Arai Soichiro started out as a percussionist at a young age, and ever since, he has been marching to his own drum. His career has spanned symphonic orchestras and rock bands, producing music of genres that range from heavy metal and jazz to world music—and many shades of in between. Arai’s claim to pop fame came in 2015 when he won Best Album Producer for Karen Mok’s Departures at the 26th Golden Melody Awards. And the honours continued—in 2017, his work with vocalist Abao on Women earned the singer Best Aboriginal Album and Arai another Best Album Producer at the GMAs. For most music fans, producers go unnoticed. But these behind-the-scenes artists are an important part of the music magic that wows audiences and wins awards. Arai believes that communication is the most important step in the production process. While working with singer-songwriter Xu Jun on his album Untitled, Arai said they would have frequent discussions about lyrical direction, what they hoped to achieve and the album’s overall texture. Because Arai and Xu both played in bands, they found it easy to exchange ideas while talking shop before sessions. “Xu Jun and I both hoped to really go for it and make a band-like album,” Arai says. Another crucial aspect to production is putting together the right ensemble, as inspiration can strike between musicians in unexpected ways that end up making the song. “Musicians are not the same, the atmosphere created when they get together is not the same, and the quality of their recording won’t be the same,” Arai says. “This has an extremely important influence on the whole project.” Creating great music takes listening to lots of great music. But Arai also advises young creators to explore a wide range of genres—even ones that they may not particularly like. “Every producer has their own preferences, but when working with different musicians, you have to be open enough to different genres to get to the deepest level of the music.” Arai’s experience playing drums in dozens of bands and groups have helped him understand what that takes. “Openness to music is key,” Arai says. “I’ve played in nearly thirty bands, from heavy metal to jazz and world music,” Arai says. “That helps you discover all kinds of music. Each genre has its own focuses and approaches to music. These experiences have been a huge help to my production work.” As the winner of GMAs for pop and aboriginal language albums, Arai notices a similar openness when looking back on the GMA’s past three decades. “From the shortlists and award winners, you can see how the GMAs give different kinds of music different opportunities every year.” Arai says. “This support and openness for different music is something I really admire.” When asked which producer has caught his ear, Arai was quick to say Chang Shilei. “We’ve always said Chang Shilei is like an alien, because his choices of timbre, atmospheric arrangements, mixing skills and everything are so, so awesome,” Arai says of Chang’s work on the track “Speechless Song” by Sandy Lam. “After hearing the whole Gaia album, I thought how rare it was for a Chinese-language album to unify all these aspects so well,” he added. Armed with Arai’s musical insights, delve into his personally curated playlist and try to listen with the ears of a producer.