Meet the Hosts: H3NRY

I was obsessed with it. It was the first time in my life where I was like, this might be something I do for a really long time. This is somewhere I could see my entire career going. Like this, this could define my life. The One More Time Music Podcast. Genuine conversations with genuine people about music. Hosted by Henry with a three and playback Ben. We're from Bemo Coops to Pants off. They find it one more time. One more time. Ladies and gentlemen, we are back for another episode of the One More Time Podcast. I'm your host, Playback Ben, here with my co-host. Henry with a three. Henry with a knee was already taken. Henry, who do we have on the podcast today, my friend? Me, Ben. We have me. Oh my gosh, this is exciting. So today, folks, we are doing a meet the hosts episode. We're gonna obviously have two. There's two hosts. You do the math. We're starting out with Henry, because he's the only one that's gotten a shout-out on this podcast so far. Maybe your episode will get a shout out.

We'll see. God, I sh I sure hope so, man. I sure hope so. Don't get your hopes up. But no, so we thought that it was important that, you know, obviously we're 11 episodes already in. This is our 12th. Probably should have started with this, but Henry, what are we gonna do? Um we figured we figured, you know, it's it's a good idea for you guys to get to know us, our stories, how the hell we even came to start this podcast, what kind of background we have, and what we're up to in music. So who are we? Who are we? Who is Henry? That's what we're gonna find out today, folks. So I'm excited about this. Are you? I'm excited. These guys are excited. Are you kind of nervous being on the I'm in the hot seat this time? Yeah. It's not I'm usually the guy that sits back and just hits the buttons. But uh Yeah, I mean it'll be fun. Yeah, be careful what you say, all right? Okay, as your manager, I'd I'd like for you to really give these answers some thought. Well, I'm just gonna lay it all out, and you're editing this, so we're all good. You're right, you're right. I have all the control in the world. So, Henry, for those that don't know who you are, why you're sitting in this chair, why do we give a shit about meeting one of our hosts? Tell the people who you are.

I would say I am a music producer and recording and mixing engineer and studio operator if you count my humble little garage setup. It's very humble, but it's very cozy. Thank you. And we get a good sound out of it. Yep, for sure. So let's get right in. Where were you born and raised, my friend? I was born and raised in this neighborhood that, well, in this city. I I grew up in this neighborhood that we're currently in right now. Shout out to Smoke Rise, Georgia, in between Stone Mountain and uh Tucker, Georgia. But I've been Eastside. I've been eastside. For those of you that don't know. I've been eastside of Atlanta uh pretty much my entire life. You know, I lived downtown um for some college, but uh I've been out here. I love it out here. So, so where would you say you got your creativity from? Like, was there a certain person in your life that really kind of, you know. Oh, yeah, for sure. So I've always uh I've always said that my mom and my dad were so good together because they were like opposites, right? My dad has So the opposites attract correct stereotype. And I I honestly feel like I've got like an even split of both.

I'm I'm very confused sometimes on if I'm a technical person or a creative person. It's it's a struggle sometimes. But uh the artistic, uh creative side, that brain definitely comes from my mom. She was the artistic one. She had a art studio at my house growing up. She was constantly making just all types of things. Some things I can't even, I don't even know how to name, but like um, paintings was number one, probably clay sculptures. She had a kiln that we needed like a special outlet to plug in because it gets super hot. Um, just crazy like outside like structures with just like spinning and little knickknacks and doodads everywhere. I mean, you could just walk around our house looking at stuff outside and you'd have a blast. And it was hers. All hers. Yeah. Yeah. So you know typically we'd go to Michael's or you know HomeGoods or some other some other store for these things. So were you into art as well? Or were you more already you know into music at a younger age?

Yeah I was definitely um I would say I kind of got into both around the same time. I was um I was like the the kid so you'd run around her studio and it was constantly in her studio for sure. I loved I have some clay sculptures uh somewhere in the back some real like amateur kind of you know I was the kid uh sketching stuff you know in the back of class not listening to the teacher making like comics and drawing people and drawing Pokemon and stuff like that yeah I was always doing that stuff. Good deal. So so when did you get into music then? Music would have been uh around the same time the first exposure was uh piano lessons which I'm super glad that my parents signed me up um I it wasn't my idea they wanted me to do it and I kind of just went along with it but I'm super glad that they did because piano let me tell any of you new parents it's the best foundation if you want your child to have any type of musical background start them on piano and start them young and they can go anywhere from there. Very valuable skill I wish I took it further honestly yeah so what else did you do? After piano I definitely got into the drums man loved my drum set man shout out drum sets.

