By: Rick Landers
Sean Bertram – photo credit:Hilary Gauld Camilleri
Although Sean Bertram has pop music in his corner, his talents extend beyond a single genre and his recording and productions skills have been honed in a studio built to produce his songs, as well as the work of others.
Having won the “Best Pop Song in North America” award for his song, “Against My Will,” at the 2020 Intercontinental Music Awards, Sean has worked tenaciously to study music at Canada’s Humber College, as well as learn enough in the studio to gain the confidence to produce his next album.
Although hailing from Canada, Bertram recently moved to England where he continues to work with others back home, as well as, like many, finding challenges to build his career far afield from his roots, coupled with the denial of gigs during COVID-19, he’s been able to get back in the saddle and gain traction in his new British music community.
Head to the grindstone, Sean is working on a set-list of new original songs that he’ll introduce in a series of single releases, before issuing a new album of tracks that will certainly delight pop music fans.
Sean Bertram’s music reflects the nuances of John Mayer phrasing and lyrics, with the reflections and sensitivities of music from the ’50s classics to today’s modern trends. And, it’s nice to see tasteful guitar licks finding their way back to the front of the hit parade.
Guitar International magazine is pleased to introduce many of our friends to an all-rounder and very talented musician-singer-songwriter-producer, Sean Bertram.
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Rick Landers: Let’s start out with some background about the kinds of music that you found magnetic, before you considered a career in music and what step in that direction do you consider the most pivotal where you felt committed to music and the music industry?
Sean Bertram: I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t think about music being a career possibility; even before I really started taking it seriously, I was always immersed in music one way or another. I’ve always gravitated towards listening to singer-songwriters because of how much they value lyrics above all else. And I think that’s what started me writing songs at such an early age.
Listening to John Mayer’s Room for Squares had a big impact on me in that regard, as did Gordie Sampson’s Sunburn and Jamie Cullum’s The Pursuit. And in terms of when I felt most committed to music, I think it was when I first picked up a guitar. The moment I had that in my hands and was making music, I knew there was no looking back. I got my first guitar at 10 and about a year later I’d started writing original music.
Rick: Did you grow up in a musical family or was there someone who helped reinforce your dreams that helped make them a reality?
Sean Bertram: I grew up in a very musical family. My dad is a full-time musician; a fantastic piano player, singer-songwriter, and audio engineer. My mom and my sister also both play piano and have gorgeous voices. They’ve all been so supportive of my pursuit of music for as long as I can remember, and I couldn’t have gotten this far without them.
My mom’s side of the family is from the east coast of Canada, so whenever we went to visit when I was younger there’d be kitchen parties every night with plenty of music and dancing. Now whenever there’s a big event at my parents’ place the night always ends with me playing a guitar, my dad at the piano, and everyone singing songs until the sun comes up. Those kinds of moments and that environment really helped me find that joy in music, and is a constant reminder of how it brings everyone together.
Rick: Sometimes, I think vocalists find music that best suits their own vocal range, and possibly their stylistic limits; they find their niche. If you have a smooth jazzy feel to your sound, or the grit of what some call a whiskey voice, we naturally steer toward those styles. Have you settled in on a pop balladeer style, or are you keen on exploring other more rock-oriented, jazz or other music?
Sean Bertram: I am absolutely keen to explore more styles. I am so in love with so many different genres of music that I’m always looking for ways to incorporate new sounds into my music. Having the voice I have is obviously limiting in some ways – I can’t quite rip out ballads like Chris Stapleton or wail like Prince, so I do tend to “stay in my lane” so-to-speak vocally, but being able to wear different hats as a producer, guitarist, arranger, multi-instrumentalist allows me to fold in those different styles around my voice in new and exciting ways.
On my last album I had a lot of fun expanding my sound in terms of bending genre and pushing my creativity to its limits. On the last song of the album, “Untitled (G),” is a soft ballad that explodes into this massive guitar solo where I tried to channel some Prince and the end of Purple Rain.
“Burning Building” has a similar rock element to it that strays from what I’m more known for. I also put in an “intermission” in the middle of the album with “Golden Hour” which is kind of an instrumental piece that I added found sound and hard-tuned vocals to, to make something that still feels like me but, again, expands that palette and blurs what my genre might be defined as.
