Get to Know Synthetic [Interview]

Ian Hansen
//
3/9/2022

Synthetic started from releasing sound kits to producing for the likes of legendary producers, TM88 and Pierre Bourne to Yeat’s Billboard charting album, 2 Alivë. Synthetic has pioneered the new wave sound, with alien-esque synthesizers and up-tempo plucky melodies. Get to know Synthetic below:

You have five songs on Yeat’s most recent album, how are you feeling? What’s your favorite song you produced on it?

The first one I have is “Doublë,” which is pretty cool and my favorite one because I made the beat and the melody on my own which was my statement that I can do both. I have “Jump” with Starboyrob and Mathew Gomez. I see that one as a crowd song and a concert performance song. I have “Narcoticz” featuring Yung Kayo. It’s cool and a different mood than he usually does. It’s a slow beat. I have “Luh M” with my boy Darkboy featuring SeptembersRich. That one is cool because of the story. It was the first beat I ever made with Darkboy so it was a cool and rewarding experience to see our first beat ever get placed.

What does it mean for you to have a Lyrical Lemonade video with "Still Countin"?

Basically short and sweet having the Lyrical Lemonade video is a huge milestone in my career. It was a very surreal moment when I found out I had the Lyrical Lemonade video because I remember always watching Cole’s videos when I first started producing and to have my own video on there with my music is absolutely insane. Happy to have had the privilege and opportunity for my music to be used for the video and for the song. It’s been a crazy last few months.

Go in-depth with how you and Yeat built your relationship.

So how it all started, my friend TRGC invited me to the Splice studios. I went there and we cooked up. He was making stuff for Yeat and I hadn’t heard of him. So around that time he had one album out and I listened, and it was crazy. It sounded different. At some point end of June, I got my first song with Yeat called “Off Tha Lot.” From there, I messaged him asking to send stuff. At that time he had maybe like 20k followers. After that, I kept sending him packs consistently from June to December. After that, I had the opportunity to have a session with him. I was in the session with Rio Leyva, Yeat, and SeptembersRich. We were just catching a vibe and never even made Yeat stuff before. In that session, we just started making stuff from scratch and made unique stuff. We all collaborated on the record, “Ya Ya,” and it was the first time making stuff in-person. It was crazy to see the process because Yeat is a producer so to see his input was important.

How does it feel knowing you have kind of helped pioneer this sound?

So many people are making these “Yeat” melodies now. It feels very validating to be honest. For an artist to tell me to send my stuff and not compromise my own style is very very very great. I always wanted to work with an artist like messed with what I was doing rather than me compromising my sound for that artist. Yeat was just the perfect fit. It’s just the perfect relationship to have because it is the kind of stuff I wanted to hear an artist on. It’s the craziest thing ever and it was luck to be honest. Prior to the Yeat stuff, I was just making a ton of kits. I was pushing that out and my sound just reached a mass scale. It was just mean’t to happen. That hard work of making these products over time, allowed me to have a catalogue to have stuff for Yeat.

What got you into producing and take me through your music background?

I’m 28 years old, and I’m from LA. I went to undergrad at California State Northridge. I transferred to do my graduate school in social work at USC. When I was there, I always had thoughts of producing EDM. That was my favorite genre, and I always wanted to be an EDM producer. If you don’t have any musical background, which I didn’t, you can’t just produce EDM. It’s very hard and takes a long time to master. So I was just like I’ll do hip hop and trap because it seems easier. You make a loop and beat and you’re happy. It’s instant gratification. The learning curve isn’t as deep as Electronic music. I started that in 2017 and kept at it. In 2020, my last year of grad school, I realized that this is what I’m more passionate about. I decided to continue and after graduating, I grinded music a whole year and got really good at melodies. By 2021, I was at a point where my loop kits were so popular that it helped build a brand for me.

With the kits, how important do you think those were to your come up? How important is consistency for artists and producers trying to come up?

The time I started doing kits was the perfect time because at that time, making loop kits wasn’t as saturated as it is now. What helped me excel was that I was providing a lot of value to other producers for free. Me grinding out 3-4 kits a month over a year for free. It was very important because if I didn’t offer these things, I don’t think anyone would know who I am without the kits. The consistency part is so important because people forget so easy. You have to be on top of it. It wasn’t just about the loop kits, I had to brand these things, get good artwork and everything.

You worked on TM88 and Pierre’s project, what do those collaborations mean to you?

TM88 was one of the first bigger producers who reached out to me. He hit me up in 2020 and I have no idea how he found me. Probably through my kits. The kits just helped me build my network. He hit me up for melodies and at that time I had so many melodies because I had been working so much. I sent him a thousand melodies. He thought it was crazy and messed with me because of that. Through that connection I was able to get an unreleased song with Lil Uzi Vert. Then the Pierre stuff happened. I had six songs on the album, and it was a really good experience. It was the first time a legend reached out to me. It was a big up in my career. To get six Pierre credits is crazy.

If you could collaborate with anybody who would it be?

Probably Pvlace. It would be so interesting to see his whole process. It’s funny because he doesn’t like the new wave because he said it’s cheap EDM. With Pvlace, I just want to see his process and see how he makes music. I respect his art because it is clean and polished. I’m always looking to improve and he’d be one of the best people to learn from.

What’s your favorite studio memory?

Honestly, the best studio moment was being in the room with Yeat. At the time, I didn’t really know what Yeat could be. I believed in his art, and I was happy to be a part of it but looking back, being at this small studio in North Hollywood, making “Ya Ya,” to where he is now is crazy to see. To see it happen is insane. It’s reminder to where someone can start to where they can end up.

What do you like to do outside of music?

At the moment, sadly to say, I have no hobbies. I just do music. I do have my own collective called Hologram and we have our own kit website. We are trying to build a name for ourselves and be something big. That’s kind of my side project. I’m trying to build my collective’s brand and build my guys. What better to have five Synthetic’s than one. The whole goals is to make music forever so that drive has kept me obsessed with making music. I haven’t even had time to pick up a hobby. All I do is make music, network, or go to sessions.

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