Shout it out just banging banging on drums man that was my that was my thing for a while. Yeah, and and I think you were a part of a band. I was. Shout out to Kyle Lacey in easy street, man. Yeah, tell us about easy street. I would have been um, I would have been like a maybe a freshman or uh sophomore in high school, maybe even a junior, because I remember um I had just gotten a car when I was 16 and I I would drive to band practice. But basically I met this guy, Kyle Lacey at um he took drum lessons from the same guy I took drum lessons from. Okay. And we would have recitals. And Kyle was the best drummer, like by far. I mean, he's like spinning sticks and sticking his tongue out and just having a good time, and he was always so fun to watch. And he would always go last in the recitals because it kind of went in order of like skill levels. I was towards the back, always. I was always towards the back. Okay. I was never last, but I was, you know, I was top tier. Okay.

And uh Kyle seemed to agree because probably after the third or fourth recital uh with him and everyone else, he told me about his band. And he said they were looking for a drummer because he also plays guitar amazingly well and sings and plays keys and does everything. And uh he invited me to be the drummer in his band, and I agreed. And and you guys were playing like shows around the city. Real shows. We're little kids. And and I think you did a a performance at the Peachtree Road race. Peachtree Road Race was easily our biggest gig for sure. We did like some stuff like Target corporate events. We actually got paid a little bit of money, but um the the Peachtree Road race, man. We always joke that like we played for you know 10,000 people or something, just not at the same time. So for those of of them that don't know what what is the Peachtree Road race? Crazy marathon that they run in Atlanta at the crack of butt dawn and uh of buttons, the butt crack of dawn. And um it's uh it's just a long marathon. They have like um bands along the way.

They run down um Peachtree and So it's only a marathon for the like the really professional ones. The normal people run a 10k. So but it's a giant huge running event, bright and early on July 4th. Yep. Pretty sure everyone goes and gets wasted immediately afterwards. And actually during people are running with beers, yeah. Totally. Yeah. So it's it's a huge ordeal. Those were our biggest fans. If you're in Atlanta and haven't checked it out, you're missing out for sure. Cause you could have seen a band like Easy Street and Henry Drumming at a young age. That's right. We played through our whole set list probably four times. That's awesome. So fast forward uh throughout high school, then you you go to Georgia State downtown. Did you at this point, yeah, you were in a band with Kyle, right? But did you go- I think I wasn't by the end of high school. I think I was not. But so going into Georgia State, were you just like the typical college kid figuring out what you wanted to do? Did you have any idea you were gonna take music seriously? Literally picked Georgia State because it's the ultimate I don't know what the hell I'm doing school. Literally picked business marketing as my major because it's the ultimate I don't know what the hell I'm doing major.

So if that's any indication on where I was at. it is. I I I just decided, you know, whatever I decide to do in life, it can't hurt to be able to market it. Yeah, for sure. It's pretty general. Well, that's already uh a progressive thought of yours, I would say. But when did the light switch you know flick on as far as like, hey, I'm I'm interested in music again, right? Because you quit the band or you parted ways with the band. When did it, I guess, reignite, you know, the you know, the music side of things? So I was getting um I I got into music heavy in high school, but I would say I got even deeper in college. Um I was listening to it all the time. I was obsessed with it. I actually bought a machine um with an S, if you've ever heard of it, by Native Instruments. It's a little uh beat making kind of program and pad. And I was messing around, like sampling, you know, Lil Wayne songs and Eminem songs and trying to make my own beats and didn't really know what I was doing, but I was having a blast with it. And it wasn't until a friend of mine, Span, shout out to Span. Shout out Span.

Span is like the connector of all things that nobody knows about. Like he secretly made everything in the world happen. He's like uh Forrest Gump or something. Something like that, man. But he doesn't have a movie yet, which is a shame. So let's make a Span movie. Span, if you're watching this, we'd love to have you on the podcast. The Span Chronicles. Span told me about this guy, Justin Padron. Shout out to Justin Padron. Shout out Padron. He said, hey, this guy has a home studio in Virginia Highlands. He's really dope. Um we used to like smoke a lot of weed, you know, in my first apartment and uh freestyle and stuff. And he was like, we should just go mess around and record some raps at this guy's studio. He's legit. And and you weren't just tagging along with the rappers. I was rapping. You were rapping. What was your moniker at the time? My I went by Jay Show, which is not just a rap name, that's what actually people called me because my first name is James, first letter of my first name, first three letters of my last name. J Show.

