#ProducersCorner – ECHLN

In the online publication’s Spotlight feature; ECHLN had a chance to sit down with Red Bull – here is how the interview went:

What kind of music were you surrounded by growing up and when you discovered music for yourself what were you drawn to?

My mom played a lot of Seal. Michael Jackson, Depeche Mode, Robin Williams and my dad played a lot of Santana. I gravitated a lot to the Santana stuff because of the guitar and everything, with my mom it was a lot of the Michael Jackson stuff. A lot of my music influence comes from what my mom listens to. In 2002/2003 she got Justin Timberlake’s “Justified” which was predominately produced by Timbaland and Pharell. I think that’s where it pretty much started. It was that album and that’s how even to this day I’m a big fan of the Neptunes (Pharrell and Chad Hugo) because of that and it’s really how my love for music started.

When did you start producing and did you have any musical training before then?

I didn’t have any musical training. For the most part, it was around Grade 6 or 7, 2007/2008. I would visit my cousin and he had a copy of FL Studio and Reason 5. It was just a matter of doing stuff with your cousin, watching movies, play PS2 games and one of those things was playing around in FL Studio.

You’ve been releasing as ECHLN since 2014, how would you say your sound has evolved over the years?

It’s become a lot more refined. I think the fundamentals of what I make has been the same. A lot of my theory, there’s this tutorial video on YouTube where this guy teaches you neo-soul chords and soul chords, he produces Gospel which especially in America has very strong roots in soul, in terms of the arrangement, the production, especially the chord progressions. That’s kind of my foundation of everything, pretty much soul. Through that, I incorporate those chords in hip hop, funk, dance and RnB, a lot of those influences do come through. I think I would describe my sound right now as dance electronic fused with soul elements mixed with The Neptunes. There are a lot of influences structure-wise. In terms of simplicity. The Neptunes do kind of shine through, sometimes I do get told there is that influence and it’s just one of those things I just can’t shake off. The Neptunes and soul music is all that I really, even to this day, listen to.

You’ve released on a number of international labels, why did you go with Stay True Sounds for ‘Kunjani’?

It was mostly the people that interacted with me. It almost felt natural to release with Darker Than Wax, Shimmy and them. For the most part, it was pretty cool, but then it started not making sense not releasing anything locally. So that’s when I approached Kid Fonque with the idea of creating a 4-track EP. I decided to release with Stay True Sounds because it’s Stay True Sounds! It’s cool to say I released with them. I also felt in terms of the feature set and the people I had and the elements in it, I felt it would cater a little bit better to the South African market. Having Muzi, Jackie Queens, Sio, IIndMan, Bakai, Hunter Rose, just all local acts so it made sense.

How long did you work on the EP for and what kind of concept were you working with?

It took two years to make it. I didn’t start with the intention of making an EP but once the songs were together I saw that it could be one.

How do you choose your vocalists?

A lot of the time it’s just random. I do have preferences. But usually, when I make a song, funnily enough, I imagine Pharell singing it in different registers. Whether that’s falsetto or an octave lower and based off that, that’s when I decide which artist will be good for it and I think the reason why I collaborate with Hunter Rose a lot is because generally what I make fits her so well. The music chemistry we have is really good so it’s really easy with her.

You have a track on the Excursions # 7 compilation. How did that come about?

That’s was a pretty cool one. I’d been listening to Athie (Amarafleur) for a long time and didn’t know it was her for the longest time. So I’d see her around and knew she made music as AmaraFleur but I didn’t know that I had like one of her songs a very long time ago, her first song on Soundcloud. Then it only hit me, I messaged her recently and let her know that I’ve been listening to her for a while. So it was just thing where we knew we both made music and after her single, I decided we had to make something together and “Come Around” was really just that. I made a beat and sent it to her, she sent it to me, added more things to it, wanted to give it a Neptunes/Pharell kind of vibe, a little bit of funk, a little bit of RnB, just a nice fusion. I made it for the compilation. Future Shock contacted me late last year asking for a song and this is what I made.

Any other projects in the works?

I just completed a song which features Cape Town-based songwriter Caleb Williams as Red Orion which is coming out on under Underground Charisma which is the only planned one production-wise. In terms of my engineering side of things, Naye Ayla’s new EP was mixed by me. There are a few things here and there in terms of engineering, but regarding production, it’s mainly that one song called “Do You Want It”