I’m doing a lot more of that with this new album, trying to pull in elements from some more of my favourite artists and albums, like D’Angelo’s Voodoo, Michael McDonald’s If That’s What It Takes, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, and more, trying to see how I can push my sound to new places and still have it feel innately me.
Rick: Like many, you’ve found Fender electrics to your liking, besides your Tele and Strat, do you have others? What about acoustics, and do you prefer any particular tone wood combinations that inspire you to write?
Sean Bertram: I feel really at home with a Fender. I think a lot of that has to do with my guitar heroes all playing Strats and Teles; Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix, Prince, John Mayer, Eric Johnson, so when I’m chasing that sound that I love, having one of those guitars in my hands helps take me right to where my ears want me to be.
My go-to guitar for the past few years has been an Eric Johnson signature thinline Strat. It just sings like nothing else and feels incredible with the soft V neck and ’50s accoutrements. I also use a PRS Silver Sky SE a lot. It’s a great chameleon on covers’ gigs and I can get a lot of great sounds out of it in the studio.
A recent second-hand guitar I picked up is a Squier baritone Telecaster with P-90s. I’ve always loved the baritone sound and it’s all over almost everything new I record now. It’s also one of those guitars that provides instant inspiration, because it takes me in so many new directions. I also use a D’Angelico Premier DC a lot in the studio to get the “335” kind of sound. I rarely use it live, but when I’m recording for other people or looking for a different flavour, that semi-hollow humbucker sound is undeniable.
As far as acoustics go, I’ve never been too bothered by tone wood combinations when it comes to inspiration. My favourite acoustic I’ve ever played has been a Takamine G series with a busted truss rod and warped neck that I got for $100. I could not tell you what that thing was made of. It just worked in my hands. I’m from the school of thought that the sound of the guitar comes from the guitarist who’s playing it more than anything else. In college we had Pat Metheny as a guest one week and when he played my Telecaster, it sounded like a completely different guitar.
When I write on acoustic now, I’m bouncing between a Martin Road Series and a really interesting carbon fiber guitar called the Lava Me 2. That one is especially fun for writing, because it has onboard effects like reverb, chorus, and delay which provide a lot of inspiration and take me in some fun new directions.
Rick: You’ve made a mark in the songwriting arena, being the recipient of “Best Pop Song in North America” for “Against My Will” at the 2020 Intercontinental Music Awards. Have you been able to leverage that in a way that aligns with your overall goals?
Sean Bertram: Winning that award in 2020 was such a thrill, especially because it was for “Against My Will”. It’s a song that is very harmonically and melodically challenging, so for it to connect like that in a pop category was very affirming and exciting for me.
I’ve been able to leverage that more artistically than anything, because just having that confidence from the win really propelled me into my next album, Sean Bertram, 2021, which got a lot of attention. Especially working through the pandemic and working almost completely on my own on that album, the confidence to not only make that album but to finish the album was something that, at many times, was hard to come by, so having that award on the wall was a constant motivator that helped push me over the finish line.
Rick: I’d imagine that you’ve gathered up an enormous amount of experience based technical knowledge working with engineers and producers, and other highly skilled folks in the industry. What’s surprised you most and who have been mentors to you that have helped you navigate the business side of the industry?
Sean Bertram – photo credit: Hilary Gauld Camilleri
Sean Bertram: Something that’s not so much surprising, but is just something I need to keep reminding myself, is that we’re all just trying to make great music, however we can. It’s so easy to get caught up in the gear, or the accolades, or comparing yourself to others, that it’s important to remember that all that matters at the end of the day is the music.
I always see these videos of people claiming to sell you their course on “the secret to the best guitar tone” or “the secret to get the perfect mix” or “how to write a hit song,” but there is no secret, there is no shortcut, there’s no magic technique or button or piece of gear that makes the best music.
Something beautiful I learned from watching and working with the fantastic faculty at Humber is that everybody makes music and views music differently, and that’s what makes it special. If everyone made music the same way, it would all sound the same and it would all be so boring. We had Susan Rogers as a producer in residence in my fourth year at Humber, and I had the opportunity to play on the session she was producing. When she talked about microphone placement, she blew everyone’s minds when she started comparing them to camera angles and looking at the studio floor like a film director would, capturing scenes and moments in the music.
