Nessex

Nessex is a 24 years old music producer born in Long Beach, California who recently signed to Zombie Eater Industries and has an EP "Where's Molly" coming out soon... Check out the full interview below!

Thanks for taking the time to do this interview Nessex. Tell us a bit about yourself, your name, age, where you’re from and an interesting fact about yourself if you like...
My Name's Nester Lee, more people know me as Nessex, "The Remix Machine". I'm an American producer, 24 years old, I was born in Long Beach, California. I live in Austin now, guess you could say I make music at a semi-professional level. I get paid to perform & produce remixes and original compositions but I'm also in law school, which takes up a lot of my time. Interesting fact: My mom had 7 kids, and none of them lived past birth. I was lucky number #8, and born perfectly healthy. So that's interesting; I didn't die at birth... Moving on?

MUSIC
Is there a story behind the name Nessex?
Well, haha yeah... because of my name (Nester) & the fact that I’m black a lot of my friends call me Nes, or Nestlee (like the chocolate). I always liked it so I wanted to make it a part of my moniker. I put the letters ‘NES’ together with my favorite thing in life, ‘SEX,’ & just went with it. I didn't take it too seriously at first but I guess you could say my name is basically ‘Chocolate Sexual Intercourse.’

What genres of music do you produce? What's your favorite?
I started off making hip hop, moved into ambient instrumentalism, and then DnB, and eventually drumstep and Dubstep. Now I just make music, and figure out what to call it when I'm done. A lot of my current work is free-form & genre-bending.I produce mostly EDM, though & I've been really into bass music like Dubstep & DnB lately... trying to fuse the two without blurring the line so much. I'd call it drumstep, and I make other stuff that's almost Electro or Complextro depending on how high I tweak the bass riffs. Sometimes I get a little intense, and it gets super-heavy almost like experimental industrial which is why I think I'm an awesome fit w/ the Zombie Eater family... they love metal & EDM.

How long have you been producing?
I've been playing with DAWs since I was a kid, like 15 maybe. I wasn’t any good until I was like 17, that's when people started to really notice some stuff I did. It wasn't a big deal, but it's awesome to be that age and have people tell you that you're doing well. I'd say if I had to do the math around 9 years of soundscaping experience, 3 or 4 years of those years spent practicing my sampling techniques and learning to work with different DAWs, VST plugins, and MIDI setups until I finally decided upon Ableton, and the rest of my current arsenal.

What first got you interested in becoming a music producer?
I was always a computer geek when I was younger, pretty much still am. When I was like 14 I was building computers and writing programming languages, so when I found out you could produce music at home on a PC, I downloaded some demo software and much never looked back. Like I said, it took awhile but I got the hang of it pretty fast. Getting into dubstep was a completely radical shift though; it basically took a crash-course in Ableton, a few hundred dollars invested into VSTs, and a new laptop. I took about 3 months to get familiar with the genre, read its history, another 6 months perfecting my workflow, and I've pretty much just been going full-force, creating new setups to give me more & more control over the music I create.

What/who are you inspired by?
I've become a huge fan of people like RJD2 in my youth. I listened to a lot of his albums when I was younger and still have some classics in my playlist. I liked a lot of DnB, instrumental artists really... Nujabes was amazing, (R.I.P.) But I've getting into a lot of unique & filthy stuff like xKore, Nero, Bassnectar, and pretty much anything with a polyrhythm bass. It constantly changes everyday though, I have to find new music to spin, remix and emulate. I find myself becoming more eclectic every day.

Do you use samples or compose your beats from scratch?
Considering how much I've really gotten into remixing lately, I'd have to say both. But I'm definitely a sample head from the start. I use drum loops, sample guitar riffs, and make new samples by combining 3 or more w/ some effects, etc... It's a lot of technical mumbo, but the point is I sample, and re-sample, and resample until I get the sound that I want. I think the problem a lot of producers have is not perfecting a sound, by just using a patch or loop straight out of the box. I always layer my synths, and use as much delay, reverb, and effect as I can without losing the integrity of the music.

What software and hardware do you use to produce music?
I use Ableton as my main DAW. I like syncing it with my live setup so I can tweak effects as if I were on stage. My main production tools are the Vst packs from Waves, Ohmicide whenever I need distortion. I run everything on a couple laptops, one with Ableton & the other with Traktor. Sending MIDI from Ableton to Traktor I can sync the clocks and do some pretty amazing effects.

Do you see music production as a career or as a hobby?
I try to take it seriously as my profession, but I'm still in law school so I'd plan diversifying my goals in life because I'll always make music but it might not be popular one day, so I'm definitely prepared for that too. But I've been in school a couple years a couple years now, so I think I'm ready for a break, I might concentrate on music after this semester so I can see where it really takes me.

What are you trying to do with your music? Do you want to help your community? Are you trying to get rich? What is your goal for your music?
Honestly, to be successful is all I want. I don't plan to be a billionaire but it'd be awesome to travel and do more new things. I already have an awesome studio, so I'm happy making music whenever I feel like it. I definitely want to help other talented producers find their way. There've been so many people with amazing pieces of music that I've met since I started producing that just had no direction, no support... no one behind them. If I ever do get rich that'd be the first thing I do with the money, basically help others do what I've done. I guess that's my goal in music, to be successful enough to travel a lot more and help others spread their music throughout the world.

