After the recent GRAMMYs award ceremony, lots of talk has been centered around “Album of the Year” and “Record of the Year” and who should’ve won the big awards. Many gloss over the other 92 categories, however, that celebrate more than just the top radio hits of the year.
One category rarely covered on live television is “Producer of the Year”, which celebrates the top producers, not on how many hits they made, but on the technical and stylistic choices that make the backbone of our favorite hits. Despite not having tons of coverage, producing is a lot more common than people might think and is even represented in the Liberty community.
Sophomore Eyuael Dessie is more than just an average Liberty student; he’s an underground producer who sells his beats to artists.
“I charge $40 for a beat, but I started off charging $20. Since there are a lot of people that asked but didn’t pay for it, I upped the price,” Dessie said.
This unique hobby poses many questions to people who aren’t familiar with music, however. How does Dessie even create beats to sell? What made him want to start doing this?
“I’m not sure how I got into making music,” Dessie said. “I was on YouTube a couple years ago and was a huge fan of Playboi Carti. His music is very versatile even though normal rap music isn’t – it usually has the same repetitive loops and bass.”
Because of this, Dessie started to experiment with making beats and posting them to SoundCloud and other platforms. Currently, he uses FL Studio to create music for a variety of genres including R&B, rap, ambient beats, and jerk to name a few. Each genre requires a different approach when creating the beat.
“Usually I set my beat pace around 140 -130 for fast paced rap songs. Slower R&B or ambient beats are lower, around 105 or 90,” Dessie said.
Other components that go into making a beat is a clap, a hi-hat, and 808 – all common sounds used in songs. To find different noises, such as a creaking door or a loud bang, drum kits are used which hold tons of different noises to add to the back of songs.
“The recommendation I have for people that want to start producing is the Glumboy drum kit and the KYD and Cambria drum kits because they’re really nice and they’re full of various sounds,” Dessie said.Despite the passion and talent Dessie has for producing music, he only sees it as a hobby due to the bad stories he’s heard surrounding producers.
“Not many producers end up being successful. A producer I’m inspired by is Pi’erre Bourne,” Dessie said. “He has dealt with a lot of artists that don’t pay for studio time. They end up making money while he doesn’t have anything.”
Still, Dessie continues to make his beats and connect with people who are interested in his music. You can find him on Instagram @eyuaeldessie and on TikTok @prod.kashtag.