A lot of engineers work meticulously on phase cancellation and phase alignment to get really clean sounds off the floor, but she laughed at that, saying how phase sounds good, “the sound of things out of phase is what makes the music sound real.” Hearing how she talked about recording, as someone who engineered and produced some of my favourite all-time albums, opened my mind about how the subjectivity of music and the music-making process is what makes it so exciting. Unconventionality is often the catalyst for innovation.
In terms of navigating the business side of the industry, things have really taken a turn since the pandemic. The music industry is already something so fluid and so fast-paced in regards to how it advances, that most of what I learned about it in 2018 and 2019 is already out of date. And now having moved to England, I’m basically re-learning how to navigate it all over again, which is both daunting and invigorating.
Rick: Have you been challenged enough to have failed at something, but you were able to pick yourself up and overcome a twist or two on the road to success? I’m thinking in terms of tenacity and dusting yourself off and keeping your head to the grindstone – focused on your goals.
Sean Bertram: I think my biggest setback, like most musicians, was the pandemic. Having gone into lockdown a month before I was about to graduate from Humber’s Bachelor of Music program, I felt very stranded. I left Toronto to move back in with my parents because I wasn’t going to be able to make rent.
Every gig I had was cancelled, and it felt like all of this momentum I had built up in the city to try and build my way up through the community and the industry had just crumbled overnight. It was such an immediate disconnect from the music community I’d felt so entrenched in that it had me wondering what to do, not just in that moment but with the rest of my life.
Depression and anxiety are big things I’ve dealt with all my life and being in lockdown set them into overdrive, digging me into this hole I didn’t think I’d ever get out of. It took a lot to climb my way out of it and I had a lot of help from my family and friends, really pushing me to chase this dream I didn’t think could possibly exist anymore.
That’s when I made my self-titled album. It was really hard work. I was producing, recording, and mixing the entire thing myself which is something I’d never done on a project that size before, so I was fighting a lot of self-doubt.
I can’t tell you the number of times I wanted to scrap the whole thing. But, with enough time and figuring out how to get the sounds in my head coming out of the monitors, I finished it, and I’m incredibly happy with how it turned out and everything I learned from the experience of making that album.
Rick: Tell us about a typical day, as far as moving your music and career forward. Do you like to set-aside blocks of time to work on songwriting, guitar skills etcetera, or are you more into being inspired working on things based on serendipity?
Sean Bertram: Right now, I’m really deep into working on a new album, so everything else is taking a bit of a backseat to that. I’ve been spending a lot of time recording, arranging, producing, editing, and mixing, so those are kind of the things I’m really trying to hone.
On breaks from that though I like to just noodle on the guitar and see if any songs come out, or I’ll try to work on some new techniques. Any gigs that come up also give some more motivation to set time aside to work on more specific guitarwork or learning new songs.
When I don’t have a big project like this new album on the go, I’d say it’s a combination of setting aside time to practice and write, and letting new music just hit me. I’m very much a student of songwriting; I’ve studied a lot of methods and I love getting into the minutia of structure, harmony, rhyme scheme, and literary devices, just dissecting music and building a song very meticulously.
On the other hand, I’ve really started to enjoy the idea of some songs being almost a “gift from the ether” and treating them as such, so when an idea pops into my head I let the song lead the way and tell me how it wants to sound, rather than the other way around.
Sean Bertram – photo credit:Hilary Gauld Camilleri
Rick: How about telling us about your progression in learning and becoming more adept at various aspects of your career, from your first recording to your most recent release(s)?
Sean Bertram: Listening to my very first release and then listening to this new album I’m working on is like night and day. I still love that first album, but having learned so much more about the recording process and figuring out the sounds and styles that I really like, I’m finally able to get what I’m hearing in my head to come out of the monitors.
My four years at Humber helped me so much in growing as a musician, guitarist, and audio engineer, but a massive amount of that growth came from making my 2021 album, Sean Bertram. Making that album I didn’t have any money, I just had a handful of songs I was really proud of and the skills I’d picked up from watching and learning from all the amazing engineers at Humber.
