Skimmy
|
Skimmy American producer and songwriter Jordan Suecof, aka Skimmy (fka Infinity), has an incredibly wide variety of credits and accolades to his name. He’s worked with everyone from Mary J. Blige, to Avicii, to 30 Seconds to Mars, and more, and boasts impressive longevity, maintaining a robust career for two decades now. Formerly in a production duo with fellow FL Studio Power User Camper, Skimmy has seemingly done and seen it all, all while using FL Studio as his DAW of choice. We recently took the time to get an update on what is new since the last time we spoke, and enjoyed catching up with this prolific Power User. Read on! Avicii – The Nights (co-written by Skimmy) Tell us about yourself and how you got into music. I started playing drums at 4 years old, learning from my dad. My brother was a guitarist so as we got older, we started a death metal band together which we were in until 2002. All throughout that time, I was listening to all types of genres from classic rock to rap to metal. When I graduated high school, I moved to Florida with my brother who had a full blown recording studio — I took a Roland XP-80 that was laying around and started making beats with it. How did you start using FL Studio & what does it mean to your productions? Believe it or not, I started on FL Studio 3 (sheesh haha) — I was purely clicking on everything before I even found out what MIDI was. FL Studio is integral in my production. Tell us about your work and some of the artists you have worked with. My first major placement was “Take Me As I Am” by Mary J. Blige. After that, I worked with Lupe Fiasco, Ciara, Ludacris, Melanie Fiona, and Tank. Then came my work on Avicii’s “The Nights” in 2014 as well as work with a bunch of dope independent artists like XuitcaseCity and Call Me Karizma. Right around that time, I also got to work with Jared Leto & 30 Seconds to Mars, Illenium, Rita Ora, Cousin Stizz, Yung Manny, and my most recent song is a joint I co-produced with my guy YoungFyre for Flo Milli called “BGC”. |
Mary J. Blige – Take Me As I Am (prod. by Skimmy) Tell us about your production environment and the gear you use. At the current moment, I work from home as well as my friend’s studio OmniStudios. Over at Omni there are Genelec 8341’s and Genelec 1037b’s with an Apollo X4, TUBE-TECH CL 1B, and a Sony C-800G microphone. My preferred set of speakers are a custom built pair called the Helios CM which rival any major high end pro monitor brand for a third of the price. They have an 8″ woofer with a 10″ passive radiator on the side, sort of like the Barefoots but not as overhyped! And my secondary set are the Kali Audio IN-5’s and these for whatever reason sound incredible, especially for the $750 price point. I’m using a Golden Age Pre-73 MKIII and a Neumann TLM 102 for vocals. My interface is just a UAD Apollo Twin Quad, with an Audient Nero monitor. For MIDI, I’m using a 61-key M-Audio keyboard, and I just picked up a vintage Juno-106, since I really wanted to get back into hardware synths again.
Skimmy’s Production Setup What is your top FL Studio tip for up-and-coming producers? If you are trying to land placements for artists, don’t make beats to impress your friends (they aren’t streaming or buying your stuff) & don’t chase trends. If it’s dope, they are gonna love it anyways. Create for the artist, create from feeling, and do what your gut says to do. If you try too hard, people will know it isn’t authentic. If you are a DJ/Producer, for whatever reason, it’s completely the opposite haha — in that case, go crazy. Is there anything else you would like to tell us? I’m also an A&R for Audeobox — we basically gamified beat battles — 1 vs. 1 anytime, anywhere — it’s insane. We just launched at NAMM this year and it’s been going crazy. So if you are a nerd like myself who is a gamer too, all you up & coming producers, come through and jump on in. It’s crazy addicting and helpful no matter what level you are at. Skimmy Links: |
