Check out and share our Alex Collins Interview. This interview is part of our new Producer & Engineer Q&A Series. In this interview series we feature exciting producers, mixing and mastering engineers from all walks of life. As always: Share & Support!
Please introduce yourself real quick. Tell our audience about your background and how you go into doing what you´re doing right now.
I'm Alex Collins, and I'm a 22 year old producer from Connecticut. I started playing guitar when I was 10 and started producing when I was 15. After being in a couple bands that came and went, I decided to stick with producing as my main focus and when I started college I also began throwing beats up on YouTube. Since then, I've caught the eye of a couple people in the industry and have a ton of really dope projects in the works. Unfortunately I don't have much control over releasing any of them, so in the meantime I'm dropping music on my YouTube channel (bit.ly/AlexCollinsBeats) and collaborating with as many dope producers and artists as I can before I make my industry debut.
Please tell our audience what projects have you been working on in the last years?
Even though my sound now is very commercial, The projects I've worked on in the past were mostly rap projects. Some of my biggest songs I produced over the past couple years were "No More" by Kevin Flum ft. Indy and "Lungs" by Justin Stone. The beat for "no more" actually went viral when Indy and Kevin spit a freestyle over it for the Clemson v Alabama championship game a couple years ago.
I got my start working with one of my good friends J.Gillie, who now goes by TENXXHOURS. We got at least 4 mixtapes/albums that I've produced, so if you are interested in hearing some of my early work, I would suggest looking there!
What are you currently working on? Do you accept clients and and what kind of projects/work fits your profile?
I got a bunch of projects in the works. I'm working with this group of two young spitters from Texas who go by MarshallChan, got some low-key demos with Xuitcasecity, and the last I heard I got more tracks with Kevin Flum on the way. As for personal projects, I'm working with an incredible singer/songwriter from Minnesota who goes by Sam Knight. I'm also working with female rapper Cashley from New York among others.
I am ALWAYS looking for new clients and artists to work with. If you're interested drop me an email at alexcollinsbusiness@gmail.com OR hit me up on any of my social media pages (@prodalexcollins on twitter and prod.alexcollins on IG)
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Are you a superfan of anyone? How did you become a superfan? Do you remember how you become a fan and what turned you into super fan? Have you ever thought about why you´re such a fan?
I am a total super fan of Blink 182 for sure. They were really the ones that got me into doing music in the first place. I actually met Travis Baker not too long ago! I've met a couple celebrities already and can usually act pretty cool around them but I was legit shaking when I met him.
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What was the biggest mistake you made when you started making music and what would be the number one tip you could give to a newcomer musician?
Biggest mistake was probably not solidifying an official collab with Logic before he blew up and went on the Grammys. Still have his contact and I'm sure I could still get in touch with him if need be.
Biggest tip – start releasing music as early as you can. Put out as much content as possible.
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How do you get gigs? Can you share any tips?
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Do you have good promotion tips for other musicians?
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Do you have insights on how to grow your audience on soundcloud that you want to share with our audience?
Collaborate with someone more popular than you. Really the best way to grow your audience until you can get on a blog yourself. Find a way slide into their DMs!
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What has been your biggest challenge right now? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
Figuring out how to be productive while waiting on other people to do their part. In the industry everything is decided by the label, which means everything takes time to get done. I want to be patient with them because they know what they're doing but I don't want to sit around and do nothing until they decide what to do with the music I'm sitting on.
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How do you personally discover new music?
Usually I discover new music from people hitting me up on Instagram wanting to show me stuff. Other than that, Spotify playlists.
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Once you discovered new music, do you tell others about the new music/artist you discovered? If yes, how exactly?
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What is your number one tip to improve your music production or songwriting skills?
Specifically practice mixing. People who are starting out really don't understand just how important proper mixing is. It's hard to learn but look up tutorials specifically on how to mix.
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What is your best tip for those who struggle with finishing their tracks?
Send it to another producer/artist to finish! Not only will you get a finished track but now you'll have a collaboration you can both promote.
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We meet again in one year. What has changed?
Hopefully I moved to New York City or Los Angeles.
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http://bit.ly/AlexCollinsBeats
http://www.soundcloud.com/alexmakesbeats
http://www.twitter.com/alexcollinsm
http://www.instagram.com/prod.alexcollins
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Enter your questions to the artist in the facebook comment section below.
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