Interviews, Trap | Interview with up and coming producer Crowd Cntrl

Posted by jrhardy on July 17, 2015

Rising producer and DJ Crowd Cntrl does a nice job with his remix of Bingo Players “Nothing To Say.” I got in touch with Sully and was able to ask him some questions so check it out on what its like to be making music as a college student. However, more importantly check out his “Nothing To Say” remix. Very nicely done and very clean work from Crowd Cntrl. Watch out for this guys in the future.

Interview:

1) What is a typical day like for you?

A typical day for me? That’s a tough question to answer because every day is filled with new ideas, opportunities, etc. such as this interview and feature. So as far as a set schedule goes, I don’t really have one unless I’m in class or working at my part-time day job (Guitar Center Sales Associate). However, when I’m not doing school work or working my day-job, its 100% effort into Crowd Cntrl, even if it keeps me up half of the night on exam week.
Currently, I’m working on a lot of original material and I’m digging deep with sound design to develop a type of sound that hasn’t really been “trademarked” yet. If I’m not working on that, I’m usually polishing up remixes, edits, and mixes to keep the hype going around Crowd Cntrl. It’s extremely humbling for me to get all this recent exposure on my two latest remixes, and I only look to continue that success with a lot of hours or work and TONS of coffee lol. I don’t wanna give too much away, but what I can tell you is that this original work doesn’t exactly fit one particular style of electronic music. My goal with my first original project, whether it’s a full blown album or just a 5-7 song EP, is to really spread myself throughout the entire EDM genre spectrum and not follow a style but rather have a hybrid outlook on it.
Besides the music portion of things, my team and I are always thinking of ways to bring fans into my life and really get them involved with what I’m doing to give them a more personal perspective of who I am. Who would I be without everyone supporting me, right? At the end of the day, I’m just like every other 20 year old out there that’s just trying to get his sound heard, so the support is crucial!

2) What personal advice would you give to someone wanting to pursue this career?

My personal advice for anyone looking to pursue this career is built upon 3 things:
1. Get GOOD people to work with and work for you. Whether it’s a collaboration, your manager, or social media team, it’s SO important to make sure that these individuals are willing to put in just as much effort into the overall goals of what you are trying to accomplish.
2. Give yourself mental breaks. This career can become very mentally frustrating when ideas aren’t flowing the way they should be. Give yourself a break for a while and come back to it. It’s weird, but I often find my best ideas when I’m not thinking so hard.
3. Have fun with it. The idea that you can entertain yourself and entertain others through music is awesome so enjoy it no matter what level you get to.

3) Why do you think that your “Nothing To Say” remix is one of your best tracks?

It just gave me the chills the first time I played back the song completed. I remember listening to just the bassline harmony in my studio and I was struggling for days trying to come up with a melody that fit it. I think I was at work actually and I just whipped out that melody progression on one of the pianos we had in the store while listening to it on headphones during my lunch break. From there, I recorded in into the studio computer at work and then developed the squarish synth later that night at home. In addition to that, I think the way the brass section creeps into the drop was pretty cool and adds a nice sustained low-end feeling giving it that “festival” feel. I also think the vocal chop carries the song from the beginning to the end and it’s never too overwhelming but still powerful enough to sit in the mix perfectly.

4) What is it like being a DJ/Producer in college? Do people respect it or hate on it?

Almost all people respect it, obviously you get haters here and there, but I’m sorry I’m not playing top 40 for you unless it has some filthy drop behind it lol.
It’s an experience that has evolved for me over time. I am now currently a double degree at Western Michigan University in both music production/recording arts and business management. It is quite the work load which is where the coffee and long nights come into play but the school work is going hand-in-hand with my personal journey with music all at the same time, so it’s nice and I’m learning a ton as I go. On the DJing aspect of things, being in a large network of people definetely helps a lot and my shows continue to grow in size every time I play. It’s something about being on stage that is just the biggest high in the world for me and I can’t imagine doing anything else then making people move and producing music that I love.

5) Do you DJ your own college parties?

There have been times where we have thrown our own events like tailgates, big apartment complex events, etc. for strictly promotional purposes. However, we mostly we stick to bars, clubs, fraternity/house parties, and a few festivals with our bookings; at least for the past year or so. This fall we are really looking to expand and get to new areas of the midwest region and country and see what can develop from that. Right now we are handling all our own booking but are looking to get into a talent agency in the near future as my popularity and value increases steadily here in the next few months.

6) What makes you unique and separates you from other rising artists?

A lot of artists would answer this question with something along the lines of “my talent”, “my hard work”, “my determination”, yadayadayada, I’ve seen these kind of answers everywhere. SO to be unique, I’m just going to say I would rather have everyone else answer that question for me and just let my music speak for itself. I’m just going to keep doing my thing and finish this un-trademarked sound. The sky will be the limit from there.

Remember to check his remix of “Nothing To Say” out!