MSTREX

Origin: None

MSTREX is not a n00b when it comes to the world of music. He started his hit career with the #1 songs in Northern California, “Go Dumb” in 2005 and “U C It” in 2006. Now pursuing his passion in the House genre, MSTREX released his original song “Living 4 the Moment” and his profound hit “Dance I Said (G.L.F.P.)” in late 2011, still climbing the charts today. With paramount melodies combined with his own high-energy productions MSTREX is bringing a demanding new sound to the scenes. His musical influences are the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince, Coldplay, Radiohead, Nirvana, and that of Kraftwerk. Although just making his presence known to the scene, MSTREX has already been honored in support by the likes of Laidback Luke, R3hab, and Sidney Samson.

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I come from a deep lineage of composers and musicians. My great grandfather was a classically trained jazz guitarist, if that makes any sense. He taught at Mel Bay Studios in St. Louis where most of my family is from. Although my time with him on earth was very limited, he did take the time to train my uncles musically. That is basically how I got exposed to creating music. One of my uncles, Reggie Smith, had a successful recording studio in the late ’80s and throughout the ’90s and my other uncle, “Race” Smith, was the tracking engineer and bassist there. I picked up as many skills as I could as a child amongst so much talent. My older cousin Vernon “Ice: Black” was a session guitar player in the Bay Area then landed a huge gig touring with Mariah Carey in the ’90s. He currently tours with Booker Tee. At Aptos middle school in San Francisco, I was the bassist in the jazz band. I also played drums. I played in the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival and our band won three years in a row. Per my jazz band instructor’s suggestion, I then went to attend Philip and Sala Burton Academic High where I was the bassist for the “Touch of Class Choir” headed by Gregory Cole. There we played many corporate events for companies like Bank of America, Genentech, and the Golden State Warriors to name a few. I even got to sing in the Sydney Opera House with “Touch of Class.” After high school I went to San Francisco State University and majored in the BECA program (Broadcasting, Engineering, Arts and Science), which is where it all gets crazy… In 2000 my childhood friend inked the title track for N-Sync “Celebrity” then after visiting my aunt in LA he asked me to help him put together a recording studio and if I could be the engineer. At the time I declined. Not because I didn’t want the gig but because I had just become the head engineer for 55 entertainment/SongWorld. It was a small boutique label funded by former New England Patriots defensive end, Willie McGuinest. Through them I worked with many of the Interscope records producer and writing staff. I engineered demos, or soon-to-be hits, as I like to say. For three year I recorded, arranged and mixed those soon-to-be hits for Interscope records and gained much insight into how records were being formed. Then the same childhood friend called me up two years later to run his studio for his new publishing company at Famous Music, since he had heard good things about my work at Interscope. We then entered a situation with J Records headed by Clive Davis. That led to me converting from recording engineer to record producer. He told me engineers make the best producers. I laughed. A part of me knew this was true. In the late ’90s I saw David Fraser who was Narada Michale Walden’s engineer at the time help him craft the hits sonically like Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” and Mariah Carey’s “Vision Of Love.” Of course all of that great songwriting came ahead of time but sonically I knew recording and mixing engineers play a greater role in the music industry than often gets noted. That situation with my childhood friend granted me more wisdom than anything I could have ever imagined. I got to work alongside the most elite songwriters and producers in the industry. But with time comes change and musically I started to shift while my views of where I was and where I wanted to be started to affect me in a very positive way. I started to see myself as a business, I saw myself as an entity. I also saw myself as a visionary as I could see records sales slipping in a new digital era. I wanted to be on the other end of this new emerging market. I didn’t know it at the time but I knew it was going to be a digital frontier. I then immediately started my publishing company and started out licensing songs for film and TV. I started producing more pop and dance music because commercially it was viable for the submission process. It was a slow process in the beginning but it has over time become something that I gain great satisfaction in. It’s nothing like turning on the TV late night and hearing one of your songs on a commercial or reality show. It’s hilarious to me. At a fashion show in SF I bumped into Saint John Radio personality and resident DJ on House Nation 99.7 CBS, and played him my electro house indie album I released for the fashion designers and fashion houses. Long story but I know a few famous clothing designers who expressed interest in my album and asked if I could produce more for future fashion shows. Saint John then asked me to give him a copy of my album. Then he aired three songs from my album. I started DJing in his promotions crew and that was crazy. I performed all over San Francisco. I got to meet guys like Laidback Luke, R3hab, Sidney Samson and 12th Planet. At one of my DJ performances a fan mentioned the Discovery Project. She said enter this and you will win. Now I have epic memories and great friends tied to Insomniac events and EDC.

 

Interview

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Home Town: San Francisco, CA
Currently Living: Sherman Oaks, CA
Origin Of Name: M.S.T.R.EX (Making Strides To Reach Excellence)
Weapon of Choice: My ears are my most powerful tool. But I know what you really mean…plugins, huh? Well these days I’m into Sylenth, Gladiator and Massive, of course. The rest would be all analog synths. Not to mention, I build my own oscillators.
Source of Power: My vinyl collection! Everything from Burt Bacharach and Steely Dan to KRS One and Kanye West. My aunt was the former VP of SONY Records/MCA and I scoured her vinyl locker years ago. I think the year was 2000 to be exact. I don’t really sample, I just listen to it from a historical point. I guess you could say I’m a music historian in the works.

Was there one particular moment in the recording or mixing process for your Discovery Project entry that made you feel like you were creating something pretty damn special?
When I heard Eva Simons’ vocals I knew whatever I did would be pretty damn sweet.

