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His real name is Durojaiye Ayokunle David. But he is popularly known as David Kenny. He is a Lagos-based music producer, sound engineer and a songwriter based in Lagos.\u00a0 He\u2019s the pioneer of Conscious Music Production. He attended Middlesex University and completed an approved course at Tenstrings Music School, Lagos (SAE). <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He has an Audio Technology & Music Production degree, and has been in the music industry for 8 years. It\u2019s easy for people to realize that music isn\u2019t a pure science when it comes to creation,\u201d he says. \u201cSongs are deciphered by their potential to make us \u2018feel\u2019 those feelings, while styles reflect various moods. If music is art, production offers the canvas.\u201d <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He talks about how he became a music producer, how he practices music production, what music industry entails in Nigeria, and his thoughts on collaborating with musicians in this interview with City People’s TOBI OGUNDEJI.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell us the story of how you got into music production<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2012, I played drums at a service. I encountered one of\nthe gospel players \u2018Eben\u2019, who played the piano as I played the drums. He saw\nhow much I was interested with music because I was always the guy who would\nsuggest let\u2019s not use this melody for this album, let\u2019s use the other one, I\nalways had something to suggest or add to music so he approached me and said to\nme, \u201cAll these skills you possess are qualities of a music maker. Why don\u2019t you\nget a computer workstation or program on your laptop and see how you can make\nmusic? So he gave me all the software tools I needed to kick off and this was\nhow the journey began\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What can you say about the music industry?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The industry is growing but because of the A-list stars we have, a lot of people think the industry has really expanded. However, if you\u2019re investing enough time, while we have a lot of great artists like Wizkid, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Burna boy and others, we don\u2019t have a well-structured industry, since many of these A-list artists have had to sign some kind of publishing deals and recording deals with some foreign labels that can give them any leverage they need in the internship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, there are some mechanisms that are not in place in the Nigerian music industry that refuse a music producer returns on his work that is not supposed to be if we had a properly run and supervised process but most foreign companies have that in order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The structure remains missing in the music industry in Nigeria. Even though we have large corners, we don\u2019t really have a huge industry, but like I said its growing and we should have a big industry that we can all be proud of in a short time from now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a Music creator, what challenges do you face with artistes?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the time, many artists come into the studio very blank, especially the upcoming ones, with no idea what to do in the studios. As music producers, it is our duty to inspire them with good beats to help them get into some work-friendly mood because music is a very emotional affair but the challenges set in because many artists don\u2019t really understand a music producer\u2019s work so they don\u2019t know how to appreciate it properly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of them offer a very ridiculous amount for standard jobs.Many of them are eager to jump into the studio to record, but fail to exert the same energy when it\u2019s time to pay so a lot of music producer ensures that legal terms are in check that will protect a music producer\u2019s interests and rights, but the bigger the brand, the less problems you \u2018d have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another challenge is a lot of very mediocre artists don\u2019t come with their A-game. Most of them rely solely on studio works, they just want you to make a perfect beat and just want you to make it sound good when you hear their vocals, whether good or bad. They don\u2019t care how you do it and the mediocrity can be sensed right through the music in some way and you\u2019ll definitely be able to tell the difference between a well-planned out song and the flimsy one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n How can an artist really break into the industry in a world where we have a whole lot of artists everywhere?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n No, there\u2019s no solution to this because to be very honest, there\u2019s no promise that in two years of being in the industry, you\u2019ll get a hit song, win a few awards, start to go on tours, sell out a million albums and it\u2019s the frightening part of what we\u2019re doing and that\u2019s also the awesome part of it because any actual artist and singer or song producer is a dreamer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a dreamer\u2019s commodity of any achievement out there. As doubtful as many practitioners feel about the industry, this industry is for those people who go beyond their worries, beyond the numbers of how many people there are in the industry, whose zeal pushes them, who continue to grow and hold people on networking. It just requires so much drive because you could easily give up if the passion isn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you handle the delicate role of conversing with musicians about improvements and rearrangements?