So, rather than pay for a studio and engineers I couldn’t afford, I thought, “Why can’t I do that?”. I’d never taken a project from start to finish myself as the producer, audio engineer, and mix engineer, let alone an entire album, and one that I’m also the artist on. So, I basically learned by doing.
With the few microphones and plugins I had, I had to figure out how to make a record that sounded as good as my favourite records, and I believe I actually managed it. It was hard though, some days I felt like I was slamming my head against a wall because I had no idea how to make a snare not sound like garbage, or how to get the low end to work together, or even how to arrange some songs to make them interesting and full.
As much as I learned at Humber and from playing shows all around Toronto, it really feels like my biggest education was from telling myself to just “make an album yourself” and then doing it. After releasing that and having such great responses to it, I’ve really settled into a comfortable workflow as a producer, arranger, and engineer.
Compared to that 2021 album, this new album I’m working on is a breeze. I’m trying a lot of new stuff with this album and that comes with its own challenges, but having trial-and-errored my way through making an entire album, I’m so much more confident and comfortable in working on big projects like these and knowing I can make them sound great.
Rick: Have you found you prefer to write alone or have you ventured into collaborating with other songwriters? Do you find it energizing to work with someone else and their ideas, or do you find it tough to let go of lyrics or melodies that you’ve come up with on your own?
Sean Bertram: I can be very precious about my lyrics and song ideas, so I tend to write alone most of the time. It’s just such a personal experience for me, and I get so deep in the rabbit hole of songwriting it can be tough to let someone else in on that process.
When I have an idea for a song that excites me, it’s all I can think about until that song’s done, and I always want it to be as perfect as I can make it. Sometimes that means for weeks at a time I’ll be singing the same line over and over again in my head until I can find the right melody, cadence, or rhyme. That’s not to say I don’t really love co-writing though; I’ve had some fantastic experiences writing with other people.
Obviously, you don’t gel with everybody, especially when it comes to something as subjective and personal as songwriting, but when you find someone who can complement your style really well, and vice-versa, it’s a magical thing. Not too long ago I co-wrote an EP of songs for a friend’s short film, and that was a very fun experience.
Most recently, I wrote a song with someone else that’s going to be on my new album. It’ll be the first time I’m releasing a co-write on one of my own projects; it’s just such a fantastic song and I absolutely love my co-writer on it, so I’m really excited for people to hear it.
Rick: Are you typically working in a studio setting or have you developed recording and production skills to the point where you can come up with something using a laptop, as many do today?
Sean Bertram: I’m very proud of how I’ve managed to set up my modest home studio over the past couple of years and really streamline my production and recording process. I’m not quite down to just a laptop, but I’m about as bare bones as I can get making music that’s largely recorded live.
I don’t have an incredible amount of gear, I don’t have an amazing sounding room, but I like to think I have really good taste and a high level of music literacy, which I think are the two most important things for a producer or audio engineer to have. If you’ve studied a lot of recordings, have listened to a lot of good, well-recorded music, and understand how to make things sound the way you hear them in your head based on all that great music you’ve archived in there, you’re going to make great records.
A £10,000 microphone isn’t going to make a difference if you don’t have good taste, let alone a good song, but a good song and good music taste can make anything sound amazing. At least that’s my philosophy, and if you don’t believe me go listen to Sean Bertram, my album from 2021. Ninety percent of that was recorded in a 10×12 bedroom with only three different microphones, and the entire thing was mixed in there.
Rick: What was it like going to Humber College with respect to the faculty and friends that you met? And did you put your ambitions on hold or were you able to pursue your academic work, while getting out there on stage to develop as a performing artist?
Sean Bertram: Humber was a life-changing experience for me. I made so many life-long friends and learned so much from the incredible faculty there that’s really changed how I view and make music. Before Humber, I didn’t really know any other serious musicians and didn’t know what it was like to be part of a community of musicians before. So jumping into the community at Humber was just an amazing four-year dream of making music every day with my best friends.