People still call me Show. If you see Span, he'll call me Show. Are there any J Show mixtapes out there? No mixtapes, but you might find a single on like MySpace or something if you, oh my gosh, dig deep. I was kidding, but I'm so mad that that could exist. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah. So you go to Justin Padron's house to record with a couple of other rappers. None of us were actually rappers. We were literally just messing around, having a good time. Okay. Messing around. You were going to rap. Yes. At this house. What happened with that first session that you were at? That first session, I just was absorbing Justin, basically, and his environment and what he was doing. I was I was honestly more fascinated with him and his whole setup than I was the music we were making. I thought it was amazing. Like, wow. This guy wakes up, he's got the studio right across the hall from his bedroom, and he starts working on music, and he has clients come over and he makes money right here. And he seems to be having a blast doing it.

And I just thought that was really, really cool. Coming from someone who my parents were like pretty self-employed. Um they they were real estate agents. They worked for like a company, but they really did their own thing. So I I come from you know, parents who like worked for themselves, and that was always in me, very young. So seeing a guy like this also doing something like that, but with something I was really interested in, because I'm I'm not big into real estate. I was like, wow, this this is really cool. This is something I could sink my teeth into if I had the chance. Yeah. So fascinated to the point that you asked him, hey, who's living in that spare bedroom there? He might have been the one to bring it up to me. Yeah, he said um I I was like, you know, fanboying over him probably at the time, and he just happened to mention that his roommate was moving out. Yeah, and he needed a roommate. And I was like, my lease is ending. Was it actually a nigger did you just say that? It was. It was actually the timing was was perfect. Now that's sometimes how it works, or that's most times how it works, I would say. I took that as a sign.

Yeah. So so you you move in to this house that you were just fascinated by or fascinated with, you know, when you first came first walked in there. Yep. Did you start recording or were you sitting in on sessions? Like, talk to us about like what what it was like when you moved in. Uh, in the beginning, I was like making coffee and cleaning up and stuff. So you were a straight interning. It was basically interning for Justin at this house. In my own house. But I was loving it. Like loving everything. I was loving it, and I was definitely sitting in sessions, of course. It's I live there. Yeah. Don't kick me out of the room in my own house. I'm paying rent debt. And um, yeah, I started there. And uh, you know, it wasn't long before I started figuring out how to record and make beats way more proficiently with his guidance. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I talked with Justin about it, and and he said he was really impressed by yeah, there were times when he would show you things, like, you know, hey, here's how you do X, Y, Z. But he thought it was so fascinating as to you really were lurking around and just taking it in. And there were things that he wouldn't actually really show you directly, but then you would know how to do just because you were actually like being a sponge and and and soaking up that.

Was it is that 100%? I I was obsessed with it. It was the first time in my life where I was like, this might be something I do for a really long time. Yeah, what did that feel like? It was almost a blur. It was like you you turn into you almost don't realize it's happening. Yeah, you just get so deep into it. You're like, this is some this is somewhere I could see my entire career going. Like this this could define my life right now. And you're just in it in that moment. I wouldn't say I was even very mindful. I was just so focused in it. You know, I probably missed out on some stuff because I was so lasered in. But but so you were at that point in your mind saying, like, damn, I I gotta try to do this. I gotta try to make this my reality. Yeah, 100%. And then if if there was any catalyst to really confirming that, it would have been Trinidad James and that whole story. Shout out to Dad, man. Shout out dad.

What what about Trinidad James? How does he play into your story? So as soon as I move in, they are working on his uh debut project, Don't Be Safe. All gold, everything. The song everybody knows was the biggest song of the year. And I'm watching, he's just a guy that's super swagged out, has crazy clothes, works at a fashion store, and you know, has like some some dope, like ignorant kind of sounding raps with and then he had a crazy video. And within you know, two months of me moving in, this guy signs, you know, a multimillion dollar deal to Def Jam. And that's when I really realized, like, okay, this is possible. Like, yeah, this can be done. Yeah. Yeah, I think you've told the story to me about you were literally sleeping in the next room, because obviously it was a house. There was one room that was like the studio. So my room was right next to the studio. There was your room right next to the studio. So I I'm imagining getting sleep was tough if there was sessions going on. We were doing a lot of partying anyway.

