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EXCLUSIVE: BEHIND THE BOARDS – Chin Injeti

June 19th, 2011 Filed under: Exclusive!, News/Calendar/Industry by admin

(CLICK TO ENLARGE | Photos – Scott Alexander)

Fresh off his recent Grammy win, Producer Chin Injeti – perhaps now best known for his contribution to Eminem’s recent hit album ‘Recovery’ takes time out from his busy schedule recording to sit down and talk with ABORT Magazine about his recent successes, the music industry, and his love of “Base” at his downtown Vancouver Studio.

ABORT: FierceKitty here with producer, musician, collaborator, and recent Grammy winner Chin Injeti, all set for another ‘episode’ of Behind the Boards. Chin, how are you?

CHIN INJETI: Great thanks!

ABORT: While researching for the interview, I noticed your big break with music was with your group Bass is Base in Toronto. Is that also where your role as a producer started?

CI: Yeah, it started with that group, but without really knowing it. You know? I didn’t really know what I was doing technically, but we were doing it anyways because a) we didn’t have the money, and b) we didn’t know how to how to approach someone to help us do it, so I just kinda learned on my own. We felt it out.

ABORT: Was your first produced song with Bass is Base? Or was there another first?

CI: The first thing I ever did that had any sort of commercial success was with Bass is Base, it was a song called ‘Funk mobile’ and it was a fun little song [laughs]. We did a neat video for it, and I think it made it to number one or two on Much Music. It did really well all over the country. It started my career

ABORT: Will we be able to find it online?

CI: Easily. [ Funk Mobile on Youtube ]

ABORT: You’ve stated in the past that you have a preference towards the bass – is this preference seen in your production style, do you produce more bass heavy songs?

CI: What I mean by that isn’t about the frequency. The bass is a very grounded instrument. It is the foundation of everything. So while I play all other instruments, I play them from that mindset. You know what I mean? I don’t try to over-do things, I mean, at one point I was probably like that, but the more I was in tune with the bass, the more I was in tune with everything else. If you want to play a guitar, play it so it facilitates the drums, the keyboards and everything else so the singer can keep it grounded.

ABORT: What is your most favourite song/album that you produced? Why was this one the most memorable?

CI: For commercial success, and just the pure enjoyment, had to be Recovery with Eminem. I performed and contributed to production on the song ‘Talking to myself’ and I love that. When production on that was finished, we looked at each other, and knew this would be perfect for Em’ and At some point later, Kahlil came to me “Chin, Em just cut that track” Can you imagine that?!
One the flip side, just for pure love, I would say Zaki Ibrahim. I just love what she does. Those two you met just outside the studio, Sophia Denai and Omar Khan, I’ve been working with them lately. I just feel I’m working with the people I am supposed to be working with, and I am making the best music of my life right now.

ABORT: Is there anything from your recording past that given today’s advancements in technology you’d like to re-record?

CI: yeah, that first Bass is Base record.

ABORT: Back to DJ Kahlil. Aside from the production partnership, you two have a group called ‘The New Royales.’ (With Liz Rodrigues and Erik Alcock) With such a great partnership, do you mainly work with him, or tend to do more solo work?

CI: All the stuff in the States has gone through him. Him and I have this thing where we sit in a room and he does what he does, and I do what I do. Its amazing, because he is from Los Angeles, he grew up in that cultural scene, and I am from Toronto, and I contribute what I grew up with, and it all just comes together.

ABORT: In terms of expectations, has winning a Grammy changed the way you look at producing or who you will produce for?

CI: No. But the phone-calls are cooler [laughs] you know? The gigs I am supposed to be getting are pretty neat, but I don’t know – I still believe in talent in the city. In fact today, its official, I am the new A&R liaison at Universal Music. I’m going to continue what I do, and Universal has allowed me to do the job from the west coast. I believe in the talent here, and I want to nurture it. Here in Vancouver, specifically. So no, it hasn’t changed that much, but the Grammy does bear weight. The next day the phone-calls just changed, and so did my rates.

ABORT: Like any ‘industrial engineer’ – sometimes knowing how a machine works will change how you use it. As an engineer of music for others, has it affected how you approach your own music?

CI: Absolutely. Well, I did this record called “Detach”…

ABORT: Which is amazing.

CI: Thank you. I think maybe you’re the only person who has heard it. [both laugh] At the time I was recording ‘Detach’ I was also working on “Detox” for Dr. Dre, and some stuff for Nas and The New Royales, and everything we did on the other side of the border was HUGE! The biggest drum sounds, the biggest bass sounds, the biggest everything. Everything was about BIG. And when I came home, I literally picked up my acoustic guitar and just put a piece of paper on this couch right here in the studio, and just started singing songs.
At that time, I was going through so much stuff. My dad was dying, I was going through stuff emotionally, and that’s what that was. I was recording where I was at that moment, and it just worked. Working with those people taught me how to strip back, but now my next record might be fully produced, because I have been really empowered in the studio.

ABORT: That’s really amazing, and really inspiring as well.

CI: Thank you

ABORT: How has musical production changed the way you listen to music? Is it possible for you to just enjoy music without thinking about it from a producer’s POV?

