In The Boardroom: Certified

What's music without the beat? You need a producer in the studio to make the song. Actually, a solid producer can stay in this industry longer than an artist. So I decided starting today and every Wednesday I'm going to go inside the musically intellectual mind of a solid producer.

The first producer I came across was thanks to DJ Beanz (DMV, the sexy voice that hosted SS6) First person she said was this man. Now I see why. He's a student of the game in front of the classroom, taking notes and using them to create success. He's basically what his name is: Certified.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Lets go in the Boardroom.

1. Introduce yourself to the world homie?

Whats Good DJ Benz??? I go by the name of Certified. I'm a producer/engineer for Fall Back Entertainment. I've been doing music now for 8 years, feels like I'm just getting started…

2. What made you decide to become a producer in this game?

When I first started really to make music, I started out as an engineer. Being in the studio with so many different types of artists with different sounds really inspired me to start composing music myself..when I felt I was ready, I started producing for artists who really needed beats, and liked what they heard.

3. In your bio, you stated you are also a songwriter. Talk about the importance of a producer to have knowledge in songwriting. This is how the right artist matches with the right track, right?

When you compose a beat, you should have an idea of who you're making it for, what type of beat it is (hip-hop,r&b,pop), and where the direction of the song is going to be. Nowadays record labels don't want to hear beats, they want to hear finished songs. Every producer should work together with a song-writer, and be willing to have different artists demo their tracks. You'd be surprised to find out how many industry musicians do not write their own lyrics, it was a shock to me to find out at least. I'm lucky to be surrounded by such talented song-writers. Neazee, my song-writing partner, has an incredible talent. Look out for him..

4. Who influenced you in Hip Hop?

Aw man, I can't list everyone. I will say this though, when I heard Big L's first album, I knew I had to do something in this music industry, that was the start of my obsession with this.

5. What you specifically learn in audio engineering in college? You went to Towson University.

Everything a good musician/audio engineer should know. I was blessed to have such talented teachers. I learned the craft primarily at my first internship. Mike Watert (Studio 8121 Chief Engineer), taught me 90% of what I know today. I used all my connections in school 100%… I advise anyone who wants to become an audio engineer or a producer to not take your opportunities lightly.. Do internships, extra credit..whatever. You should live in the studio. I know I do.

6. BKS & DJ ScotteeLP mentored you. How did they help you in your craft?

ScotteeLP was really the man who got me into making beats. I used to engineer for him back in school, he was sick with Reason, and a beast on the turn tables. We used to go record shopping and just sit in the studio all day and chop up samples. ScotteeLP's drum patterns and styles I still implement into my beats to this day.. I still have a drum kit he gave me from 2006 on my hard drive… I use it all the time. When I met BKS, thats when my production went to that second level. He really inspired me to start learning how to play the keyboard, and to get off sampling. I can't even begin to speak words on how talented of a music producer BKS is. All I'll say is this, we're great friends, and if you don't know about him, you will. Check him out http://www.myspace.com/bksyes

7. Talk to me about the DMV. This is your home court and you are involved with the sound of DC.

I can't say I'm heavily involved in the sound of DC. I'm from Maryland. DC is an amazing city, lot's of talent there. My sound is unique.. I can't compare it to anything I've heard in DC.

8. Who are your favorite artists out the DMV?

First on the list would have to be, Dealz, Codes, Brams, Blast, Bolds, Skeem…Other artists I'm feeling right now are WhiteFolkz, K-Beta, Midian &, Madom Madon. If you don't know who these artists are, get familiar.

9. What is Wale's perception in the DMV?

He's one of DMV's many talented MCs.

10. Talk about the Game 7 mixtape:

Game 7 was the first major downloadable release from our Fall Back Entertainment. We dropped that mixtape right after we dropped Codes album RUN DMV. A lot of people in the DMV don't really quite know Fall Back Ent yet, it's funny, I know you probably get flooded with e-mails from different artists asking you to play their music and tell them what you think, well one day DJ Beanz decided to give it a listen, and the feedback I got was "WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" lol. That said enough. We're working on a summer re-release of the mixtape.

11. Lately I've seen producers doing instrumental mixtapes. That's giving originals away. Is there any benefits to that?

It depends on what your trying to gain from doing that. I'd rather use 20 original beats for a mixtape than do an instrumental version, but thats just me. Like I said before, record labels don't want to hear beats anymore, they want to hear finished songs.




12. Describe your style, your beats.

I'm versatile. You have to be. I try to make every beat as best as it can be. A lot of producers are lazy, you gotta be on point with your production or you will never get noticed. It's all about the beat in this industry.

13. What you working with in the studio? like the board, drum machine, etc?

At my home studio for composing beats I use Pro Tools 8, Reason 3.0, & plenty of VSTs. When I record artists at the recording studio I normally use a Pro Tools rig, Its what I'm most comfortable with.

14. The one thing that motivates you:

I am motivated by other individuals, I feed off other people's energy. If your not grinding, don't bother me.

15. Your future goals:

Major record placements & success for everyone who I work with...

16. Contact info:

Gmail : CertifiedFBE@gmail.com
Twitter: @Certified_Music
myspace.com/certifiedmusicproducer
facebook.com/certifiedmusicproducer

Management: David Hamburg
Gmail: DwHamburg@gmail.com

17 Any shoutouts?

Special thanks to my DJ, DJ BEANZ!! Codes, Dealz, Blast, Brams.. Fall Back Entertainment! Let's Go!



Check out his beats people. Check out Certified sound!

Certified Beats-Hiphop snippets 2010