold on you and that was your path, and there was no other path forward?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nChoice No. 1: Gym coach.
\nChoice No. 2: Priest. \n
\nThose were the two choices! And I thought, \u201cI\u2019ve gotta answer this test myself!\u201d And then I thought, \u201cWell, what\u2019s the one thing that I would do 26 hours a day, eight days a week?\u201d It\u2019s got to be music, because I just can\u2019t think of anything else that I would want to do. That is still the case. So we\u2019re doing alright. \n \n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nI would venture to say that the test wasn\u2019t totally<\/em> wrong, because isn\u2019t the music producer kind of like being a priest and the gym coach?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Tell me about when you realized that you\u2019d rather pursue music production than guitar.\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nBut then two semesters in, it actually felt constricting because it was microphones, and it was trying to make this verse go into the chorus and have that pop, sonically. And I felt, \u201cBut I need things to be a little bit weirder!\u201d And then I added a second major, which was EPD<\/a>, which back in the day was called Music Synthesis. And then I started studying photography at Massachusetts College of Arts<\/a>! And then I started studying at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts<\/a>! So for me, being at Berklee with the possibilities of really trying this vast buffet of different options was awesome for me!\n
\nThe thing, though, is that through this expansion of my brain, I also saw myself reconnect with that kind of nine-year-old music-lover that got me into trouble, and I remember practicing and doing all of these things that I had to do for the test, which I did find very valuable. But I also played in a ska band, because you know, that\u2019s the hippest genre ever!\n
\nAnd I love playing in a ska band, and being silly and dancing, and during my last semester at Berklee, I reconnected with my hometown heroes, a ska band that I listened to when I was nine, and I befriended them. And \u201cI play this ska band, I\u2019m living here, yada yada.\u201d And then the next thing you know, before I graduate, they invite me to come to the studio and produce a track for them!\n
\nAnd that band is called Desorden P\u00fablico. They\u2019re still going strong, which is awesome. And that was the very first pro thing I did under Sony back in the day. And I still am friends with the guys. But that was my first gig that somehow made use of all of my brain expansion, but also brought it right back to me being a nine-year-old kid, and making that kid really, really happy!\n \n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n