CI: Yes. I don’t know how everybody else is, but for me, what makes it work is the people. I am such a big fan of people and musicians. I listen to say, Arcade Fire, and I’m like, wow. It still makes me feel like when I first listened to Talking Heads, The Smiths, you know? Like when I first experienced Pink Floyd or Radiohead, good music makes you dream, it takes you to another place, so as a musician, it makes me wonder ‘how do they do that?!’ You want to be a fan of that. So I am definitely still a fan of things. I think maybe I lost sight of the question though.

ABORT: No, No, versus looking at something completely technical, or…

CI: Yeah, I am able to separate it.

ABORT: Have you ever considered moving into live-performance production? Would the process be similar on stage and out of the studio?

CI: No. I don’t endeavor into that because I am NOT an engineer. I don’t mix my records. I don’t know the first thing about compression, and how it works. I mean, I do, but not in theory. I ‘play’ everything in my studio as an instrument, even the mixing board. It becomes sort of like a planet. The studio becomes a living breathing entity almost

ABORT: I remember seeing a video of you mixing and just the way you look while doing what you do, it looks like you’re swimming in the music.

CI: Yeah, I definitely was. I am always. The mixing board just becomes my instrument, everything is pulsing, coming out, dynamics – soft loud, everything.

ABORT: Do you have a favorite piece of equipment that is now obsolete, but you still use (or would like to use) because nothing sounds better?

CI: Yeah, the Roland JV-2080 Voice Synthesizer. It was the successor to the very popular JV-1080. Which was the industry-standard studio expander of the ’90s.

ABORT: : What advice would your producer self say to your artist self? Vice versa?

CI: I would say what I have been saying to myself. Keep it sincere, keep it simple, keep it authentic.

ABORT: Same advice from artist to producer?

CI: Yeah. I would say don’t try to facilitate the need. Don’t try to overpower the music with your opinion. It’s a terrible thing to rob someone of their dream, and that’s what I do, I create the space for their dream to happen.
AM: Bringing it back to something you’re doing right now, you’re doing some work with a local Vancouver musician Jay-Kin and Japan Earthquake relief, as well as a show at Fortune Sound Club?

CI: I recorded a single last weekend. It is so beautiful. I’ll also be performing at the event. If you don’t give back, what’s the point? A lot of people will talk about it, post on twitter and raise awareness, but at the end of the day, what else are you doing? I just want to be one of those people who is always doing something, it’s important to me.

ABORT: What is on your iPod lately? Anything local, or any up and coming bands you want to promote?

CI: Locally, I listen to Sophia Denai, and since I am working with both her and Omar Khan, I take their music home with me, but I listen to Hot Hot Heat, some of their new stuff that no one outside the production have heard, they’re really good friends of mine. I listen to U-Tern – he’s a great producer. I also check out groups like the [Aaron Nazru and the] Boom Boom’s, they’re from around here, a little Vancouver thing that is not happening everywhere else. I love to take that in. Erica Dee is also a good friend of mine.

ABORT: Your recommendation for a ‘must have’ piece of technology for amateurs intent on making the most of their recording sessions?

CI: Definitely the latest version of Apple’s Logic Studio. (Logic Studio 9)

ABORT: What does NIMBUS (School of Recording Arts) mean for Vancouver?

CI: Nimbus to me is the future of music, period. The reason I say that, is because right now the music industry has kinda turned on its side, it’s like an open wound, and everyone is trying to get in there and infect it, get everything they can out of it and Nimbus is trying to nurture talent. They’re close with their students, and are really particular about who gets in there. Not only do they train, teach and nurture you, but when you leave, you don’t really leave, they give you a job.

Like if I wanted a marketing team, I can go to a marketing class there and they can help me put my record together and sell it. If I want an engineer, I can find someone there who is relevant. Its because they are lead by people who are relevant, Garth Richardson (interview in issue 9), Bob Ezrin, who have done everything from Pink Floyd to Rage Against the Machine and now I am teaching there as well. I don’t teach them stuff that I don’t know. I teach my experiences. Sometimes these other technical schools charge kids so much money to come out with nothing, and I want to be able to give kids something that they can use if they want to do music, and I sometimes wish I had that, I wish I had a mentor, someone like me. I know that sounds kinda egotistical, but I actually care about the betterment of the future of the music business, because it’s going to be dead otherwise.

ABORT: Do you have any active mentors right now?

CI: Oh yeah, Garth Richardson, Michael McCarty, the pastor at my church, Colin Griffith, the artists that I work with. Everyone I work with in some way or another. [local artist] Indigo is huge HUGE for me.

ABORT: Do you think it’s the responsibility of the artist and producer to get world events and disasters into the minds of the people who listen to their music?

CI: Only if they’re interested. It has got to come from a real place, but Yeah, I do. I just twittered this the other day, actually last night – “Our job is to inspire the world.” And as corny as that sounds, it is true. Any kind of artist, you provoke thought and emotion. I think K’naan does a wonderful job at it. So as long as it is real, and you’re not just trying to make money of it I think it is.

ABORT: Last question for today. What advice do you have for up and coming producers, mixers, and sound engineers trying to make it in this vicious game of rock and roll?

CI: Just stay focused. Don’t look to the past, look to the future.

ABORT: Thank you very much for your time Chin, congratulations again on the Grammy win.

chininjeti.wordpress.com

By FierceKitty

READ MORE BEHIND THE BOARDS INTERVIEWS IN OUR BACK ISSUES, INCLUDING, GGGarth Richardson, Stephen Marley, Mike Fraser, Devin Townsend, Buckshot, Ben Kaplan and more!

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