Beat Maker, Mix & Master

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Yes! My girlfriend actually. She is a professional singer and she showed me SoundBetter a while ago. She's having a blast! Always admiring and commenting positively about the website, so I thought about giving it a shot! Check out her SoundBetter here: https://soundbetter.com/profiles/341086-ida-farkas

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: I have to say my album since I worked almost a year on it and the end result is heartwarming to me! I worked with many different customers and artists, but unfortunately, none of them actually sent me the end result and what they used my beats and music for.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: At the moment I work on my new album and it is my last year in high school, so graduation is close and I am preparing for Music University as well!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I would say analog! I just like to physically make sounds and music and it is a totally different feeling when seeing what you are doing in real life, rather than watching some emulated plug-in on the screen. But of course, I like digital too, since I do most of my music and job there, and it has it's positives as well!

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: I promise high-quality beats and songs, and I promise that everything that we discuss before ordering, will be delivered as we agreed.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: It is something that I gladly do. It was my dream to make producing a full-time job one day, and I believe SoundBetter helps to achieve my dream! I like making music and doing anything music-related, so to even earn money from it is just an awesome feeling for me overall.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: Are your beats exclusive? - Yes, I make a new beat for every customer. After that, I do not sell that beat to anyone else. Can you send me the stems for the beat that you produce for me? - Yes, but that will cost a little bit extra. What genres are you working in? - Trap, Hip-Hop, Lo-Fi, and EDM (mostly House, Dubstep, Hybrid Trap, Bass House, Techno, Analog House, Riddim) Can you include MIDI? - Yes, I can! Do you accept offers where you have to remix a song? - Yes. Do you accept offers where I give you a melody or a progression and you need to make a full song from that? - Yes, I like those offers because they really start grinding my gears and my inspiration! We can also discuss about prices and delivery time in private messages.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: Many times customers believe that I can make a whole song in a matter of minutes or hours. Yes, I can create a demo in a few hours, but I need at least 4-5 days, if not a week to produce a complete, fully mixed and mastered song or beat. Of course, there are times when I get to finish a beat in just 1-2 days, but most of the times I need around 1 week.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: - What is the type of the beat/song? - What is the tempo of the beat/song? - Any examples? - What is the topic/thought process behind it? - What is the goal/what do you want to achieve with the job I complete for you/what do you need it for?

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Reach out any time for anything really. We can more than likely work out some stuff! I am open to any kind of job-related offers that stay close to music, producing, etc.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: I think my Korg Volca gear! They are really small, and you can quickly sync them up and make some grooves! I would definitely play around with them until a rescue plane recognizes me!

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I started producing when I was 11. My dad got me a Novation Launchpad S for my 11th birthday because I always watched live performances with them! I was hooked immediately. Because of the Launchpad, I got a copy of Ableton as well for free so I started making music in it! I kept practicing making music every day, to this day! After that, I started uploading Launchpad covers to my YouTube channel and then my own songs. Today, I have more than 150K subscribers on YouTube, released my first album, and got more than 12K monthly listeners on Spotify.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: Skrillex, Virtual Riot, Pi'erre Bourne, Ronny J, Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Home, Barely Alive, Ramzoid, Aries, and Tisoki, just to name a few!

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Detailed, true-to-style, and knocking! Detailed, because I like to add many little different elements to my tracks, such as percussion sounds, textures, and many times I just record a loop with something that is near on my desk, process them and add that to the background. I always try to mix and master my beats very precisely, so every little element can be audible, but the main instruments and sounds do not lose their importance. True-to-style, because I tend to get many different orders in different genres. For example, if I get a request to make a Lo-Fi beat, I try to make the dustiest, most vintage sounding beat I can! I also try to implement authentic sounds and instruments that can be audible in those genres, but of course, I always try to add some colors and textures to my song and bring my own sounds and twist to them! Knocking, because I like my drums knocking! As I said, I think drums are really important in a track and I would say I spend most of my time programming drums and making them sound good.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: I would say, Skrillex! He is definitely a music pioneer. He also works with different genres every time and it shows how diverse his taste in music is. I do the same thing as well. I try mixing genres or try out completely different ones! That way you can get inspired too.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I only have one tip about music production that I always follow and that is: "do not play by the rules and have fun!". When I started out making music on a computer I started with recreating sounds and songs that I really liked. Eventually, I got to a level where I could produce my own songs and beats, but I quickly realised that something was missing. I always tried to follow the mainstream tips, workflows and all that, but in my honest opinion, the best songs are the ones which are unpredictable, fresh, and bring something different or unheard of to the table.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Trap, Hip-Hop, Lo-Fi, and EDM (mostly House, Dubstep, Hybrid Trap, Bass House, Techno, Analog House, Riddim)

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I would say I have 2 skills which I admire in myself. First, I can make really technical and detailed drums. I think drums are one of the main elements in a song. I myself am a drummer too, and my father is a professional drum teacher as well, so I know a few things about creating the fitting grooves in a certain song! Second, I can write down anything that gets into my head really fast. This one is great because many times I just think about a chord progression or melody and from that many more elements, melodies and grooves get into my head, which I can write down almost exactly as I thought about them, so I can create beats and song parts kinda fast and I am pleased with the results most of the times!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I would say I bring life and meaning to a song. My own songs and beats try to either tell a story or represent my mood, thoughts, or emotions. I often think about a certain topic and make a beat around that, based on what melodies get to my head from thinking about that topic. I have had clients who sent me a few songs, their names, and what they try to represent. They also sent me a small melody or drums. What I had to do is finish them and make a complete song out of them. Needless to say, my clients were over the top after hearing the results!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I usually start writing chords, arps, melodies, etc... after that I program some drums or play them live. In the next step, I add more and more smaller elements, effects, stuff like that. I also mix while I work on the beat/song. I work on the beat until I think it has everything. I usually listen to it throughout the day for 2-3 days and I know that it is done when I do not want to add anything else to it after 3 days of listening. The last step is properly mixing and mastering the track which I do myself too.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I own a high-end MacBook Pro 16", a pair of Mackie CR-X 5 Studio Monitors, Focusrite / Behringer soundcards, an Audio-Technica M50 for headphones, a few analog synths, and groove boxes, an Akai MPC Studio, and a Novation Launchpad S and Launckey Mini MK3! Basically, a wide range of equipment, really good for inspiration for any kind of genre.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Producing unique beats for customers based on their requests, mix, and master songs/beats, sound designing and programming drums.