Chris Portman

Welcome to my MySpace page. Enjoy the music if you it find it enjoyable. Otherwise click the little 'back' button in the top left corner of your browser. Go and find something you do like because in today's world of music, somebody's creating the stuff you dig. Regardless, I'm going to keep creating because it's what I was put on this earth to do.
The music you find here tends to be random and typically represents various works in progress, rough cuts of ideas, audio sketches, etc. Rarely will you hear a completed (mastered) song here. It's somewhat of an unkept musical laboratory, where I display my unpolished creations. And I don't post anything that's not either 100% mine, or collaborative work I've done with a client. In the latter case, I've received full permission from the associate artist to display the work.
But I am busily working on a new album and will be posting new music soon. I will, of course, make a formal announcement as to when and where it will be available for download and/or hardcopy purchase. A few lucky fans will also receive a completely original and individualized box-set that will be chocked full of original artwork, drawings, signed postcard photographs, etc. No two box-sets will be identical in contents outside of the core songs contained on the regular album. Each will have an array of varying B-Sides.
This is all really just one big ongoing experiment in sound and life—"life through sound"— and this is a place I can post such experimentation (when I actually have the time and bother to do so). I have hundreds of songs idling away on my hard-drives. Many will never see the light of day. Many I've forgotten I've even created.
But don't expect anything formulaic or particularly "radio-friendly" because you won't find it here, unless it's someone else's work I'm producing. Most clients want that radio sound in order to hopefully attract the dying music labels. Real music is a quickly dying artform. It's all music, but I'm referring to music for music's sake and music-as-art, as opposed to music as popularity tool. How many dying gasps are left in the lungs of genuinely unique music that breaks all the rules? Who can even know? We have plenty of insipid, imitative noise and an ever-burgeoning plethora of so-called "artists." There's more music today than could be listened to in the average human's lifetime. How much of it is worth the plastic it's burned into? Probably .001%? Maybe...If that?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not preaching from any "high horse." I'm no better than anyone else out there. I deserve as much respect as nobody. I'm here merely to state the dreadful facts. I don't have any respect for people who do this in order to seek fame and notoriety. I have deep respect for those individuals who are doing this out of a pure love for it—and if recognition happens to come their way, all the better.
So dear artist, don't be offended. I am, in fact, here for you, being a producer and all. I'm here to act as a visionary and to take your music to another plane entirely. I want to help the independent artist take their music to the level it truly deserves. I'm here to assist the artist in realizing their potential. Because, and I'm speaking as an artist, when left to ourselves we're just not that great at seeing things through. There are times when I need a producer and there are people I will faithfully call on for assistance when my own music's at a sticking point.
But I can't do what I do—helping other artists realize their untapped potential—free of charge because this is how I earn a living. And I take your work as seriously as my own. And that's because when I'm producing it, it technically becomes my work as well. As the producer, my signature gets placed on an the album's 'sound.' Meaning if you sound bad, I sound bad.
Obviously I enjoy working with visionaries. Dave Pensado, the genius mixer/audio engineer whose work appears on the industry's biggest chart-topping albums, is fond of saying really controversial things. Things that often send his colleague-audiophiles into a rage. He's kind of like the Bill Maher of the audio industry. But my favorite quote of his goes like this: "It's better to sound different than to sound good." It sounds insane at first but he couldn't be more right. And sounding "different" is unbelievably difficult. So difficult in fact, I have a hard time finding music I like! Despite sometimes spending hours in front of iTunes, hoping to stumble across "different."
Put it this way—Pablo Picasso would starve if he were born today. He is "Picasso" precisely because nobody else was creating anything close during his time. He came along at the perfect time. Henri Matisse is an exception because he was simultaneously forging his own path. The same can be said for The Beatles, for U2, etc. They crafted a sound so unique that everything that's followed has inherently borrowed.
So, as you've likely deduced if you've read this far, I run my own studio, I produce a variety of styles, and I'm a session musician as well. I play drums and/or percussion on a lot of the albums I produce. Sometimes I play guitar or piano as well. I'm a registered BMI artist/songwriter so don't steal. Ask nicely =) And my prices can't be beat. You'll get an impeccable sound for an affordable price. There are a variety of ways I can help your album sound better, just tell me what you need. Let somebody else handle the hassle.
"You are exactly what the biggest producers are looking for in a drummer. Your style is exactly what they're after. I'm serious and I don't just say that."
—Robbie Parrish (Drum Sound Designer for The Smashing Pumpkins, U2, The Who, Elton John, Norah Jones, etc.)
"After hearing just the rough cuts of our album, I'm blown away just knowing that that's actually us playing. It's like living inside a really good dream that happens to be real."
—Justin Smith (lead-singer/guitarist/songwriter "One Way Home")
"I have never worked on a session that went so fast and so smoothly. You just 'get' whatever I throw at you. All I have to do is tell you the idea I'm having and you deliver...In a single take! Unbelievable."
—Mike Thompson (Noted Houston-based producer of numerous indie artists, including my previous band, ADORA)