Quincy Jones emailed, ‘Hey man, I need to have a voice’: how Jacob Collier made In My Room | Jacob Collier

Jacob Collierwords, instruments, architecture, production

Growing up in the YouTube generation, I have the idea that you can build your fanbase by making videos. So when I was about 17, I filmed myself in the family’s back room doing Stevie Wonder covers like He is not the Belovedcomposed of six parts of layered words sung by different versions of me, or Don’t Worry ‘Bout a Thingwhere I used to play different kinds of music.

After I uploaded these videos, somehow someone found their way Quincy JonesMichael Jackson’s producer, who sent an email: “Hey man, what’s going on with these chords? I need to talk to you.” I was very surprised, but we started talking on Skype and had an amazing conversation. He signed me to his label and acted as a coach.

When I was a child, I listened to artists like Joni Mitchell, Michael Jackson or Stevie Wonder and tried to count the instruments or analyze what worked, which was very useful when I started making my own music. I had a good education and played classical music as a young man, but I was not very good at many instruments. I played the piano, I could play anything else, and I had a Casio keyboard full of chords or bassoons, which meant I could play the sounds I liked, like the harp in Ravel’s piano concertos.

I made my bedroom in three months. Stevie Wonder and Prince played all the instruments on their albums in recording studios, but there was no manual for how to do it at home. I did it on my laptop, cutting tools and putting the audio in by hand. Covers of Stevie Wonder’s You and Me and Brian Wilson In My Room accepted my favor and I love the Flintstones theme so I thought it would be fun to take it on a drive. All other songs are mine. Real Morning it started as a poem. I wanted each song to be different so I used everything from a soft piano or guitar to full vocals.

Ben Bloomberg did all this amazing mixing in LA, then Quincy and Herbie Hancock rocked the studio until 5am to do the final mix, so they were the first people to hear the final record. In My Room won two Grammys. You don’t think things like this are possible, but I didn’t make it to be a big star or money. It was just a reflection of 21-year-old me: these are the things I care about.

Ben Bloombergstructural engineer

I first met Jacob when Michael League of Snarky Puppy posted a video of his remake of Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing on Facebook. I think it was also the video that Quincy saw. Then I looked at them all – Fascinating Rhythm, Georgia On My Mind and so on – and started asking everyone: “Have you seen this?”

I just started my PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and we were doing crazy things like robot theater and international city-to-city music collaborations, so I messaged Jacob on Facebook: “If you want to do something on stage… ?” When Quincy got him a gig supporting Chick Corea at the Montreux jazz festival, Jacob asked me if there was any way to make the album without making a 12-piece.

We were thousands of miles apart, so we worked remotely, using loops to make music. Then I made this thing called a vocal harmoniser which meant he could play a live song at the same time as his backing choir. His colleagues at MIT developed some kind of software so that they had a large volume of sound in one box. We did four full-day gigs before the show, and a gig at Ronnie Scott’s in London for 200 people, but Montreux was great. Quincy came in with (Thriller songwriter) Rod Temperton and gave a left-field opening: total chaos, but in a good way. Then we had 12 Jacobs performances, playing different instruments.

Later, Jacob brought his finished album, but there were too many songs to mix on the regular desk. I found Hans Zimmer’s studio in LA had an old movie console that had enough inputs – 512! – so we mixed it up. Jacob had a lot of ideas and knew what he wanted: it was all about finding a way to capture the spirit of his room. We have been working together ever since and are good friends. I’m hailed as an “audit engineer” because I just read it Geoff Emerickthe Beatles’ production engineer. I liked this word so much I used it.

The 10th anniversary edition of My Room will be released on July 1st. Jacob Collier plays Ronnie Scott’s, London, on the same day