Hannibal de Pencier
Check out the latest single by IB2 producer Emilio Elia featuring old boys Alex Shammas and Jonah Davids.
Q: How long have you been producing music?
A: I started producing music in the 8th grade. Getting into production is not easy – the younger guys in my Music Production Club will attest to this. But I stuck with it, made a lot of bad music for a while, and now I’m here.
Q: Who collaborated with you on this new song?
A: Alex Shammas is the vocalist and Jonah Davids is the bassist and pianist. I produced, recorded, mixed and mastered the song.
Q: What is the song’s message?
A: The song is a hyperbole for media influence, about a guy who becomes completely absorbed in sensationalism and it starts messing with his head. We wanted to make it about something very topical and boring, yet masked under a guise of sexiness. The Valentine’s Day release date sort of adds to that confusion.
Q: Who are your favourite producers?
A: I get a lot of inspiration from a Slovenian producer named Gramatik. He’s very innovative; he likes to mix genres together and try new things, which I respect in this age where a lot of people are doing the same thing. His “lowtemp” vibe really inspired the way I mixed this new song.
Q: Do you prefer using electronic sounds or real instruments?
A: Nothing can match the sound of a real instrument; they have a certain human quality that is very hard to replicate. But electronic sounds are far more easily manipulated in post-production. I would say that we like to use a mixture of both. We always do live bass when possible and we might start recording real piano soon.
Q: How long have you been working on this latest track?
Most of this track was recorded in the summer, but at the time we were going for a more lively Pop sound – which wasn’t working out. Jonah and I were in his basement studio one day in December and decided to scrap months of work and start from scratch with a much more simple R&B sound.
Q: What’s your favourite song right now?
A: I don’t have one favourite song but Anderson .Paak owns the sound right now. His last album was my favourite in a long time… I’m really, really glad this R&B/Soul/Funk sound is coming back because it’s enabling me and Jonah to do a similar thing.
The Blue and White 