Meet Brian Dane Hansen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Dane Hansen.

Brian, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Around the time that my dad bought me my first guitar for my 13th birthday, I remember my uncle letting me borrow one of his favorite records from the ’70s, the band, Boston’s self-titled album (“Peace of Mind” is my favorite song off that album). It was there where I first realized the power of arranging. All of their songs have a lot of moving parts but all the pieces work together perfectly.

I played in bands all throughout high school and got to be in a few studios as we were recording our EP or singles. That’s when I started to grasp that I was really interested in the recording process. Throughout college, I continued playing in bands and recording with my laptop and one little mic. I was recording my songs and anyone that I could convince to record with me in my little dorm room. After college, I had the awesome opportunity to play on a tour in Brazil for 15 days with some of my best friends from college.

These were all invaluable experiences for me; I like to think of all those experiences as a funnel. At first, I wanted to do it all, sing, write, record, tour, etc. But slowly as I time moved on, I realized that although playing live and touring was really fun, it didn’t fill me up and being a songwriter didn’t excite me. It was when I was in the studio recording or producing that was my tank was full. The “I was so in the zone I forgot to eat” type of full.

After college, I got a nine-to-five and started dumping my paychecks into buying instruments and studio equipment. In 2016, I married the girl of my dreams and then soon after began seriously pursuing a career producing records.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth is not the word I would use [laughs]! You know, it was tough to get started, especially not having a mix or production portfolio to show people in the beginning. Making connections with artists or bands that you want to record is not always an easy thing either.

Regardless of your career, I think that we all stand on the shoulders of others who have lent us a hand, gave us advice, or made a connection for us. My good friend and country artist, Tyler Williams is one of those people who challenged me to really use social media to promote my work and shift my mindset from hobby to business. The other person I should mention is Ben Ellison. He connected me to one of his friends, Jacob Mallow who is a really talented singer-songwriter. Jacob had never recorded before and was interested in the process and so he and Ben came over to my studio space to meet and work on some of his music. This eventually led to me producing Jacob’s first two singles which in turn led to me recording a band who had heard my work with Jacob’s songs. Thankfully, things have been snowballing ever since!

While things have been growing for me, I definitely still have times where its a struggle to find new clients or a slow month or two. I read a fantastic quote recently that I think about often by producer Greg Wells (who has worked with Katy Perry, Adele, Twenty One Pilots to name a few). He said, “If you want to have a career in the arts, you have to be crazy enough to not quit. There’s no such thing as success or failure. There is just ‘I quit’ or ‘I didn’t quit.’ ”

Brian Dane Hansen – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
As a producer, engineer, and mixer I do so much more than just the physical act of recording and mixing. I work with an artist or band to help them actualize the vision they have for their songs. This can be making sure the structure of the song best serves the melody and lyrics to making sure the performance we captured is the best performance.

I feel like I’m set apart from others in that I produce with a pop mentality. By that, I mean that I am always trying to maintain the artist or band’s vision for the song while guiding the song to a place where as many people as possible will enjoy the song. Music is best when it’s shared and I love being able to help the artist reach the largest amount of people possible with their songs. At the end of the day, I’m not coming into the studio to make my record, I’m here to help the artist/band make theirs.

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
The proudest moment in my career so far was seeing Jacob Mallow perform the songs that he and I worked on together at the Georgia Theatre in Athens AND see the whole audience be moved by the songs that we created. That was really special.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.briandanehansen.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/briandanehansen
• Facebook: facebook.com/briandanehansen
• Twitter: twitter.com/briandanehansen

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.