So it wasn't a whole lot. Sleep was last on the priority list, I guess. But you remember hearing that song being recorded, right? Like, I mean, right next door, and you were in the sessions sometimes and that sort of thing, right? I remember the woo pot de Miley, I'm sweating. Woo! I remember hearing the woos through the wall. Wow. I remember that's that's awesome. Because it's literally the studio, I mean, the booth, if you want to call it that, was a closet in that room, you know. So you go in the closet, and then it's the wall, the wall in the closet, right on the other side is my bed. I was literally right there. Do you remember the uh concert at MJQ? The concert at MJQ, where he was hanging from the rafters? Yeah. Yes, I certainly do. That was a legendary night. That would have been uh I think he would tell you that was a legendary night for him too for Trinidad. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, no, I think it was one of his like it was right as he was starting to pop because of that record and whatnot. It was kind of the first legit show that he was doing, I think. That's right. it just apparently was nuts. The concert I really remember though is the concert at the Tabernacle.

It was a two-chains concert. And, you know, Trinidad already told us, like, hey, I'm the special guest tonight. Like, I'm coming out, y'all gotta come to the show. Yeah. And we get there. Did he get you tickets? Um did he just say I'm gonna come to the show. I don't remember if it was covered or not. Justin, I'm sure did, but um, I don't remember if I I got covered or not. He didn't know me like that well, It was just the guy that lived at the studio he worked at. Fair enough. Uh, but I remember, you know, the crowd going crazy for two chains. He had just dropped uh boats 2, which I think to this day is my favorite two chains project. Oh wow. Front to back, like with the the one with the gold chain on the cover. Um crowd's going crazy for him all night. He brings out Trinidad at the very end of the show. Crowd is cr going crazier than they have been the entire night. Lo literally louder and more jumping than they were for two chains the entire night. And he plays that song, I want to say like four times back to back to back to back, and the energy is does not stop. And that's when I was like, wow, like this guy, this guy made it.

Like this is it. That's crazy. I don't even think I've been to a show where they played a song multiple times in a row. Four times. Yeah. Much less four times. That's incredible. So in the times that you were kind of just soaking up knowledge and observing and you know, seeing what's going on, taking notes, you know, mentally, right? What do you think you learned most from that experience that you still hold on to to this day? That maybe had a huge impact on how you approach recording, producing, that sort of thing. I would say that when I first started off, I thought the most important stuff was, you know, making dope beats, um, being able to record quickly and being able to mix and get a clean sounding record. And I don't think I really realized at the time how much of like a people business it really is, and how important uh emotional intelligence is. It's like the IQ versus EQ. EQ hugely, hugely, I would say is more important to being successful than IQ is.

And tell people what what you really mean by that. Like if they're not familiar with EQ versus IQ, what what does that mean? Yeah, so it's you know, you can you can know all the things in the world, you can be the smartest guy in the world, but if you aren't able to like empathize with people and kind of really see how people are feeling and adjust, you know, to kind of make their lives easier and help them accomplish what they're trying to accomplish more, then you're gonna have a hard time. Yeah. And I didn't realize how important that is. And to this day, I I've tried to make that one of my biggest strengths. I'm constantly working on that. It's yeah, I can rec I can record you quickly, I can make you sound pretty good, I can give you a good beat, but like you're gonna feel comfortable here. And I'm gonna really try and understand what you're trying to accomplish, and then I'm gonna do whatever I can to help you achieve it. And so, you know, you learned a lot, specifically emotional intelligence, you know, really being able to read people, understand people on a different level. You've never touted yourself as the most technical recording engineer, the most technical mixed engineer, but to your point, that's not necessarily your approach.

You you want to be good at what you do, clearly. Wanna be skilled, but really it it takes it beyond that, I think. And that, and that really has been something I've seen work really well, just being in sessions with you. And it and it seems like that is really something you've tried to adopt and maintain as part of your practice, right? Yeah, I would say the the technical stuff, there's there's like a minimum. Like you need to be at least this good, at least this fast, and then you're good. And the EQ stuff, like the emotional intelligence, is just like the better you get at that, the better everything is. There's no ceiling for that for me. Have you found that people book sessions with you, want to work with you with your mix engineering or your producing because of that? I've had people tell me like they they won't record with anyone else anymore. Many people have told me that. And not because you're the best recording engineer they've ever seen do recording engineering from a technical perspective, but I assume it's a little bit of everything, but I I'd like to think that it's because they feel comfortable. Okay.

