production in EDM is so inspiring to me . If I ’ m looking for groove , depth , and lyricism , I ’ ll look to Bob Marley or Pressure . If I ’ m looking for a massive , powerful , organic production , I ’ ll turn to country artist Eric Church . If I ’ m looking for simple , catchy , and musical , I ’ ll look to Bobby Darin or Frank Sinatra . I love the scales and instrumentation of Middle Eastern music ; I ’ ll turn to Indian pop artist Diljit Dosanjh or Soltan to explore those realms . If I need to hear massive guitars and cannons for drums , I ’ ll turn to Emmure or Bring Me the Horizon . I pull from reggae , EDM , metal , pop , country , folk , hip-hop , and R & B tracks and funnel all those diverse genres into something with my favourite elements from each . Genre blending is a huge part of my production style .
CM : Do you feel you have your own identifiable sound ? If so , how would you describe it and what production tools and / or inspiration are at the root of it ?
David Strickland : That ’ s a good question ; I don ’ t know . People tell me that they can tell if I made the music or mixed it . But then there ’ s sort of the thing where , you know , I ’ ve been involved from an engineering standpoint over time , and can you hear that in other stuff that I ’ ve touched ? I don ’ t know . Somebody else has to tell me that . Like , I think so but I don ’ t know . I don ’ t try to sound a certain way and then I don ’ t try to sound the same way all the time . So , it ’ s hard to say if I
have a sound . Other people could answer that better .
I think it would be cool if I did have a sound . You know , like Bobby Digital when he did all that Shabba Ranks stuff . Or , you know , that certain OVO sound or Erick Sermon and the Def Squad stuff . I don ’ t know , man ! I would be so humbled if I did but I don ’ t put myself up there like that .
FrancisGotHeat : It ’ s hard for me to say if I have this sound , necessarily . A lot of people tell me I have a sound , which I guess is a good thing . It ’ s hard for me to put myself in that box , because I actually do like to jump around and do different genres . Like , I ’ ve done a couple rock records , some pop records , and all of that . So , I don ’ t have one sound that I put in every beat or everything . But I have a general vibe . I like very atmospheric sounds , big pads , and things like that . You know , very melodic but very simple at the same time , I like sounds like that and a lot of my beats are like that . So , I feel like I have a general vibe and feeling more so than actual sound .
London Cyr : People tell me a lot that they can always hear when it ’ s me and it “ sounds like me .” I would describe my sound as psychedelic and hard . There aren ’ t really any production tools but I just take a lot of inspiration from Radiohead , Kanye , and Travis [ Scott ] and his whole production side of things .
Prezident Jeff : I think so . Number one , I have a certain bounce that I bring to the table . Especially in the work that I do with Roy [ Woods ] on the R & B side . They ’ re a bit genre bending , a lot of the records that we did . It ’ s not just straight-cut traditional R & B . So , I can say that we did some really genre-bending , left-field kind of stuff .
This is why it ’ s hard to get into the studio with artists , because with my approach , I ’ m not just sitting there at the piano playing keys and then we ’ re just writing a song together . From a sound design standpoint , I ’ m very heavy on textures and emotion . I draw a lot from myself emotionally and a lot of that DNA is found in my music . A lot of it is dark . I think over the last four or five years , I can definitely say I left my mark in that way . I think people want to hear myself .
Taabu : I definitely have an identifiable sound if I ’ m staying true to my creative instincts . I ’ d describe my sound as extremely rhythmic , energetic , danceable , emotional , extreme , and rule breaking . Ableton Live is a tool I couldn ’ t create without . That DAW is a staple in my sonic identity before we even talk plug-ins . One of my biggest sources of inspiration is intense anxiety . I can ’ t seem to relax or sit still . My productions are undeniably repre-
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 55