Matthew Burnett

Tell us about yourself and how you got into music?

Music started for me before I was even born. While pregnant with me my mom was preparing for one of her piano exams. She told me that every time she would practice, I would start to kick and move around like clockwork; this is where it all began. Around age four, my parents put me in piano lessons which I continued right through until College. In addition to learning piano growing up, I became really interested in the drums, which as a result lead me to pursuing and attaining my Bachelors of Music degree from Humber College here in Toronto. Born to a Pastor, I grew up in the Church which was and still is a main contributor to my sound as a Producer. I started producing in my second year of High School and got into it pretty quickly due to the deep foundation I already had in music. I was and still am a lover of music first, producer second.

How did you start using FL Studio & what does it mean to your productions?

I was introduced to FL Studio by my friends and mentors Boi-1da and T-Minus. They helped speed up the learners curve of learning a new program and really helped me unlock the very things about the program I still love to this day. FL Studio is absolutely everything to my productions; as my main DAW, I start and execute all of my production in it. It allows for such an easy and efficient work flow which is beyond helpful when I’m in studio sessions creating on the spot. Most importantly, I can confidently say that FL Studio sounds like no other program out there and is the backbone to our highly acclaimed “Toronto Sound”.

What kept you a FL Studio user for so long?

One of the biggest selling points that has kept me in love with FL is the step sequencer. So many other DAW’s do not have that and it is so beneficial. Whenever I’m in studio sessions and need to get a quick groove going, it makes it so much faster to build and edit drum patterns with a few simple clicks. The ability to easily create and manipulate samples exactly to your liking is something else that I use and appreciate quite often. Not only does pitch shifting sound great in FL but the time stretching capabilities are very impressive as well. Lastly (and I could go on for a while), the piano roll editor is unprecedented in FL. I have seen and compared the piano roll editor to other DAW’s and from its layout to the quick edit commands, FL wins every single time.

Tell us about your production environment & toys?

My setup is pretty digital; I do a lot of my work “in the box” so to speak via VST’s and plug-ins. I work in a studio with a pair of HS-80’s and NS-10’s for speakers and an Audio Technica 4040 Cardioid Condenser for a mic. I use a combination of RME’s Fireface UC and Babyface Pro for audio interfaces as well as a combination of M-Audio’s Axiom Pro61 and CME’s X25 for midi controllers. I am a proud owner and lover of Moog’s Sub37 and am in the process of collecting a number of other analog synthesizers as well.

Do you have any links you would like to share?

Website – www.producermatthewburnett.com

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Burnett


Matt