Artist Interview: Olivia Broadfield

Olivia Broadfield would be the first to admit that a common question when people see her name is "Who is she?" But she also realizes that their common follow up is "Why is she outselling everyone but Owl City on the iTunes chart?" Olivia is a self-producing artist who is more than just a gifted songwriter. She's has a gift for music publishing as well.

Where most bands finish their album, pile into a van, and start touring it around the country, Olivia takes to the modern online social networks to reach music supervisors and publishing companies. She has secured some of the most coveted film, tv, and commercial placements around, reaching audiences of millions with her music in the process. Most recently, Olivia was featured on Grey's Anatomy. It's a music placement which has made household names of artists like Imogen Heap.

We sat down with Olivia to hear about her early songwriting, what inspires her, and see how she's using Reason to create synth hooks from her vocals.

If you'd like to see the song she shows off in this video in more depth, "Say" is included as a demo song in the Reason 6 folder. Even if you don't own Reason, you can still see exactly how it was made and wired up by downloading the demo application from our website:
http://www.propellerheads.se/download/

And don't forget to also catch her live November 21st on uStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/oliviabroadfield

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Olivia Broadfield
• Olivia
• Broadfield
• This
• Beautiful
• War
• This Beautiful War
• Don't
• Cry
• Say
• Real
• World
• MTV
• Propellerhead
• Software
• Reason
• Neptune
• Pitch
• Corrector
• Voice
• Synth
• Harmony
• Piano
• Singer
• Songwriter
• Vagrant
• Records
• Synthesizer

[AORNOfficial]

how does she keep the reason mixer console on one monitor and the sequencer on another?

[PropellerheadSW]

@AORNOfficial There's a button which detaches the mixer console into its own window. Then she can drag it over to the other monitor she has. When I work on music, I have a second monitor with the mixer on it and I turned my monitor vertically so the full channel strips are visible on it. It's a very nice way to work and especially mix.

[prayersforastrid]

what song starts at 1:10?

[PropellerheadSW]

@prayersforastrid That's "The Way That I'm Feeling" off Olivia Broadfield's newest album, This Beautiful War. Buy a copy today! In fact the physical CD comes as a double disc set which includes a whole remix album where the songs have been reproduced as electronic-laden tracks. It's an interesting study in producing to see how you can approach the same song in a different way.

[WulphProductions]

THIS IS SO COOL. this is what real artists do, forget kesha and lady gaga who give over to producers to do all this stuff for them. its ridiculous

[PropellerheadSW]

@cgm403 Olivia, if you want to make your music seem edgy and controversial you don't need to create a fake youtube account and post on your own video. There's other ways. ;)

[Cherishfanz]

she's so inspiring , i love her so much <3

i randomly heard her song Holding Onto You play repeatly on the radio last Christmas ,

i had to find out who she was & i've been stuck on her music every since. So glad i found out about her , her musics so refreshing !

One of my favorite artists <3

SO happy she took out a new album :)

[jbperez808]

What model iMac is she using with the transparent bezel and stand?? It's beautiful, more than the newest models if you ask me...

I don't remember such a model...

[Phizogphoto]

@AORNOfficial to see both?

[1Alanjs]

Truly inspirational.

Can anyone tell me what type of mic she's using?

[L33TSP34KL0L]

This is great!!! So creative and innovative. Tons of respect for the musicians who write, mix, and engineer their own music!

[maurodeparque]

:O she uses a five-strings-guitar

[jeanbedo]

the sticker "I love me" really shows what she is....

[xsiqqqniqqqx]

you dont need neptune your voice got all the flavor i need girl

[JoeJonesMusic]

are those BX5a's or BX8a's? o.O

[Numarkify]

It's real creativity. You're doing something that you think is right, without "help" from "producers" and other "moneymakers". It's real music. I like it.