So that that's that's really a goal of yours is to achieve that certain level of emotional intelligence and and connection with the artist that you work with. Artists are not going to open up and be their truest, most creative selves if they feel even 2% of discomfort. One more time. Do I one more time myself? Do it. Do it, my friend. This is our show. We can do whatever the fuck we want. Creatives do not create to their highest level unless they're comfortable. That's why they my mom had her art studio. She felt 100% comfortable in this room with all her creative stuff around her. She could unplug from everything else, play her music, and create. So, you know, if you walk into an A-room of some brand new studio that your manager booked you, and you got to work with some producer you've never heard of, and you might be kind of, you know, weary to like really lay what you've got all out on the table, you know. So if they're not approachable and if they don't have that EQ to match, then it doesn't matter if you're in the most technically sound room or or what have you, right? Exactly.

Yep. exactly. Yep. So your mom battled cancer for several years. Yep. Um, this was right as you know, you you know, you'd already moved into the house with Justin, you had been doing music for a little while, then she passes away. What was that like for you? How did that impact you, you know, personally, and then did it impact what you were kind of doing with you know with the music? It was the hardest thing that's ever happened to me. I mean, you know, there I don't know how how much more to say about that. It was it was the hardest thing that I could ever imagine happening to anyone, you know. Maybe, maybe if you lost a child, but um, you know, she was not that old, and it was it was incredibly hard. And I would say affecting me, it made me want to work harder, you know. It made me want to really make something, you know. I was I was uh I was partying a lot in that that house with Justin. We had some late nights, you know.

We were doing uh a lot, we were getting work done, but we were partying equally hard. And I would say I I backed off of that a lot when that happened. And it just made me, you know, want to make her proud. Yeah, pretty much. Yep. Yeah. And and so you open your your own studio and and you mentioned that both your parents were very entrepreneurial. So maybe they had a real estate firm they were tied to, but like day in and day out, they were their own boss. They were running their own businesses. Did you get that entrepreneurial spirit, you think, from them? 100%. Yep. Yeah, 100%. I I remember in high school thinking, you know, I don't want to work for anybody. In high school, I was like, I I don't know why I'm going to college. That's why I I really slacked off applying to colleges and doing all that just because I was so hesitant to pick a major where I went and worked for a big company and made a salary. It just never felt right for me, you know.

And I think a huge part of that comes from them. Sure. What do you think characteristics wise has resulted in you being a good entrepreneur? Because obviously you've built a, you know, successful recording business, mixing engineering business, and you know, producer business. What would you say are some of the characteristics that you've, you know, tried to implement as an entrepreneur? I would say learning all the time. Um, I don't plan on ever stopping learning. I look up to, you know, great entrepreneurs. Um, I read books about it. And another big difference is the fact that you're never off the clock. I try to, you know, I'm I'm laying in bed at 2 a.m. thinking of ways I can content ideas or like YouTube thumbnails or stuff like that. Do you dream about these thumbnails that you've created? Nightmares, actually. Well, that's not good.

Um, but yeah, no, that that that's that's an interesting, you know, point as far as not being able to shut it off. How do you uh get away from it? You have to plan it. You have to literally like put in your schedule, like not working, doing this during this time. That's the only way I can do it. Because if I'm not doing anything, then the top thing I'm thinking of is, you know, oh, I have this mix to do for this person, or like I haven't made many beats lately, I need to make more beats, or so unless I actually put it on my calendar, like unplug hours, then I'm very bad at unplugging. Yep. And so what are you know, what are some of the things that you you know you get into outside of music? What are some of your passions? Outside of music, um I I've been getting into investing a lot uh over the last few years. I'm a pretty big investor. I'm playing the stock market, playing crypto. I've I've always played a lot of poker. I actually hosted poker games at a young, like still in high school, my parents let me like host poker games. Wow.

I was taking a rake and everything, like super illegal. I don't do it anymore. Uh if the feds are watching, but like I was making good money, you know, doing that. Just I wouldn't even have to play sometimes. I'll just deal for tips and then take a rake. Um, but I love playing poker. I go to like Cherokee, um, which is the closest casino to Atlanta, you know, a couple two, three, four times a year. Um just numbers that see that's where my the dad part of me comes in, the numbers part and the technical kind of stuff, you know, and the odds of this happening and then charts and stuff like that. Yeah, so that's it's cool that I have those kind of two halves. It's interesting, man. I mean, would you consider yourself a risk taker? Because I mean, entrepreneur, interested in stocks and investing and playing the market, Aggressively. and then gambling. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much summing up the definition of you know, risk risk taker, excuse me. I mean, would you say that?