One of the beautiful things about being at Humber was just being in Toronto surrounded by incredible musicians, so I was able to constantly evolve as an artist and play shows all around the city, in different capacities. By my third and fourth year, I was playing three or four gigs a month, at least one of which would be a show of my original music, and still feeling really immersed in the course work at school. That was as much of an education as anything, because as much as you can read about and learn about and prep for being on a stage, nothing’s going to get you better at it than just doing it, and learning from all the successes and failures of live performance.
And I did it as much as I could, which really helped me grow so quickly as a performing artist playing live shows. A lot of hands-on time in the studio at Humber also really developed my skills as a producer. We had a lot of opportunities to record, produce, and mix different projects, So that’s where I was able to learn most of what I implement today in making records for myself and other people.
Sean Bertram.- photo credit: Hilary Gauld Camilleri
Rick: Long term, several musicians I know have developed business plans where they work on a variety of projects that will generate several revenue streams – art, books, instructing, as well as venturing into writing music for film, television etcetera. Have you figured out what you’d like to do and how that might help you sustain a long career?
Sean Bertram: I’m someone who really likes variety in my work, I don’t like being stuck doing one thing for too long, and I’m fortunate to have the ability to do a lot of different things in the music business. Apart from working on my own music and doing originals gigs, I play a lot of covers gigs as well, as a duo, solo, or with bands for weddings or at pubs.
I also do a fair amount of studio work – producing, arranging, mixing, or doing guitar and bass session work for other people. Something I do a lot that I really enjoy is transcribing music. People will send me recordings or videos of their music and then I’ll write out charts for them, or I’ll chart out covers for bigger bands with a full rhythm section and horns. I play a lot of different instruments and have studied a lot of theory, so that helps being able to write out clean parts for saxophone, drums, trumpet, bass, keyboards, or any number of different instruments and players.
I’ve done a bit of writing for film and that’s something I’d love to do more of because film music is something I’ve really been enamored with all my life. Eventually, it would be amazing to be able to be sustained entirely on my original music, but I love having a litany of different jobs to play around with and keep things exciting.
Rick: Some musicians move to music-centric spots like Austin, Nashville, L.A., New York City to be immersed in a particular music scene. Any thoughts on that and if that’s still of value today with our ability to be virtually anywhere?
Sean Bertram: It’s funny you should ask that because I actually just moved to England from Canada over a year ago. Even though the move wasn’t music related, it’s been an incredible experience immersing myself in an entirely new community of fantastic musicians. And there’s something incredible about living here after living in the second largest country in the world; here, I can drive anywhere else in the entire country in mere hours, which is incredible for gigging, touring, or on-site session work. Not to mention the music scene in England, especially London, is phenomenal.
I still do the majority of my work remotely, even working with a lot of the same people I worked with in Canada, so I think there’s arguments for both, but in an industry so community and socially driven, I don’t think you can go wrong going where the music is.
Rick: Where are you most comfortable; noodling and writing songs, in the studio, or on stage? Or do they all offer you something you love?
Sean Bertram: They definitely all offer something different and amazing that I love. I think I’m most comfortable writing and playing at home; there’s something so beautiful and exciting about writing new music, it’s creating something from nothing, and something that’s never been heard or sung before. It’s a very personal experience that just makes me feel at home.
On stage though is just a rush like nothing else; playing good music with a good band is like a drug I cannot get enough of, euphoric. And I like being on stage because it’s like being in character. It’s not who I am off stage, it’s someone more charismatic and entertaining, someone who can do things you can only do when you have a captive audience and a cranked amp.
In the studio is probably where I’m least comfortable, just because it feels like the most work. I’m a perfectionist, without a doubt, so I’m incredibly particular when it comes to recording which can be the most draining, but also can be the most rewarding when you get the finished product down the line.
Rick: Any new projects you’re developing that you’re ready to let people know about now?
Sean Bertram: As I’ve been mentioning, I’m working on my third full-length studio album, and I’m incredibly excited about it. I’ve got some fantastic collaborators, a lot of great songs, and I’m really expanding on what I was able to achieve with my 2021 album. I don’t have a set release date yet, but it won’t be long before I start releasing a couple singles leading up to it, and I think they’re going to knock a few socks off.
