Selling beats online is fine, but there’s nothing like getting into the studio and locking in with an artist. Take the two shown above, Metro Boomin and 21 Savage. These two have created some pretty good records and every album is pristinely cohesive. You’d think with these two as an example such as Drake and 40, Southside and G Herbo, and even going as far back as DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince that more artists and producers would follow suit. The reason, I believe, you don’t see more of this is because of the same phenomenal tool that allows everyone to make money in their sleep. The internet.
Recently, music producer Gummy Beatz jumped on instagram and stated that you don’t have to move to a larger market to get involved in the music industry. He has had tremendous success right from his bedroom in Russia. True, you no longer need to live in New York, LA, or Atlanta to connect with an artist but the problem is that there’s something missing called “Team Chemistry.” Like a sports team the players have to get along and know each other well enough to develop trust. So for an artist to trust that a producer can create a soundscape for their story is something to be coveted. However, an artist can go on the internet and create an album using beats from 20 different producers with 20 different sounds. Unless that artist has a great ear, their project is going to sound all over the place. A little hard to go from a Sam Smith like record all the way into a Polo G sound and expect the listener to stay engaged. Even if that is truly the artist’s vision, it’s very difficult to accomplish that transition in a translatable manner without an outside ear.
Today, now more than ever we need Producer | Artist duos. I’ve been blessed to lock in with both WIN and J DVNL who have allowed me to create soundscapes and take my direction when it comes to creating records. Everytime we take this approach they stumble onto successs. Its not that I have the best ear in the game, its that the music stays consistent no matter what message is being said on those records. When a producers taps into that same frequency of an artist magic happens every time.
One day we’ll talk about the X factor in the mix. The engineer….