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Artists can be highly emotional about music making. Artists often come with an idea to the studio, and can be very emotional about holding on to that idea. As a music producer, it\u2019s just glaring to you that the music wouldn\u2019t work but they still wouldn\u2019t want to drop the idea because of the artist\u2019s feelings attached to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Basically, I just find a way to convince them, because at the end of the day, it all depends on how much the artist trusts you so for every first time with an artist, I try to make some kind of relationship with them and obviously make them feel comfortable enough to trust me and make you believe what I bring to the table as a producer and most times, I\u2019ll make two versions of the music, if possible. One that includes all the artists\u2019 ideas and one that has been revised so we choose afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How did you get trained in production? Do you think it requires official education?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not necessarily, nobody can be taught how to make a hit song. Just the basic philosophies applied in the course of creating decent music that can also be found on any search engine will show you. A young boy with a laptop will make a hit music in his bedroom while a Harvard graduate in audio technology may not even get a success yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But to me, technological know-how is really important. It\u2019s always been my dream of making music in an unorthodox way, I respect what knowledge does. I didn\u2019t want to quit being creative, so I went a step forward because I wanted more expertise, so it\u2019s a personal opinion whether you want structured music or audio technology education, but it\u2019s not important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the one thing every song needs to have to be solid<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, it is bounce! Every song should have something that\npunctures your soul not because it was played hard or loud but because it\nshould be able to communicate emotions. It must have bounce whether it\u2019s RnB,\nJazz or Afrobeat song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How involved should an artist be in the recording and post-production stages?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n An artist who knows his onions in music will be very\ninterested and committed to the music and post-production stages development\nprocess. It shows the producer of music, you know what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes Conscious Music Production unique?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We pay attention to specifics over here and I\u2019m very\nintentional about how I produce music and that\u2019s the core of what conscious\nmusic production is about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you mention a few artists you\u2019ve created their music?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mikel Mizzy – iPhone, Hayo Niel – Radar, Tinu Cole – Ile\nOba, Ayamtu – Chosen, among many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are there artists you want to work with that you have not yet had the opportunity to work with?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, there are so many talented artists who I really want\nto collaborate with in and out of the world. I\u2019ll enjoy working with Rihanna,\nBeyonce, 2baba, Niniola, Odunsi, Teni, Ariana Grande, Mr. Eazi. I could go on\nand on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What piece of advice do you have for other young people who want to become music producers?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Be willing to take constructive criticism, do not always\nbelieve you are right. Be ense\u00f1able. Keep working, expand, continue to believe\nin yourself, and continue networking. The hard work will all pay off some day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" His real name is Durojaiye Ayokunle David. But he is popularly known as David Kenny. He is a Lagos-based music producer, sound engineer and a songwriter based in Lagos.\u00a0 He\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DAVID-KENNY-Tells-City-People.jpg?fit=1605%2C2298&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":155945,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/2baba-idris-abdulkareem-sound-sultan-and-daddy-showkey-celebrated-at-awa-studios-screening\/","url_meta":{"origin":144766,"position":0},"title":"2Baba, Idris Abdulkareem, Sound Sultan and Daddy Showkey Celebrated At Awa Studio’s Screening","author":"Jamiu Abubakar","date":"May 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The evening of Friday May 7, 2021 was full of glitz and glamour as a young and emerging studio outfit in Lagos, Awa Studio showcased a session of live band performance with four A-list Naija highly celebrated music icons; 2face Idibia, Daddy Showkey, Sound Sultan and Idris Abdulkareem. The event\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/D1-and-keke-ogungbe.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26002,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/joe-praize-kenny-kore-st-cecilia-university-lagos-choir-many-catholic-praise-concert-3-august\/","url_meta":{"origin":144766,"position":1},"title":"Joe Praize, Kenny K\u2019ore, St Cecilia (University Of Lagos) Choir, And Many More For Catholic Praise Concert 3 This August","author":"Daniji Emmanuel","date":"June 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Catholic Praise Concert is a one-day, Gospel music concert which has become an annual Catholic evening of Praise music offering to God for Christians. It features some of the best-known musical talents in the Gospel music genre. 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