Inside Track: Carter Lang

Songwriter, producer and musician Carter Lang has built a stellar career on collaboration and a love of obscure hardware.

“I’m categorised as a songwriter and a producer. But I also feel an artist in how I create sounds, and help bring an artist’s vision to life. What I do is not about me. It’s not about making a name for myself. It’s about the music that comes out of collaboration. I don’t care if it takes one person or five or 10, the question is always: how can we make music that gives us and other people the chills?

“Out of all the things I’ve worked on, I don’t think there was one time that we thought, ‘We need to make a hit today.’ Instead, you land on an idea, it becomes a thing, and eventually hits sometimes happen. The question in that situation is always, ‘How can I get everybody to be excited about what we’re doing, without forcing anything?’”

Carter Lang’s laid‑back, collaborative approach to writing and production has made him extremely successful. Growing up in Chicago, Lang started his musical career playing classical piano, guitar and bass before being introduced to synths, and to the Akai MPC 1000, in the late ’00s. The beats he was making at home resulted in him becoming part of the Chicago hip‑hop scene. “A friend sold me a Roland JX‑8P, and the sounds were so mesmerising and warm! I then bought a Roland SH‑2000, which is such a charming, interesting synth. That was my introduction to early ’70s monosynths. It has a very classic sound.

“I was never super good in the box, and the MPC allowed me to start making my own compositions and arrangements. It was my introduction to rhythm, and sampling, especially of records. I worked with a rapper called Zack Wicks who really inspired me, but who sadly passed away while I was still in school. He showed me Sun Ra and Frank Zappa and tons of esoteric music that the great producers were sampling. That got me curious about the sounds that were used on these records. Later when I got into pedals, I was able to combine them with synthesis, sampling and drum machines in a way that sounded good.”

Carter Lang’s work with SZA and Justin Bieber has made him one of the hottest producers around.

Going South

Lang went to New Orleans to attend the Loyola University music business programme, which allowed him to explore many different sounds and genres as it was “a laboratory of playing in different bands”. On returning to Chicago, Lang started to work with the hip‑hop collective Savemoney, particularly their members Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa, as well as rapper Mick Jenkins. The MPC 1000 was still a crucial tool for him, one that allowed him to “differentiate” himself and “add value to the writing process with interesting sonic flavours and rhythms”. Not long afterwards, Lang’s career took a step up when he began working with SZA in 2015, playing as a guitarist in her live band and co‑writing and co‑producing half of her debut and breakthrough album Ctrl (2017). Lang went on to co‑write and co‑produce Post Malone and Swae Lee’s monster hit ‘Sunflower’ (2018), which is the seventh most streamed song of all time on Spotify.

Although he also uses Ableton Live, Carter Lang credits the Akai MPC with helping him carve out a unique identity.

“Ctrl was a dream and super defining for my career. SZA and I really crafted a sound together. Then ‘Sunflower’ came out of nowhere. It was based on a beat made by Louis Bell and I, and then our management pitched it to the Spider Man: Into The Spider‑Verse [2018] movie, and suddenly it’s the main part of the movie. That song became larger than life, and a great calling card for me. It allowed me to move forwards in publishing and to acquire a lot of gear! It also prompted my move to LA in 2019, so I could be closer to many of the friends I was working with, and led to me establishing my current studio.”

Since then, Lang has gone from strength to strength, being at the heart of the making of SZA’s second album, SOS (2022), as well as the extended and reissued version, Lana (2024), and of Justin Bieber’s albums SWAG and SWAG II. In addition, Lang has worked on tracks by Camila Cabello, Chance the Rapper, Doja Cat, Lil Nas X, Alicia Keys, Kali Uchis, Lola Young, Rosé and more. Lang has had a hand in more than 30 Billboard‑charting songs, six of which went to number one. He has received 10 Grammy nominations and two Grammy Awards.

Lang went on to co‑write and co‑produce Post Malone and Swae Lee’s monster hit ‘Sunflower’ (2018), which is the seventh most streamed song of all time on Spotify.

Comrades In Arms

Reflecting Lang’s emphasis on working with friends, the credits of songs he’s been involved in typically draw from a small group of co‑writers and co‑producers: Rob Bisel (see SOS March 2023), Blake Slatkin (SOS February 2023), Jared Solomon, Omer Fedi, Dylan Wiggins, Mk.gee, Dijon Duenas, Tobias Jess Jr and Eddie Benjamin.

“Of course, being a producer sometimes means being behind the computer and recording and editing my friends, instead of jumping in and always playing. I’ve found a lot of joy in watching the flow and discovery of people playing, and not feeling so eager to apply my own sound or cast my opinion on a song idea as it develops. Instead of saying, ‘OK, we need to do this,’ I encourage others to do what they do, while not losing sight of how everyone in the room is feeling.

“As a producer, I read the room, and focus on everyone feeling stoked about the idea we’re working on, and not pressured to meet certain expectations. I watch the flow happen, and make sure that the artist is feeling it too, asking questions about what they like and want. It’s best to be vocal about it, instead of dealing with implicit expectations of needing to do this or that. I don’t want people to sacrifice their soul...