3. Innovating Music Production w/Early Bird

This episode features Early Bird, an electronic music producer who shares how overcoming injury shaped her creative process and unique sound. 

She discusses her new EP "Soft Colors," her approach to sound design, and her work supporting fellow independent artists. Tune in for an inspiring story of resilience and innovation in music. 

Transcript

Hey, Music Executives Cinnamon Denise here and today we have an amazing guest. Early bird and the music that you're hearing is by early bird called Obra Noir Early bird. What is the last thing you ate? And did I, or did I not butcher the name of that song?

No, you did. You did. Well, we practiced well, it's actually French.

It's. Okay. It's French for dark shadow. Ah. Ah. The last thing I ate actually stood right next to me. I was having a clementine.

Ooh, love those. And you're in Valencia, right?

The land of Clementine.

So it's really, so I know it's really good. It is. I remember walking down the streets and like pulling them out the trees and being like, oh, so good y'all.

We have Early Bird today and Early Bird is an amazing electronic music producer who kinda has a really unique sound. Um, she morphs and kind of shifts. Really organic sound. She makes her own sounds. And the thing about Early Bird is that there's interesting name there. So can you tell us about the name Early Bird?

It's a very, very long story, but I'll make it as short as possible. Early bird derived from a lifestyle I had to adapt because of an injury I got. So I got. Chronic tendonitis in both hands. And that is one of the reasons I wear a thumb guard all the time. Uh, when you see me perform or if you see me on Instagram, I had to readapt and shift my lifestyle in order to understand what my body can do and can't do, and I had to stay very healthy and fit.

So, uh, I also wanted to pursue music, so I had to start waking up around 4:35 AM every day. Read about music, read about production because I was a musician before becoming a producer. I learned music tech through the early mornings at Dawn, and then I'd go work out before I had to work. And when I started producing more and really got into it, I started posting on Instagram a little bit more of what I'm doing at 4:30 AM and hashtag it early bird.

So when the time release, my first single at the time, which. I was like, I don't wanna use my actual name. It just doesn't fit the mold. And I started just thinking and talking to myself like, who are you? What do you do? What do you stand for? And I kept saying that hashtag early bird. And I was like, I am an early bird, aren't I?

And it's just like, it just like happened very organically. And then I asked my dad to call me early Bird to see if like I resonate with it. And he was like, Hey, early bird. I was like, yep. Okay, we got it.

Gotcha. Okay. So I'm actually curious personally, what, what are you doing to kind of minimize the symptoms of chronic tendonitis as far as waking up early and being fit?

So the first four years I was deprived of music. I was seeing a lot of physiotherapists, a lot of doctors. I was basically told to give up music and my career and my other career, which I was working on, which was I was a graphic designer. I was told to just get a regular nine to five job. You can't do anything else.

Instead, I opted for. Better physiotherapist. We worked on different exercises, reflexology, and then I discovered this shot called PRP, that I got two of them in one hand because I completely lost mobility of my thumb, and it's something where they take your blood out, they do something to it. I really don't know the key terms in English.

And then they re-inject you with your cells and it regenerates your cells and helps your muscle and inflammation heal again. My problem is with the joints so they don't heal, they're broken, but it helped, it did something where now I can use my hands again and I can produce, but, but yeah, I, I'm trying to take care of myself a lot so I know where.

My physical limitation is, and what I can do and what I can't do, and I have to respect that or else it's back to square zero.

Got you. Okay. Well, I'm glad that you have mobility in your hands again. I'm glad, I'm glad to see you in the video moving your, moving your fingers. So that's

Yes, fingers

right, it's spirit fingers.

So that's, that's good. So tell us more about Early Bird and what projects you're working on right now.

So currently I just released my ep, uh, soft colors. A few last month actually, or yeah, a month ago, and I've been working on that. Now we're in post promotion. If what, if that's what you call it. I. I The date now?

Yeah.

February 9th. Today. So 2020

ninth. Releasing a video clip on. It's just called, uh, for, so that's coming out. And after that I have a remix happening with an artist called Michael Shanks. He plays like rock music, and he asked me to remix one of his songs. So that's happening. And then I'm working on a collaboration that's yet to be confirmed, so I can't tell you about it.

So like it's not concrete yet, but for sure from now until the end of the year, you will be seeing me and hearing me a lot. And I've started kind of like a side project right now where I wanna help independent artists since I'm one of them a little bit, like a step further of independent artist career or path.

