Interview: Septembers1st- The Hottest Producer in the Underground

Those unfamiliar with the works of Septembers1st are missing out on one of music’s top producers right now. Septembers1st has provided an interesting look for Rise Above the Anchor into the chaotic world of production, shared secrets about what is on his musical horizon, and even shared with us his pick for the best rock album of all time!

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What inspired you to begin producing? Is there a certain show, album, song, or artist that started it all?

I guess just an overall love for music in general. I grew up young always wanting to be around music. It started with The Beatles, and Michael Jackson, and Jimi Hendrix, and The Police and Zeppelin and the musical influences of my parents. Then I started developing my own taste and making my own musical decisions. I just remember hearing Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle” record when I was like 9 years old. Then going back and listening to “The Chronic”, then “Ready To Die” I’d heard rap before…but not like that. It’s one of those things where after I heard those records, in the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to be involved in that musical process someway. I always cared more about the musicality of things on records. I’d go to the record store every Tuesday, buy a new album or two with the money I had saved up that week, and go home and listen to the album front to back…reading the liner notes so I knew who produced each song, who recorded it, who engineered it, who wrote it. Then, in high school, when I was like 17-18, I heard a local record that was entirely produced by Marcus D’Tray and it totally changed my life because he was from the same city as me. That’s a moment I will never forget. That was when it materialized in my mind that I could do it…because up until then there was no ability for a young kid to go grab a laptop, download some software, and start making beats. You had to have the real deal shit if you wanted to make things happen. Him doing it showed me that I could make it a reality if I worked at it. So I guess it was really a combination of all of those things.

When you began producing, did you immediately begin producing for artists, or did you spend time making instrumentals and beats first?

I definitely didn’t start working with artists right away…I took the time to learn. And that’s something I’ve carried with me because I still make the effort to learn something new each day. D’Tray actually became a mentor to me I guess you could say. I was lucky enough to be invited to his studio one time and during the session he made a comment about how he needed some new records to sample. I happened to have like 100 albums on vinyl so I spoke up and told him. That next week I was back over there with him listening to them and watching him chop them up on a Roland MV. I frequented his studio that entire year and we developed a friendship, now he’s like a big brother to me. But he gave me my first version of Logic Pro 7 and my first keyboard (it was a Roland Fantom)…and I spent a solid year making beats that nobody will ever hear. I decided I wasn’t going to start playing beats for artists, or anybody, until I personally thought they were up to my own personal standards. I know what sounds good and what doesn’t…that’s something I take pride in. A lot of people will bring me their album to listen to when it’s finished because they know I’ll tell them if it sucks.

Over time, you’ve worked with a slew of great artists, Sinclair and An0maly being two of my favorites; when looking for new talent to work with, what makes an artist stand out? How do you go about creating music that fits best with their style?

I’ve definitely been blessed to work with some vary talented individuals up to this point. Deciding to try and work with an artist usually boils down to 3 things with me…”do I like their music?”, “do I feel like I can help them get their point across in the best possible way?”, and “do I like them as an individual?”. The music is really what makes them stand out…if it’s good, and if I think it is worthwhile for us to work together because we could make something great…then I’m all about it. As far as creating music that fits their own personal style…it just all depends. Sometimes it may come from a concept they have and me thinking “what does that concept sonically feel like to me?”. But most of the time I’ll be working on a beat and then whoever I think that piece of music embodies the most…I’ll play it for them. Or send it to management and tell them who I think it could work for. Then if it doesn’t work for who I initially thought…I put it in the stash and play it for other artists whenever they are looking for new material.

Is there a certain piece you’ve produced that you’re particularly proud of? What makes the piece stand out more than your other work?

That whole first An0maly EP that I executive produced is pretty special. “Acid Dreams”. Mainly because I really dove in to make sure that it was a cohesive project sonically from top to bottom. I’m really proud of the beats I did on there, as well as the additions I did to some of the other beats to add emotion, or transitions. Plus that was the first project An0m and I worked on top to bottom. I was the recording, mixing, and mastering engineer on that EP too. So I really put my heart into it. I’m very proud of “DMT” individually too, as a musical piece. That was one of my most emotional compositions ever. I made that beat at my old apartment back home…to me it perfectly captured that moment in my life musically. But, a lot of my favorite beats that I’ve done no one has even heard yet. I’m hoping they make some major label albums. They are in the artist’s hands…just playing the waiting game until those records get finalized to see if they make the cut. And if they do, then I’ll be extremely proud of those pieces of work.

I’ve seen you post on Facebook before about how beats aren’t free, and shouldn’t be, because of the time and effort the producer puts into them, yet you often work with artists who then release their music for free; what is your stance on releasing music for free? Is it a benefit to the artist, or is it a detriment, in the short- and long- term?

