If you love beats, this is your week. The iStandard Producer Showcase is in the Northwest – Portland tonight and Seattle tomorrow – and while the fans are always the true winners of such events, the pot is pretty nice for the beatsmiths too. Just ask previous winners Samarei and Theory Hazit.
Tonight, 15 of Portland’s finest producers will showcase their tracks at Fifth Avenue Lounge in front of a panel of career changers and mentors. The winner with the highest score will take home a prize package consisting of a bundle IK Multimedia iOS Products, plus their renowned plug-in T-Racks Grand, iZotope’s Nectar Elements, a choice of Propellerhead Software (either Reason Essentials or ReCycle), Ableton Live 9 Intro, a Lifetime Subscription to iStandardProducers.com, promotional gear from Monster Energy, and more! The judges include reknowned A&R Vakseen plus local success, Trox who I had a chance to chat with about tonight’s event.
Mac: I have been seeing you at iStandard events for the last few years now. What’s the most fun part about being a judge?
Trox: The most fun part is that I get to discover new talent I otherwise would never have heard of… These days I’m always focused on creating music and I never really have time to look up new producers in my region. It can be very refreshing and re-affirming of my opinion that Portland has lots of talented producers.
What do you listen for when you’re judging? What makes the Trox smile?
I want to hear some material that doesn’t sound like anything else I’ll hear in the club or on radio. As soon as everyone starts to hop on one sound, I’m looking for the next one already. Can you do your style better than others do theirs? Or are you another Metro Boomin clone? Overall quality is key too. Does it bang in the system? Is it sonically right? Can I hear artists on your tracks? It’s a variety of things but those are the most key to me.
One more thing… I see you on Snapchat and Twitter constantly posting new beats. How many beats are you making, say, per week?
My routine monthly is that I get on my Kanye West [Editor’s Note: Happy birthday, Ye!] and get 40-50 beats done the first half of the month, and then I mix them all down the second half of the month… I want to put a certain quantity out there into the market, but I want to keep the quality up as well. Can’t be selling beats that sound like they got mixed in an empty beer can.
Well that’s a new strategy to me! Thanks for taking the time to share some insight.
Thanks my guy.