Reezy Tunez

Reezy Tunez

 

ReezyTunez, is making a major splash in Dallas with his exceptional production talents. A veteran of beat battles, Reezy won a producer/songwriter competition with Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins in 2010. He entered a producer competition in 2014 with S1 aka Symbolyc One and took first place.

He has produced multiple tracks on season three of Empire, which is on Fox. He did three records on that show.

Those tracks were premiered on the show and then two of them actually made it onto the soundtrack. He has worked with one of Beyonce's signees, Chloe and Howie. Worked with them in the studio and of course worked with Rodney Jerkins  a.k.a Darkchild. He has also worked with Symbolic One or S1. He did some mixing work for Eric Bellinger and another artist they signed from Houston named Lo Play. He's the guy who wrote “My Chick Bad” for Ludacris.

 

Speaking of Empire, were these tracks you produced for the show or previously recorded tracks you licensed?

Yes. So I mean speaking about the placements there are two of them. It was records I've already worked on in the past and of course at the time you know Rodney and I've been collaborating. I'm one of the producers that's part of this little team to produce records for Star and Empire. The first placement that I got was an instrumental that I produced like last year. When he heard the potential of it and it was kind of like a co-production thing.

He added his little flare to it and then obviously it got pitched and three of the biggest stars on the show ended up getting on it and that was it.

 

What sets you apart from other producers?

I would say probably the type of sound I produce. It’s a blend that I call genre bending. It's like a blend of genres. I usually take elements that I like out of each genre and just sort of make it my own. And then of course I would say obviously the programming. The cadences of the drums and the rhythm. That would be another thing that's like unique and different that I bring to the table.

 

Could you elaborate on this genre bending?

Yeah, for example if I'm working on a pop record I try to take elements from R&B, hip hop and urban elements and bring them into the pop world to see if it still makes sense for that artist you know, stuff like that and vice versa. Like if I’m working on hip hop I'll try to bring in dubstep or electro kind of stuff but it's still like hip hop you know from that artists.

"So I think of things that way when I'm approaching producing."

 

What is one secret tip that you would be willing to share from your secret sauce? You know one ingredient in the way you put your music together that you might want to share that could really benefit another artist or producer?

I think this will apply to everything. I went to school for audio engineering so I’m heavy into mixing and making sure things sound right and using sound design and everything. One thing that I will say that's a great tip is. Cut first, boost later. When it comes to EQ’ing, you always want to cut out first before you want to boost anything. Most likely when you cut out you're actually making it sound better.

I think a lot of producers sometimes we’re just like, OK that's a frequency we want. So we'll just go ahead crank it up. Well, not necessarily. If you actually cut out the unwanted sound first you may not have to boost anything. Like the sound may already be there and it is going to be more clear and it's going to be more present within the mix. That's why I love the Eyeball for cutting tracks on the road. It's the secret weapon in my portable recording studio because I don't have to cut out or boost a lot of frequencies when it comes time to mix.

 

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I know this may sound funny. Like of course spending family time. I'm married. I have a wife and two kids.

"So you know spending as much family time as I can kind of like takes my mind off of music for a little bit. That’s where a lot of my inspiration comes."

And it actually hits a lot stronger because the second you're not thinking about music you'll have an idea that will just abruptly appear. So that's one thing I usually have, a voice memo app that I can just pull up and just hum or beat box. So as soon as I get home I can just lay it down.

And another thing too. I'm like a scientist when it comes to creating music so I love sound design and making my own sounds like usually throughout the week I’ll have like one or two days where I'm just creating new sounds. Like new drums, new synths new sound effects or finding new things that I can. Kind of just throw in a beat and then I'll challenge myself for the rest of the week to only use those sounds.

So or most of the time I know it sounds funny. I actually. Try to use stock sounds within the software but then I'll ask myself OK you know everybody has the sound so what can I do to make it sound different but at the same time keep your own identity. So I always try to manipulate sound so they can be ‘Oh yeah, this sounds like a Reezy sound now that I've ran it through filters and distortion and reverse it, add reverb. Now it sounds like something I would use all the time. Often I use stock sounds because it kind of just teaches you to use what you have but like broaden your horizons. So that kind of stuff inspires me all the time.

 

Why does music matter?

"Music is a type of language that I feel a majority of people gravitate to."

And what I mean by that is it speaks a lot of emotion and speaks feeling. When you're down and depressed you might put on a song that will uplift you or keep you in that state of mind.

So most of the time when you hear music it's more of a feeling first. Like I know you could play your favorite songs and you can remember the exact time, where you were when you first heard the song, what you were we wearing. What time of the day it was. Everybody needs music. Music can get you out of anything. You know if you're trying to get motivated. Or you want to set the mood right, you know. Music has that much power to determine the day in and day out of how people live their lives. Music is like a story that people can fill in.