Yea…I’m a pretty big champion for the “no free beats” movement. Haha. It just sucks because there are all these “producers” flooding the market with beats and they are willing to work for free because they have mommy and daddy footing the bill for them…or because they treat this as a hobby. This isn’t a hobby to me. This is my job, and my life. It’s how I put food on my table and how I keep the lights on. 95% of the money I make that doesn’t go towards bills and things of that nature goes right back into the music for me too. New equipment, new plug-ins, trips to LA for meetings or to go link up with artists. A lot of these artists put their music out for free…but then go make $10-$30,000 a show performing the songs that we helped create. Us producers don’t see any of that money…if you put the music out for free we see our money from you purchasing the beat…and that’s it. And producer’s aren’t getting paid like they used to. If it’s lucky enough to see radio play we will see back end from that, or if it gets licensed, or maybe we can turn the success of the track into a publishing deal…but none of that is guaranteed. That’s not the artist’s fault at the higher level though. It’s the consumer’s fault because they aren’t willing to pay for a product that ultimately provides the soundtrack to their life. Which is bullshit. And due to shortened attention spans, artists have to keep cranking out music at a faster pace to stay relevant. Up and coming artists need to put music out for free now to build their fan bases. Nobody is going to buy your shit if they don’t know who the fuck you are…because 60% of the time they aren’t buying their favorite artist’s new album either. I think the ability to put out QUALITY music is all that matters though. If it’s free you are going to gain more support, so it has it’s benefits. You have to do it now to stay connected.

Do you believe your work has a definitive sound to it? If so, describe it.

There is definitely a feel to the music I create…but I don’t know if I have a defined sound in the classical way of thinking. Dark I guess. I love strings, orchestral stuff, filtered synths and pads…piano melody. I just recently got into sampling a bit more too. That shit is fun to me now…I used to hate sampling. A member of Cardiak’s Heartfelt Music production company told me that you can feel the passion in my beats. Not passion in like an RnB sense, but passion as in you can feel how much I care about the music just by listening to it. I won a Beat Battle last year and I remember after I won artists and other people in attendance coming up to me to congratulate me. One artist in particular said that just hearing my stuff in the competition inspired him. He said “you can tell you make your music from right here”…and pointed to his heart. I told him “because that’s the only way I know how”. So I guess my sound is emotional, dark, moody, passionate, epic, gloomy, aggressiveness. Ha. If that makes any sense.

What are your goals for the short term? The long term?

Short term…keep building my catalog. I want to get some placements on some major records and build relationships with those artists. I also want to continue to build on the relationship I have with my representation/management and just continue to better myself musically and creatively. My website is in development too, which is dope. And I guess just continue to push myself and stay inspired every day.

Long term…I just want to be able to be in a situation where I can make music for the rest of my life and not worry about anything else. I want to be respected in the business by the people who I respect and am a fan of. I want young producers to look up to me the way I look up to Dr. Dre, Rick Rubin, Bryan Michael-Cox, Timbaland, Teddy Riley, Marcus D’Tray, 40 & Kanye. I want to create pieces of music that inspire an artist to tell their personal story to the world…and have that song connect with everyone who listens to it in their own personal way. Maybe take an executive position at some point down the road…but not some small, half assed, independent shit. I’m talking Def Jam, Interscope, Universal Senior VP type of thing. But that’s only if it would interest me at that point.

Can you give us a hint about any upcoming projects you have going on?

I’m in the studio working on tracks everyday…a lot of stuff I just send to the girl who represents me and then she takes it to Interscope, or whoever, for whatever artist it may work for. She works hard for me, which can mean a lot in this business. And I’m definitely blessed to have someone who believes in my career enough to put their reputation in the hands of my music. I’m trying to get a joint or two on my boy D-Why’s next record too…so far, I co-produced a track with D’Tray that should make the cut. So hopefully that sticks. He won’t be dropping until next year though, so I have some time. I’m finishing up engineering work on a girl named CandaceK’s new EP called “The Soul Stacks”. It’s more of an R&B/Jazz/Soul type of record. She’s always a pleasure to work with. And I’m working on a personal instrumental side project too. Just making music for the sake of music, with no end game. No real genre, I’m just experimenting with some new sounds trying to create a body of work that represents me musically. It’s nothing like my usual hip-hop tracks…much more experimental. I’m aiming for like 8-10 tracks and I’m going to try to release it by the end of the year…if I feel like I can get my point across well enough. If I can get all the sounds that I hear out of my head it should turn out pretty dope!

RATA is generally known as a rock and heavy metal community, so I have to ask you this before I let you go: You’ve told me that you’re a closet rock/metal fan; what is, in your opinion, the greatest rock album of all time?

Aww man. All time!? That’s such a hard question to answer because my answer changes daily. I guess if you count The Beatles as rock I’d say their “Revolver” album. Or The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Are You Experienced”. Those albums were just light years ahead of anything else creatively at the time. But as far as personal favorite…probably Nirvana “Nevermind”. That album was so dope to me as a kid, it was such a middle-finger to everything. Musically, socially….everything. None of those are super hardcore…but they are great rock albums in terms of Rock N’ Roll at the time. I didn’t get into more heavy stuff until about 6 years ago or so. Then I checked out some Slayer stuff, and developed a liking to bands like Killswitch and Asking Alexandria, etc.

Thanks for talking to RATA! You have just become the first producer to be featured on the site! Congratulations on all of your achievements so far, and best of luck in achieving the dreams you still have! Do you have anything you’d like to say to the readers?

Thanks Vince! It’s been great, and I’m honored to be the first featured producer! I appreciate it; I’ll continue to drive and push myself to accomplish those. And as for the readers…to quote Plato, “Music is the essence of order and leads to all that is good, just, and beautiful”. Oh…and continue to support RATA!