Respect the Producer Interview with Ed Talenti
How did you get your name?
My full name is Edoardo Talenti, shortened to Ed Talenti. It’s actually my name!
How did you get into Producing?
Producing is, funny enough, the newest of my musical interests. I started playing drums when I was around 12 years old. At 18 I moved to LA to attend the Drum Program at Musicians Institute and I graduated two years after that. For the following two or three years I was a full-time session drummer, and during that time is when I got into producing. I discovered artists like Flying Lotus, MNDSGN and all the electronic jazz hiphop guys from LA. From there I started messing with that stuff myself and feel in love with it. So long story short, it’s been about 3 years now.
What did you do to advance your skills/knowledge?
I spent a LOT of time in the studio. With all said and done I still think that there’s no better way to learn something than to just do it as much as you possibly can. I’m not really the sit down and study type of person, I like to get right into it and learn from my mistakes as I go. I always try to lead with my ideas and sort of “reproduce” them in the DAW. Whenever I hit a wall with something that I can’t do yet or I don’t know how to do, I hit up YouTube and learn that skill. This way I’m able to immediately apply what I learned and solidify it, rather than learning it out of context and never really using it.
What did your first set up look like?
Not that different than my current setup at its core. MacBook Pro, an Akai Mpk Mini and Ableton. I only mixed in headphones for the first while.
What does your current set up look like?
MacBook Pro, Akai Mpk Mini, a combination Launchpad Pro/Push 2, Ableton Live 10 and a pair of Samson ResolvA6 monitors. I still do a lot of mixing in headphones to be honest, I use the monitors as a reference point for the most part.
How did you get your Producer/Artist name?
Haha nothing too creative there! It’s just my actual name.
If you could produce for any artist (dead or alive), who would it be?
If we’re talking hip hop, Travis Scott or Post Malone. I’d give anything to be in a room with J Dilla or Flying Lotus though!
What is your goal when you create?
To make something that gives me that “bass face” for as long as humanly possible. Also, to make something that I can’t get out of my head when I walk out of the studio, that’s how you know it was a good track!
What's your go-to song right now?
I’ll give you three. Inter-Are by the Mark Guiliana Quartet, Sicko Mode by Travis Scott, Camelblues by MNDSGN.
What is your dream as a Producer?
Honestly, it's to make music for the rest of my life. The dream is to make really good money doing something that I’d be doing for free anyway. I’m addicted to the process of creating music and this profession allows me to do that all day, everyday. Overseeing a song from a blank Ableton session to a finalised track is something I love, and I wanna do as much of that as possible.
What is some advice you would give to someone with a dream to become a Producer?
Spend all your time in the studio. If you have a 9 to 5, get into the studio as soon as you get off work. Make tons of music and don’t be afraid to put it out there. There’s never gonna be a perfect moment when you feel you’re good enough, so right now is as good a time as any. Just make tons of music and put it out. If you wanna do it as a profession also make sure to study social media marketing and basic business management, it will go a really long way if you start seeing your producing as a business right away. Pretend you wanted to open a store in your town, what would you do? Market research, product development, advertising, business accounting… This is no different!
Where can people find you? (social media, website, etc)
Mainly three places.
Beats and services (mixing, 1on1 sessions, collabs) are all available through edtalenti.com.
Instagram is the social media I use the most, so if you wanna ask me something or hit me up, that’s the place to do that, instagram.com/edtalenti.
My Youtube channel is where I post beats, marketing and production tutorials and things like that, youtube.com/edtalenti.