And I've been just like getting a lot of requests from other artists, like, what are you doing? How do you do this? How do you do that? So. I'm kind of consulting and helping independent artists manage their work because there's a lot to be done. So I am working with them in order to tell them what are the expectations and what stage they are and how to get to the next stage.

And we just like go back and forth and consult with each other and yeah, that's what I've been up to.

Okay, cool. Well, y'all, she kind of brushed over soft colors. Soft colors is an amazing ep. First and foremost, let's just make that very clear. That was actually how I found you, and I was like, okay,

I'm not brushing it off.

It's my labor of love. Okay. It's my little baby. I love soft colors.

Okay, good. I'm sorry it came out that way.

Just making sure. I'm like, wait a minute now this is, I mean, that's why I was like, oh my gosh, I have to get this woman on the show. The thing about it is you can tell that there's a lot of curiosity in your production.

There's a lot of just experiments with your production, and you can tell, but it all ties in very nicely. So how do you stay curious in your production?

So I get bored very easily, like in a second. If I know how to do one thing, I'm like, that's it. I'm done. So I have to find something that's harder. I love sound designing, designing sound, and discovering different ways to get a sound right.

Just intrigues my brain. So for me, if you tell me you want a guitar, be sure I'm not getting a guitar. I am getting maybe rocks and a synth, and then recording around Valencia trying to reproduce a guitar and then. You like, Hey, we made this awesome song that no one has. It just took me five days instead of just recording a guitar.

I'm like, we get it.

Yeah. But it makes a big difference in the color palette of the final production. Yeah. You know? So even though we may not know that it took you five days to get one sound out of the many in your ep, it's very cool that you're taking that approach and that ownership with your ep.

I like when sounds, I, I feel like sounds are exactly like colors, but you hear them, you can't see them.

And what I try to produce is I wanna make them feel like as homogeneous and blended together as possible. Like it's a sound palette and every song has its own sound palette. I meticulously choose. Every sound in the song, nothing is just like black there. No, it's, I go through a thousand kicks before I'm like.

This is the kick I'll choose, or like, I really like when sounds blend together like colors and you can actually feel the colors. So like when, when you listen to home for example, you feel that grassiness, you feel that nature sound of it. When you listen to, just remember you see the birds, you hear the ocean, you feel.

You can see where you are and what's happening, and that's exactly what I try to reproduce. I have a visual or an emotion in mind, and then I try to sonically reproduce it.

Got you. Got you. So what steps are you taking when you're out in the field recording? What are you using? What's your mindset when you go out recording?

I never go out recording. Oh, okay.

Ever. Okay, gotcha.

As I'm walking and I hear something, I'm like, Ooh, I like this. And it's my iPhone. Okay. And I just hit on the voice recorder. I grab it and I. And that's how I make most of my music using my iPhone.

Very nice. Well, yeah, you heard it here, y'all, you don't need to buy that exclusive piece of equipment.

Even, even though an iPhone is an expensive piece of equipment though. It's But you more equipment, right? That's what I'm saying.

Go ahead. I mean, like, if you see what I work with, uh, I wish I could show them my room. Tell us about it. Tell us

about it.

It's. There's a sound card, a guitar, two microphones, and a mini controller.

That's it. That's all I use. And in my house in Lebanon, that's where I've normally produced my whole entire life. It has more instruments because that's where I grew up. And I invested in myself and as a drum set a ukulele. Okay. Seven guitars. I was.

And also like a mic. A mic stand, and, and a sound guard and a video controller. That's it.

Okay. Gotcha. Very nice. Well, this has been fun. Is there anything else you want to share with the audience? I don't know.

What do I wanna share with the audience? Well, where can they

follow you?

Oh, that's a good thing.

It's a podcast and they can't see stuff. I'm not used to that yet. Well, they can follow me on Instagram, on Facebook, on Spotify. Subscribe to YouTube, buy on Bandcamp. I'm on Apple Music and always feel free to reach out. I always answer back. And yeah, I'm everywhere you want me to be and I like interacting with people and saying good mornings.

So say good morning to me.

Aw, that's good. Early bird, this has been so fun and thank you so much for responding to me. So, so glad you're on the Music Executive podcast and we look forward to having you again, hopefully, and just staying connected. So music executives. That's it for this episode. Thank you so much and y'all have a great morning.

Don't forget to leave a rating of the show. Helps to make us better. Thanks so much y'all. Take care.