I would say I'm a risk taker, 100%, you know? Not even just with money, you know, it's like time, you know. You know, if I I'll you you'll find me an artist that I've never heard of, and you'll be like, Oh, check this guy out. Like, you know, he's kind of dope and he's coming up. Maybe we should do a free session with him. And I'll do that, you know, and that's like a time gamble. And um, yeah, I think, you know, I'm I think I'm still young enough where I can take these risks, you know. And I want to, you know, I'm sure I'll tighten up later in life. But uh, if I feel really good about something, I like pursuing it, you know, because it's a great feeling when it pays off, and you gotta just keep it going when it doesn't pay off. And I'm not even saying that this lifestyle is for everyone. This is just kind of what's working for me. I'm not saying go be like me necessarily, kids out there. But uh do we have a lot of kids listening to our podcast? I have I hope that everyone's listening to the podcast. True. True. So what is it? Aim high or like, you know, most people don't aim high and uh miss, they aim low and hit. Yeah.

Shout out Chad Tenney's for that, gem. so speaking of working with artists, what are you up to with music these days? Like, what's been your focus the last couple of years? Because, you know, obviously we know you were in the house with Padron, you learned kind of the recording engineering, and I guess you know, some of the mixed engineering and and some producing stuff too. You guys were, you know, definitely making beats there, I think, right? You know, since you opened your own studio and you've been investing in your in your own career, what have you been up to? A lot of people might not even know. Um, you know, historically, uh most of my income has come from the engineering side, you know, recording sessions, it's hourly, it's good money. Mixing and mastering, you know, I've been able to raise my price on that almost every year. It's good money, but I'm definitely a producer at heart. I love producing artists, I like making music. You know, sure I can come in on your record that you already finished and make it sound clean, but I don't feel as attached to it. So definitely my goal the last several years has been trying to move away from, you know, engineering and relying on engineering as much and you know, go balls deep into producing and being a producer.

So that comes with, you know, um growing my brand as a producer, making content. We started a YouTube channel earlier this year. Um, Instagram content, trying to do more TikTok, and um then just working with artists and networking with artists, um, bringing in artists who I'm passionate about, whenever I have some free time outside of my, you know, paid booked sessions, getting in people who we want to take a gamble on and just making music with them and hoping to uh, you know, strike some gold that way. Who were some of your producer influences? Mmm, producer influences. That is a good one. Um I was super big into Kanye uh growing up for sure. Like, you know, as a producer as well. Like people don't give him enough credit as a producer. This guy was making all his own shit and and it was amazing. And he was rapping on it, singing on it. Um love Pharrell. Love uh Rick Rubin is one of my top all times.

He's just a wizard. That's where that's where I was thinking you were gonna go. He's I mean, if if I were to say you try and implement anyone's approach, I mean it's his approach. It's it's the it's it's DJ Double R Rick Rubin. It's Ricky. Rick, we'd love to have you on the podcast. Seriously. We would love it. Oh my gosh, we would love it. Huge, huge fan of Rick Rubin myself. So he's the man. But I I would be lying though if I said, you know, I wasn't also into, you know, I mean, I sold like weed in high school. I was doing the little trap thing, so I was big into like. We've had so many guests on that have sold weed at some point. Entrepreneurial, you know, what I mean, but feds, I don't do it anymore. Nope. Um, but like, you know, the Zaytovens and the Sonny Digitals and uh the Lex Lugers and the Metro Boomins. Like I I can't not mention them. Huge influences. I still make beats, you know, in that realm to this day. Yeah. So yeah, it's interesting. I feel like those are more sonically, probably how you got your start. Yeah.

Right? Because you were definitely primarily hip hop and you know, trap, southern hip hop specifically being here in Atlanta. Rick Rubin, of course, I think the reason why you like him, or at least what what we've talked about, is just the the breadth of, you know, artists that he's gotten to work with, yeah, and see their visions come to life. Um, and then just his outlook on life in general. I think you would just want to be friends with him. Even if he wasn't a producer, you'd be able to do that. I just want dinner with him. Yeah. But yeah, system of a down to Johnny Cash to Lil Yachty, like what can this guy not do? Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm a huge Mark Ronson fan as well. And Mark Ronson sat down with Rick Rubin on the Broken Record podcast. Shout out Broken Record Podcast. Yeah, we'd love to do a collab. Collab cast. If you're yeah, if you're down. Is that a thing? Um, maybe we should make it a thing. Okay. Um, but yeah, hearing those two guys talk about producing and like their perspectives on it was just, I mean, great episode. I might link it in the comments below. I don't know.

