10 Questions with SLATIN on music, mentorship, and living as a musician during Covid-19
Written by Jason Euler | August 18, 2020
Q: What do you believe makes your sound unique compared to other artists in your niche?
I created my signature sound that I called “Modular House”. I’m a huge fan of doing weird sound design, and for the last two years, I’ve been using my modular synth a lot, so naturally, It became a big imprint in my sound.
Q: Connections can be the difference between life and death in the music industry. Would you mind sharing a story or a chance meeting that changed everything for you and your career?
I can’t highlight a specific meeting. All the people that I met during my career, at some point, had some influence on my trajectory. They led to more connections and opportunities through word of mouth. In my case, music speaks for itself, which helps me a lot, since I’m not a very extroverted person.
But all those meetings are key to grow in the music industry. A single conversation can open several doors for opportunities, and that opportunity can lead to more meetings, and so on.
Q: Speaking of connections, how did you first get connected with Spinnin Records?
That was a funny story, I was in an electronic music band, and my partner at that time had a friend that went to ADE, so he got some emails from their database and gave us the chance to write to a Spinnin’ employee.
That person wasn’t even an A&R, just some marketing guy, but he was kind enough to forward our tracks to the actual A&R. And things worked out well!
Q: How often do you think connections can grow into something more than just business? Have you ever had a business connection grow into something more like a mentorship?
To me, it happens all the time. I get production, mixing, and mastering jobs from producers, I help them, and sometimes, these guys want to know how can they achieve this sound without external help. So, I offer them my mentoring services. And I have mentees that started almost from scratch to releasing in huge labels in a span from 1 to 2 years of mentoring. Usually, we work together for 1 or 2 days a month, continually improving their production, mixing, and mastering techniques, and I also guide them on how to market yourself in this industry.
Q: How important would you say mentors are in the music industry? Care to share something that a mentor has taught you in life?
Mentors are key to success. If you have the chance to get mentorship from a reliable person, you can accomplish your goals faster, making fewer mistakes along the way. One of the most important lessons I learned from a mentor is staying humble; everyone who gets driven by their ego always fails at some point.
Q: Your career has come full circle, and you are at a place where you can begin to mentor others alongside The Artist Path. What is the first piece of advice you tell anyone who wants to be where you are at now?
YOU HAVE TO WORK A LOT! People sometimes associate music with fun and parties, but those things are just the visible surface of the iceberg, under the surface, you will find uncountable hours of hard work. You have to grind hard if you want to accomplish anything in this industry, and for that, you’ll need passion, so that hard work doesn’t become a burden.
Q: We already chatted about what makes your sound as a producer unique, but what makes you unique as a teacher or mentor? What experiences and perspectives are you able to share with students and confidants?
I can identify myself as a very versatile producer. I started my career with metal music, then produced rap beats for many years. I had experience working with dubstep, hardcore, drum and bass, pop, reggaeton, trap and techno music. My project (SLATIN) has a very defined sound, but in the meantime, as a professional, I’m always producing for other people in all kinds of genres. Currently, I’m signed to Sony ATV and Big Beat Records (Atlantic), and I’m also producing, mixing, and mastering a lot of pop, trap, urban, and even techno music projects. That broad experience gives me a lot of different perspectives on music, and I feel confident about any type of project thrown at me.
Q: The COVID virus has made these days quite stressful. What are you doing to cope and stay sane?
I don’t have any free time to get bored! I never had this amount of work in my life, so I keep myself pretty busy with all the new projects and working on my music in my free time. I’m grateful to the universe for giving me all these amazing jobs. Also, I’m trying to keep a more or less consistent workout routine, to balance out all the sitting hours haha
Q: We hear often about all the negative things that have come from quarantine and the virus.
Would you mind sharing a positive story or thing that has come out of quarantine in your life?
I believe that the world needed a pause (and a change), everything was getting too fast to handle, and with the virus, people found time to think about what is really important in life and reorganize their thoughts and aspirations. Economically this time can be hard for many. Still, it will also make people stronger, and it’s going to help find personal, political, and economic flaws in our system and hopefully improve them. I connected more profoundly with my partner, and I signed a really good record deal in the middle of a pandemic, so that was something gratifying for me.
Q: What can producers and others in the industry do during these solitary months to really jumpstart their careers within the music industry?
This is the best time to bring your dreams to life! Start working on what you always wanted, improve your skills every day, create a healthy working routine, set long term goals. The ones that take advantage of this time off will be the successful ones when this ends!