Vintage Limited talks to Montreal Producer Strada
An Interview with Montreal Producer Strada
Trey P: So can you tell the Vintage audience and fans who Strada is?
Strada: I’m a producer, sound designer, and composer. I live in Montreal, Canada and yes, I am a French Canadian! For the last five years or so, I have been Wordsmith’s in-house producer. I also worked with Chubb Rock, Skyzoo, Gage Pierre(France), and The BC (UK). I did some scoring for a couple animation films and a few sound design gigs. Basically, I just try to make the best music possible, create audio background, and get you that feeling from sound.
Trey P: How long have you been producing music and how did you get involved?
Strada: Probably around 2000 I started to look more into the computer production thing. I was always having fun with the little hip hop eJay-type programs but they were so limited. I searched and finally found the first Fruity Loops version and rolled with it. Before that, I was always into music playing guitar, bass, and drums. I was lucky enough that my father was a blues guitar player. I picked up a lot from him but I was never a great player. That’s not my thing. I like to add to my tracks with guitar licks and so on but don’t ask me to do a show (laughs).
Trey P: You’re out of Montreal. What’s the hip hop scene like in Canada compared to the U.S.? What kind of audiences are you bound to find?
Strada: The hip hop scene is much different from the States. Back in the ‘90s and ‘00s it was picking up pretty good. That’s when the France market was huge. There was a lot of local bands and original acts on the main radios but that died down. There is still good hip hop music here but it changed. Now it’s eclectic. You can have the electro crowd (MstrKrft, Justice, Crooked…) that’s huge, and Indie rock (Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire weekend…). I mean, Montreal is different from the rest of Canada. It’s a giant pool of great artists. We were named Unesco City of Design in 2006. Hip hop has its place here, but it’s definitely on a smaller scale than in the U.S.
Trey P: How important is fashion to the hip hop culture? Do you see any parallels with unique beat making and unique clothing ensembles?
Strada: Fashion is huge in hip hop. I mean the gold rope chains, the Adidas, the Guess jeans, Polo, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. Hip hop is also fashion in itself. It represent a set of ideas, what you do, how you do it, and why you do it. Beat making in itself is becoming a “culture.” You got all the equipment companies catering to them, clothing companies have studio gear as designs, forums, ads, events (Red Bull big tune contest).
Personally, I try to keep it fresh and comfortable when I know I am going to spend the day in the studio. Jeans, t-shirt, sweaters (I work in my basement and I don’t heat much s**t too expensive (laughs)). What is important is to put on something that makes you feel good. Look at Ryan Leslie sporting the full on 3-piece suits in his video. If that’s what it takes, do it. Besides what everybody portrays, it’s not always 10-minute beats and like 15 beats a day. A lot of times, you got to scratch your head and fiddle around trying to catch your vibe. So you don’t want to have something that you don’t like on. I like to stay fresh. That way, the beats are fresh too.
Trey P: What does your production schedule look like on a normal day?
Strada: I work full time, so whenever I squeeze time in I’ll do something production related. That can include making a beat, mixing, digging for samples, drums, VST research (stay on your VST game people), determining who needs beats, updating the blog, Twitter, Facebook. On a day off work, I’ll wake up early, eat, shower, grab coffee, and I step down to the studio. I try to make it a habit. That way, I can get the creativity flowing faster. Usually I check the emails, what’s popping on the blogs, what I need to be doing that day, listening to music to catch a vibe, and start banging. On a good day, I get one or two good joints done or I’ll finish some I started. It all depends on what’s needed and what’s time sensitive.
Trey P: Who are your influences and why?
Strada: Producer-wise…it’s the same as everyone else I guess – Timbaland, Dre, Pharell/Neptunes, Premier, Pete Rock, Alchemist.
Music-wise, I listen to everything. That includes Marvin Gaye, the Beatles, Mingus, Gillespie, Dylan, Sting, CSNY, Presets, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk…. anybody that makes great music.
Trey P: Do you have any projects now or coming up that you’d like to plug?
Strada: Wordsmith’s next mixtape “Vintage Vault” on February 23rd, 2010. Wordsmith’s Vintage Experience” dropping in March 30th, 2010. While Chubb Rock and Wordsmith’s Bridging the Gap album on iTunes is already available.
More surprises for 2010 are coming up. Finally, my blog about music production and the 2.0 music business can be read here at www.stradagized.com. You can also follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/strada514
Trey P: Any shout outs?
Strada: Wordsmith and the whole Nu Revolution camp. We work HARD!!!!! Vintage Clothing Limited for making this interview happen. Hiphopdx.com, 2dopeboys.okayplayer.com, kevinnottingham.com, and all the blogs and the Twitter folks that show support for our music. Thank you!