Do you have any kind of management, publishing or distribution team behind you? If so what are their responsibilities?
Um, yeah actually... haha I just signed to Zombie Eater Industries like 2 months ago. Everything was finalized & they're working on releasing some of my songs, so I'm stoked to have my music on places like iTunes, Spotify, etc... It's cool because they've commissioned a media company (Mellow Mind Music Group) to handle our press needs (photo shoots, photography) and have an awesome distribution deal so basically they take care of my releases, press kits, and even booking. I'm really lucky to be a part of their roster, and they seem stoked to have me. The name is sick too...

What are some accomplishments that you have achieved and are most proud of?
Basically just being acknowledged in the scene is enough for me. I think its rad I get messages and tweets from people I've never met that saw me spin, or liked my tunes... It gets me just as stoked when someone I look up to even takes notice of my existence. It's only been like a year, and the reception I've gotten from people I know, people I've met and all over the internet is pretty amazing to me. I'm definitely proud of how far I've come in such a short amount of time.

Have you ever made any contact with big time people in the industry and do you keep in contact with them?
When I was younger I got a few messages from some pretty well-known battles rappers looking for instrumentals, TheSaurus & Kodyak from the WRC (World Rap Championships) among a super long list of other professional battle events. I made hip hop and DnB at the time so I sent them some tracks as soon as I could, being honored they'd even bother talking to me. A few months later I got a message from C-Rayz Walz, who I felt was one of the best rappers I'd ever heard of, which was super encouraging. He told me to keep producing, and a few other things, among them how talented he thought I was. That pretty much solidified I would keep producing from that day fourth. Lately I've been in contact with some people I've been following since I expanded genres and it's been pretty cool. Rednek & I were discussing working together so I'm stoked to see what comes from that. I bounce a lot of branding & song ideas off of fellow producers that I know through the industry like Bobby Duque, because we live in the same city, & a few other producers that are super-social like Big Chocolate, and DJ Endo for advice on tweaking new setups/software.

What one tip would you give to other aspiring music producers?
Master your tracks, and learn how to mix properly, and DJ a set correctly. Send your music to any other DJ/label/promoter that will listen. Book your own shows until you find an agent or manager that you know you can trust. And have some fun. I'm ALWAYS having fun.

What do you see is in the future for the music industry? How do you think it will evolve/change?
It just seems like EDM and Dance music are getting more popular. That's kind of why I moved into Dubstep, I totally loved the glitch, distortion, oscillation, and bass work people were doing and the fact that it was so super popular and still growing made me even hungrier to learn about it. I think it will eventually become a solidified radio genre, and go mainstream like everything else. Dubstep will eventually have its own station, and so will house music, and it will all start to borrow from each other and meld into just sample tracks of 3 or more genres in one song. I heard Taylor Swift had a dubstep bassline in one of her songs.... That's sick as fuck.

INTERNET
Do you feel like the internet is helping you as an underground producer?
Yeah, I think it's definitely my biggest tool. I've been producing for years but I never put anything online because of copyright issues and what other people have told me (basically horror stories). But eventually I figured out it I should release everything I make, and with places like Soundcloud I could do that. I think that's why I really like it, because it's a community that's online and purely about the music, not the image or the commodity of the individuals.

How do you think social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have affected the music industry?
It's a lot more of a popularity contest now. I think it helps keep us, the artists, connected with our fans & also motivates us to keep providing new content. If not music, a music video, new info on tours, etc... It just makes it easier for everyone to stay connected on the terms they choose.

Where can we check out your music online?
Follow me on twitter @NESS3X, and I'll keep you updated on everything new online, or facebook & I'll do the same. If you're a soundcloud user I've got an ever-growing catalogue @ www.Soundcloud.com/Nessex w/ free downloads of remixes & promo EPs.

IN CLOSING
What projects are you working on at the moment?
Right now I'm working on an album for Zombie Eater Ind. It's going to be mostly dubstep, some ambient drumstep, & some other EDM tracks. I'd tell you guys the title but I like having creative control up until the last second so I've got to keep it tight-lipped until the album is 100% ready to go, just in case I think of something better. I've been working on recently. Most of it isn't even made yet, but I've got a clear vision on what I want. Aside from that I've got an EP on the way, "Where's Molly" basically club songs and tracks. I've released a couple tracks off the EP & people seem to dig them so far, you can check them out online if you Google me. Also there's been the recent death of Mitch Lucker last year, which means that the Commissioner project will no longer have anything new, which really bummed me out, so I was hoping to do something like that with a couple metal-oriented musicians in order to see if we could emulate that brutal tone they were so good at creating... The project is still un-named but the music is progressing and should be ready this time next year. So you can expect a bunch of free remixes & at least 2 full albums from me within the next year in some way/shape/form.

Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years time?
Hopefully still alive! Haha, 5 years is a long time, I'd be like 29 & 10 years... wow, I wouldn't even want to think about it but I'm stoked about the future at the same time & hope it's going to be even better than it is now. I've got no complaints so far, so I can't imagine any problems. Everyone at my label is awesome so far, the people I meet are cool as hell, and always partying, so let's see how long it lasts, right?

Do you want to give a shout-out to anyone?
Yeah I want to thank everyone at Zombie Eater! All my fans... you guys are the fucking best! Pretty much anyone who's ever listen/shared or given me feedback on my tunes & supported me in my music. Thank you for the interview, it’s been fun dude.

Thanks again Nessex for doing this interview.
Definitely! - CrazyPellas.net