We'll see. Yeah, I probably will. It's there. I probably will. So musically and personally, how would you want people to describe you? If someone was talking about you and they weren't bad mouthing you, they're saying good things, what would you want them to say about you as a person and then you as a as a person in music? As a person, you know, there's the uh the goofy kind of chubby white guy that makes music and seems to be friends with all the artists and uh you know seems to be can get along with can get along with whoever um musically probably you know that's the guy that will help you catch your vibe. That's the guy that you can go to to feel comfortable. It's the guy that you can go talk to about you know what you want to do for an hour before the session starts if you want, and you can dive deep into what your goals are with him, and he's gonna do everything he can to help you get there. Sure.

How do you typically like to work? Is it a is there the same formula with every artist that comes in and you take a certain approach or or is it definitely not. definitely not? Artists are very different. Maybe there's like a, maybe there's like a bare bones kind of structure, but it's it's definitely different for everyone. That's where the EQ comes in. You have to be able to adapt on the fly. You know, one rapper might come in with a bunch of beats in his email and he just wants to load them up and start rapping to as many of them as fast as he can. And I'm just, you know, my goal there is okay, let's just be quick and help him catch vibes. And if he says something cool, maybe mention it and say, Oh, that part was cool. And then someone else might be come in with like, okay, this is the song that we're doing. I need help, you know, structuring it and getting the best vocals, and we might take our time and do a bunch of takes of the same line and might throw out some ideas on how to do different things. So it it goes back to the EQ for me.

It's understanding how an artist likes to work and then giving them that. Sure. I know you've been collaborating with artists, um, kind of taking a Kenny Beats type of approach where you are also listed as an artist, right? On a on a release. Talk to us about some of those those releases and what that's meant, you know, what that's meant to you. Yeah, it's it's pretty cool. It's uh, you know, it definitely makes it feel like it's more of your song, you know, because um, you know, you and I love a good rollout, we love marketing songs, so it's tough as a producer to put your all into a song and then just hand it over to the artist and say, okay, I hope you guys roll this out correctly. Hopefully, you guys, you know, get people to hear this because that's a really good song. We worked really hard on. I hope you guys get it right. So uh it's it's good for brand building, but it also gives us a chance to kind of flex our you know, marketing muscles, which is a whole different kind of creativity that I like to explore sometimes. And um, and you know, we put some of our own money into the songs too, and we we have input on the music videos and we get to kind of help decide, you know.

And I think it's practice for you know, if if we ever were to have artists, you know, that maybe we want to sign, we'll get really good at doing that. Yeah, but um in the meantime, yeah, it's just a fun way to really collaborate with an artist, have our names next to each other, roll something out together, make content for it together, and deepen that bond. Sure. You know, shout out some of the artists you work with so far. Man, shout out to Gabriel Averitt, shout out to Inario, shout out Keenan Rush, shout out to Pro Hays, shout out to Reed Willie, shout out to Kaz and Q. Shout out to Frank Mason. Shout out to Clip Monstar, the biggest one. How can you forget the tallest one? Another YouTube cipher streaming now. Go watch the video on YouTube. Yeah, watch the reactions. Reaction videos to that song are priceless. Yeah. Yeah, that's dope. So, Henry, I think that's brought us to a final segment of the One More Time podcast. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

This is my job. How's this gonna work? I am very much excited. You have a rampage for me. I'm gonna rampage the shit out of you, my friend. Do you want to hit the button? I don't know. I'd love you. Which one is it? The pink? This is all backwards. It's a rampage, folks. It's a motherfucking rampage. I've never been on this side of the rampage before. Are you nervous? I definitely. It's maybe not as good as what what you've done, but I don't expect you to be. It's a three-part rampage, folks. For those of you that don't know, this is the rapid fire rampage, usually curated by my friend Henry with a three, because an E was already taken. But today, my friend, I will be hosting the rampage. I'm playback Ben. Buckle up, my friend. It's a three-part rampage. Do you love threes? Excuse me. Threes everywhere. Uh, we got short answer, as you know. We got the this or that. Love it. In case you forgot, we got the word association at the end. At the end. All right. So we're using your format, but this is you in the hot seat, me asking the questions. Let's do it.

