{"id":41887,"date":"2026-09-30T13:09:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T17:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=41887"},"modified":"2026-09-30T13:09:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T17:09:55","slug":"phoenix-james-hold-on-track-breakdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/phoenix-james-hold-on-track-breakdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix James and Abner Dennis break down how &#8220;Hold On&#8221; was made"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Phoenix James is a singer-songwriter, artist, and producer with roots in Birmingham, Miami, and New York.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Her latest single &#8220;Hold On&#8221; blends R&amp;B and <a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/how-to-make-indie-pop-music\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">indie pop<\/a> influences with introspective and intimate songwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/0kOLNHOf6TH9gWegm42dRR?si=ee35fd48b5164d22\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the video above, Phoenix James and producer and engineer Abner Dennis joined us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@splice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Splice YouTube channel<\/a> to break down how &#8220;Hold On&#8221; was made. Watch along to see how they processed Juno recordings, guitars, and <a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/sounds\/instruments\/drums\/samples\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">drum samples from Splice<\/a> into a cohesive arrangement in Ableton Live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout the walkthrough, the two show us how important communication\u2014and at times a bit of friction\u2014is for fostering creativity in a collaborative environment. &#8220;Originally, you wanted super soft vocals; I remember we got in a tiff about it,&#8221; James recalls. &#8220;Because I was like, &#8216;Bro, there&#8217;s no energy behind the song. Like, I need to be screaming on it.'&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;She really understands how it&#8217;s meant to be,&#8221; Dennis laughs in hindsight. &#8220;I was doing way too much.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And for producers who are working on collaborative sessions, Dennis underscores the importance of always capturing your fleeting ideas. &#8220;It&#8217;s so useful to just have a little TASCAM always recording random stuff,&#8221; he says. &#8220;You might think that there&#8217;s nothing on there that&#8217;s useful, since you&#8217;ve already chosen all the &#8216;perfect&#8217; sounds. But really, you have so many gems that, while creating, you might be ignoring because you&#8217;re going through things quickly\u2014but you could just grab them later if you just have something recording the whole time.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What was your favorite idea or insight from their track breakdown? What would you like to see next? Let us know in the comments section of the video, and subscribe for more artist-led walkthroughs, tutorials, and insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Explore royalty-free sounds from leading artists, producers, and sound designers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/sounds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Join Splice today<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch Phoenix James and Abner Dennis break down their Ableton Live session for James&#8217; lead single &#8220;Hold On.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":41889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1851,1850,1696,49],"tags":[1307,1254,918],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Phoenix James and Abner Dennis on How &quot;Hold On&quot; 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