Are there any dots to connect with where/how you grew up to your musical output?
My family! I always say if my family were doctors I’d be a doctor right now talking to you about the future of medicine, my theories and my practice. But like I said in the beginning, I come from a deep lineage of composers and musicians.

What do your parents think of what you are doing?
My family loves it! My middle initials are F.M. My mom said, “I’m wired for sound.”

What’s the strangest part of your job?
Doing everything myself. I mean everything from producing, managing, accounting, marketing, designing, the whole works. That’s what it takes now days.

Tell me about your most memorable night out.
Onstage at LovEvolution 2011 with Laidback Luke. I watched him perform his ass off that night. Major props to my homie Luke.

Do you have any memorable moments from past EDC’s or any other Insomniac party?
After my set at Nocturnal wonderland 2012 Fedde Le Grand, Morgan Page and I had a nice little chat backstage about edits. Clockwork is the homie too. I met him and his team at Beyond Wonderland 2012. They’ve got some good shit coming outta his studio. I love his tracks and I dig their marketing tactics.

How does what you do for a living affect you on a day-to-day basis?
This is what I do. Making music that is. It’s all I know how to do. I don’t know much about cars, I don’t know sports and I’m not a math whiz. Songwriting is something that I look at and it just makes sense to me. Years of doing it helps! But the truth is that the reason you do it for years is because it’s what you do. Music is the only thing I have that kind of shorthand on.

What is your ultimate career dream?
I’m still working on the “Worlds Greatest Song Ever.” Check back with me in 20 years and I’ll probably just be finishing the first mix pass.

Are you impulsive with your work or do you have a sketch in mind before you start?
I’ve done so many tracks in many different genres in my career. I kind of just sit down at the piano, and start writing, playing around with different chords and inversions. Then the songwriting place happens next. That’s a very sacred place!

How, if at all, does listening to music figure into your creative process?
After listening to Taylor Swift’s new album I wanted to get that vocal sound they achieved on that album. I love the space in her vocals. I liked the way they recorded and mixed her.

What’s the most important piece of gear in your studio?
My ears. My Dictaphone.

How important is it for you to experiment and take on the risk of failure?
Oh wow, great question. Whatever it is you have to be yourself. No better yet, you have to be honest in all of this. Don’t pretend to be something else. Don’t look at what’s out there and say, “Great, I’m going to be the next Lady Gaga man, that’ll work.” Lady Gaga is Lady Gaga. It’s a very competitive business. The only chance any artist has is to play to their strengths. If you don’t play to your strengths then you haven’t got a prayer.

Do you have a list of people you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
Not anyone in particular. Collaborations happen when you meet people and you actually happen to share the same similarities in some sort of fashion or another. You can’t just say, “Oh I wanna work with Tiesto.” What if the both of you don’t click musically?

As nice of a guy as Tiesto is, we may not musically be headed in the same direction. Even ethics and morals can come into play. I think that is important for up-and-coming producers to realize. You cannot manufacture great talent and great recordings. I can always tell when I hear such and such just went into the studio to record the next so-called banger just because they recently met backstage at a show. Sometimes it works. Often times not.

If we pressed Shuffle on your iPod while you went to the bathroom, what would you be embarrassed to come back to us listening to?
Never really embarrassed by the music that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. You’d probably hear a bit of Frank Zappa and crack up seeing him on my playlist.

What sound or noise do you love?
Quiet. Would you believe me if I told you that as a songwriter/producer/artist we need to enjoy the sound of silence!

What should everyone just shut the fuck up about?
One word: Hating.

What gets you excited when you think about the future of electronic music and club culture?
Electronic music is the sound of the future and our culture. Look at how we’ve been raised to embrace technology as a society. If you time traveled to the past, let’s say 100 years ago, and played the people a dubstep wobble on a sound system as huge as something you’d find at EDC, you could’ve probably taken over the world. There is a lot of power in electronic dance music and the merger of technology. I told you guys in the beginning of this interview that I build my own oscillators. Some of the same technology employed in synthesis is also found in military…did I lose you on that one?

When you look at electronic music and the surrounding culture, what worries you about the future?
The repetitiveness of it all. The tracks, the fads, it all needs to be a lot more diverse. I mean look around. All of the tracks sound the same and all the DJs look the same. This needs to change.

What are your weaknesses?
The uncanny ability to say whatever’s on my mind, if I feel strongly about it—even if it doesn’t gain popularity.

Do you have a secret passion?
Yes. Urban gardening.

How would you describe your sound to a deaf person?
I would describe it as the soundtrack of one man’s life aided by frequency, mathematics and tones.

Is success physical or internal?
Success means whatever success means to you. I know what it means to me. You have to decide what it is and what levels you are trying to reach within yourself. It’s totally different for everybody.

What do you remember about your first DJ gig?
I ejected a CD from the previous DJ on accident. He had another record playing in sync on the other deck so he wasn’t too fazed. Shout out to Andy P from the Bay Area!

What’s the hardest professional lesson you’ve learned thus far?
Do as much as you can yourself. Try not to get too many people in the way or your “artistism,” if that is a word! I’m trademarking now so don’t you get any ideas.

Do you have a favorite all-time mixed CD or series?
Still loving Dirty South’s Cream Ibiza.

What advice would you offer someone thinking about entering the Discovery Project competition?
Go for it. If you feel you have what it takes then by all means express yourself and your talent. You know what good music sounds like. We all, as children, have been exposed to a vast amount of great songs, some rubbish, but the great ones are the ones we have to try to live up to. Do your best to live up to that high expectation…then bring it to the Discovery Project!

Winning Track

 

 

Winning Mix

 

 

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