So, rampage. Initiate. Initiate rampage. We're gonna start it off with our favorite question. One project album, EP mixtape in your top five of all time. This is a rampage with Henry with a three. Let's go. Carter two. Carter two. Logic stops working. What DAW do you turn to? Assuming that I am not super still reliant on engineering and I'm doing well as a producer and I can stick to producing. I'm probably on FL Studio, man. FL Gang, where are you at? Fruity Loops in the House. FL Gang. If you could be the drummer in any band, which band would it be? Sheesh. Maybe Greta Van Fleet. Oh gosh. Just because they're coming up. Awesome. And I love their sound. Okay. You're forced to evacuate Atlanta. Where do you go to live? These are my questions. How do I not have answers for these? It's tough.

This time Joe Biden didn't exile you. You're just forced to evacuate the city. Yeah. Where do you go? Oh, just the city. Just the city. Atlanta. Where do you go to live? Okay. That's not bad. Probably LA. Just because, you know, the scenes out there. I like the beach. And uh, yeah, and it's LA. Okay. Why not? All right. If you could speak another language, what language would it be? I took six years of German, and that was kind of a waste, probably Spanish. Okay. What is your favorite part of a beat? The rhythm, the bounce. You know, and that's not always drums. Don't get that misconstrued. You know, a melodic element can give a song rhythm, but it's it's gotta have the, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's so important. All right. What's a genre of music that you like that people might be surprised at? I'm super into witch house right now. Witch house.

For those of them that don't know what that is, please explain. It's hard to explain. It's uh it's very dark, you know, like um horror, trap, edm. It's a just go listen, go listen to Ice Peak. They're my favorite. It's this guy and this girl, brother-sister duo from Russia. I I'm super into them right now. Shout out to Ice Peak. We'd love to have you on the podcast. All the way from Russia, the motherland. One more time. What is your favorite Pokemon? Abra. It's gotta be Abra. He just floats in the air. He's a psychic type and he just floats around chilling. Seems like a great life. What's the reasoning behind that answer? I want to I want to just float around. Okay. That's the first part of the Rapid Fire Rampage. We are gonna move right into part two of this or that. Cooking or eating out?

Cooking. Producing or engineering? Producing. Rappers or singers. Rappers that sing. Drums or Melodies. Gotta go drums. Kanye or Jay-Z. Kanye. Stocks or cryptos. Depends on the market cycle. Right now, stocks. Because uh cryptos are beaten up, but they're coming back. Inside or outside? I want to say outside, but I'm inside so much. Does that make me a hypocrite? Like a little bit. In my heart, outside, in reality, inside. Fair enough. Snares or kicks? Kicks. Shower or bath. I like both. Um I'll go with bath. Go with bath. Yeah. That is a successful part two of the Rapid Fire Rampage, hosted by Playback Ben. We got Henry with a three in the hot seat for the final.

Killing it so far, if you ask me. You are. You are. You're killing it. Very humble approach as well. Uh we got the word association. Love it. Here we go. Buckle up. Donda. Loud. And you know why. For anyone that was at the end. Yeah, I was like, for those of you that were at the Mercedes Benz Stadium for the Donda listening event. It was a little bit loud. And that sounds like an old grandpa thing to say. Like turn the music down. But like we like concerts. The mix holy shit. The mixes were really loud. And we think that Kanye asked, How loud can the speakers go? They told him a certain level. And then they doubled it. He said, Can you do twice that? And they had to agree because it was Kanye asking them. That's right. So, moving right along. Studio. Peace. United. Atlanta. Evan.

Williams. Or Evan with a dope beat. Shout out to Evan with a dope beat. We'd love to have you on the podcast, Evan. We'd love to. Alaska. Hawaii. Just a non-continental U.S. state. Alien. Real. Smooth. Jazz. Rough. Edges. Chaos. Controlled. Biden. Old. Shout out, Biden. Streaming. Services. Lil. Wayne. Lemon. Hayes. That's it, folks. It's been a rampage. Man. Can I do the rampages every time from now on? I'm gonna steal a couple, like Lil. That was a really good one. Yeah. I'm gonna take a couple. Find out who's their favorite Lil rapper. Who's their favorite Lil?

But no, folks, this has been an amazing episode. Enjoyed having you on the podcast, Henry. I enjoyed it as well. It's been a pleasure, man. For those of you that don't like, don't follow, don't subscribe to us just yet. What are you doing? You still have the chance. Do it right now. What are you doing? Click that bell icon if you're on YouTube. Why? Leave us a review if you're on Apple Podcasts. Come on. We're coming back next week. We're gonna meet Ben. We're gonna meet playback Ben. And it's probably going to be a Better Meet the Hosts episode. That's right. He might get his first shout out ever, people. Yeah, guys, please tune in next week and give me a fucking shout out. Until then, we are out. Peace. Peace. Bye bye.