Q: The beat along with your unique voice on this track is so catchy and addicting! Can you walk me through your production process in creating “I’m Obsessed”?
Max: Firstly, big shout out to the Kenny Beats discord server. The talent in there is crazy and this track wouldn’t exist without it. I started messing around with a sample I had found from the server attempting to get myself over another wall I had found myself at creatively. Things started coming together and I sent a video to my good friend from in my studio, to which he pretty much ordered me to start recording. I was pretty happy with it so far so I started writing the hook and got that down along with another one of the verses that night. By that point I knew I had to do my best with finishing this one. I came back the next day added another little verse along with some adlibs and started cleaning up the beat and moving things around, then I spent a couple days mixing and mastering until I was satisfied with it. I’m definitely one to critique my own work pretty severely so for this to come around and have everything fall in to place as well as it did was bizarre to me.
Q: Were you influenced by old records & tapes growing up? Which ones?
Max: My first love was actually Drum and Bass, I remember listening to my brothers friends ipod nano and deciding then and there that I wanted to be a DJ. From there my interests in music expanded to Dubstep, Trap and finding my way to genres like Future Bass and pretty much anything Lofi. I would say my main influences from growing up and exploring sounds would be Noisia, Medasin, Flume, and Monte Booker. Theres too many to mention! Truthfully, I never owned many records or tapes so I would dip in and out of a lot of different things.
Q: Who would you most like to collaborate with, if it could be anyone in the world?
Max: Honestly I think working with someone like Mr. Carmack, X&G or Monte Booker would be incredible. it’s so hard to pick just one and I usually don’t consider collaborations as something i’m particularly interested in but being in the studio with someone like that would be a dream to me.
Q: I see that it took you only a couple days to completely finish the song, which is very impressive! What did you enjoy most about making this track?
Max: Once I had the vocals down I was feeling pretty good. I think it was the next evening after I had made the beat and recorded about half of the track I finsihed them up and from there I went through and added all the little details, which has got to be my favorite part when i’m working on something. Things like that only come out once you’ve more or less made the song so i’m always so hyped up when I can take a section of a track that little step further.
Q: If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?
Max: I believe that a lot of people who get involved with it don’t really care about it and I mean that towards labels as well as artists and their teams. It’s an easy enough industry to buy your way into if you have the opportunity to and I see a lot of people doing so to just bring nothing to the table. It’s not something I really talk or think about and I don’t want to be salty, it is what it is, there’s plenty of things wrong with it but it’s to be expected of any industry that generates as much business as the music industry does.
Q: What would you say your music says about you?
Max: For me, whether i’m producing or writing, I wont set any rules out and I want that to be clear through what I put out there. There’s no need to take everything so seriously and follow suit, if I made something that suddenly took off that doesn’t mean i’d be sticking to creating things in a similar way, it’ll be whatever feels good at the time and hopefully any new listeners appreciate that, if they don’t then that’s okay because i’m still going to be doing what I love.
Q: Any advice for other up and coming artists?
Max: Not every song will be “that” song, not every idea works. We’re all creating our sounds and perfecting our craft as we go, it’s no surprise that that takes time. Trust in yourself and put things out when you’re ready, and if that track you started still isn’t quite there for you, keep it for yourself.
Interviewed by Melissa Cusano
