Arts in Snellville - Music Production Highlights

Welcome back to Arts in Snellville.  We are Lonnie and Alisa Boykin and are excited about sharing with you news and events about youth in the arts.  Today we are interviewing Adrian Lumpkins aka AJ or known musically as “Adrian the Great”.  This young genius is the next hottest music producer in Atlanta, right out of the heart of Snellville.  Adrian is the music engineer at Time2Inspire School of Arts and teaches youth how to achieve the artistry of Music Production and Piano. 

Lonnie:  Adrian is an energetic and motivated young man.  He has a big heart for people and is a leader to his peers.  When I first met AJ, it was a referral through a phone conversation.  My wife and I were told that he could actually originate a song we were working on.  At the time he was in Florida and we just relayed that we wanted to remake a classic with today’s sound.  Within a day, AJ sent back the music with the sound we were looking for.  We knew then that this guy was the one.  Even today, whatever we ask him to do, he will not only deliver, but will give you what you want and more than you can imagine.  

Alisa:  I sat down with AJ and interviewed him for Arts in Snellville.  Lonnie and I felt that it was time to share with others the mastermind behind our recording and sound studio located at Time2Inspire School of Arts in Snellville. 

Lonnie:  In the studio, Alisa, along with our house photographer, Jack Chapman and hip hop dancer Javi sat with AJ and talked about the magic behind music production. 

Alisa:  As I sit here, and look around the four walls of the studio painted in lime green and royal blue, I see AJ the Great, as a reflection of the youthful colors that illuminate the walls.  The sound board and 46 inch wide video screen present images of a computer age that has advanced music phenomenally.  Now I ask the question, where did you get the name Adrian the Great?
AJ:  It was an exercise that we were doing in my music production class, when I was asked how I would define myself.  I actually thought of it as a joke, but everyone thought it was cool and fitting because of the name fits my music.

Alisa:  Tell us about your passion for music?
AJ:  Music is my getaway.  No matter what is going on in my life, when I do music I am good for the rest of the day. It’s fun and never gets boring and the sound is always changing;  it’s always something different and you never get the exact same duplication of a sound depending on the producer.

Alisa:  I think it is important to reinvent yourself, so that you can offer your audience something different once you have made a hit.  Why do you think it is hard for some artists to reinvent themselves?
AJ:  I think it is complacency; they can get complacent with where they are.  They sell a certain amount of records during one time and create a safe zone and don’t grow as an artist because they think their fans won’t understand what they did or the new sound that they are moving towards and you end up with 3 or 4 albums that sound the same.

Alisa:  How would you get an artist out of the box? How would you tell them to reinvent themselves?
AJ:  I would tell them to always know your past in order to be part of the present and future.  Study the greats before them and that have done several successful albums. Even rappers like Jay Z, is on his twelfth album and it did as well as the others and went platinum because he was always able to grow with the times and always kept true to his self as an artist.  As long as you do what comes easy and natural and not try to force something, your fans will always be true to you.

Alisa:  Do you think it is hard for artists to find their inspiration? How can you help tell someone how to get that inspiration?
AJ:  If you keep pulling from the well of your creativity then you will be refreshed.  I love being in the studio all the time, but sometimes I have to get out and go bowling or to the movies to refresh myself and give myself a outlet to see something that will spark my creativity. This is great for me because I may see something at the movies or the bowling alley to give me that spark of creativity.

Alisa:  I know what you mean, I sometimes have to get away and travel to a place where I can draw inspiration from because this is all I do every day so I have to reinvent my ideas for the school of arts and my plays.  Now tell me who do you admire in the business?
AJ:  Quite a few people, but if I had to narrow it down, I would say a guy named Brian Michael Cox.  He did two music halls of fame. I found out about him when I was in high school when my teacher asked my class to go home and find our favorite producer by listening to our iPod and write down our favorite songs that we always listen to and you will find the producer to that.  The funny thing is that I picked out twelve songs and found out that he produced ten of them.  He is piano based like me so most of his songs have piano melodies. 

Although I challenge myself to grow out to different styles, I still love the piano sounds.  The others are Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; they have done things from Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” to Usher’s new album.  They still make great music, started as teenagers and now in their fifties still making music that is relevant. They seemed to be ahead of their time and inspire me to know that there is longevity when you stick to it. 

Alisa: So what is your signature sound?
AJ:  I would say R&B is my specialty as far as making custom songs.  I think R&B songs take a little more instrumentation than Hip Hop or Pop, because you have to build on the music. However, I can work with any sound.

Alisa:  As an engineer in our music department, what do you want students to take with them?
AJ:  I want to see them grow to understand that there are more career options in this business and know that there are a lot more musicians than what you see on television. A lot of youth will say Beyonce is their favorite singer, but I tell them her last album took over 40 producers to put that album together.  It is nice to dream of being that big star but there are other ways to get to stardom. Artists like Neo and Keri Hilson wrote for years before they did their own music.  That is why I have my students read books from the albums to find out about the people who write to see different lanes such as film scoring and commercial jingles for career choices. 

Alisa: What is the problem with youth and music culture?
AJ:  There are not enough art programs other than what they hear over the radio.  This past summer at Time2Inspire, I was able to expose children to older styles of music and they enjoyed it.  It was good to see them like some of the classics that originated the sounds that they hear today.  If youth were able to hear jazz and different types of music on a regular basis, it would broaden them and inspire more creativity.

Alisa:  Well it was great talking to you AJ.  We are so excited about you being a part of our team and look forward to the wonderful music that we are going to produce together.

Lonnie:  Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen. We have the very best of what music instruction has to offer and youth can gain all the knowledge they need to produce great-sounding recordings of their music. With hands-on lessons and projects, youth will master concepts like digitization, signal flow, multi-tracking, equalization, signal processing, MIDI, and everything they need to turn their PC/Mac into a virtual multi-track studio.

The sessions include the following:

• Music Production Process
• Music Theory
• Creating Musical Ideas
• Listening and Analysis
• Recording
• Editing
• Mixing
• Mastering

Join us at Time2Inspire School of Arts, where the music never stops.