Fast rising Nigerian mix engineer, Ediongsenyene Umoren, better known as 8notes has been on the steady rise, having worked with a few big names on the Nigerian music scene. In this interview, he takes on his music production craft from debut till date.

How did you get into music and for how long have you been producing/mixing and mastering for?

Music has been around me for as long as I can remember. From family influence, Dad loved reggae music, had loads of vinyl records and always played them. Mom was a music director for the local church; hence I was motivated to take up piano lessons. I played for my church choir from 14 till I was about 23. So, from playing keys, music production curiosity arose. In 2012 with encouragement from my brother Izik, I started learning to use FL Studio for production, got a hang of it and in 2015 I began mixing records commercially.

You’ve worked with almost everyone from Reekado Banks to Teni, Phyno, Kuami Eugene, Dremo and so many other artistes. How did you grow to this point in your career where you can make these big collaborations come together?

In the quest for reaching a bigger audience and further growing my art, I moved from my home town to my state capital, there I Interned under O’giveR, an established engineer at the time, he let me use his studio for 2 years and showed me the ropes for free with business and lots of other things in the field. With that energy & experience, I moved to the west side of Nigeria, Lagos state, which is the largest market for everything, entertainment. I used social media heavily to establish most contacts, targeting producers first and offering to mix records they produced and that was the best thing I ever did. There I met with DJ Khayleb, Benjamz, Jaysynths & Disally. The more I worked, the more good reviews and referrals came, Them boys set the tone! and the ball has been rolling ever since.

You’ve been the mixing/mastering brains behind countless Nigerian hits, from Reekado Banks’ Lupita Nyongo, Teni’s Dorime, Dremo’s Nobody, Kuami Eugene’s Nobody ft Jaysynths & Jeff Akoh, Phyno’s No Love ft Jay Teazar and also produced Phyno’s Oso Ga Ene amongst countless others. What is your work process like in fine-tuning and crafting the perfect sound?

I go with the flow but in an educated way, if that makes sense. you see mixing records is basically an engineering process and that means identifying problems and solving them, when I receive a session, I listen to it first from the consumer’s perspective, try to capture or understand what is expected of the record, also good communication with the creators, the song writers and producers involved to get a better view of their intended outcome, and then from the Engineer’s perspective, reference tracks for me are things I can’t seem to do without, I think that’s the secret key any creative artist should learn to understand and use. For every new song, there’s always an existing song or songs in that genre or style that your work can be modelled after. With referencing you never go wrong & you’re never too far from the expected outcome. So, it’s always a case of: Listen, listen, listen, identify problems, solve them, allow some time for my ears to reset and approach the mastering, make sure it matches up in levels, tonality and quality with Industry standard, Consumer level materials before I call it a completed project.

What was it that made you and Phyno feel this was the right time to work together — Can you tell us what the fit was and how you both collaborated to make Oso Ga Ene?

It was sometime in early 2019, I was working with Phenom at the time on some records and one of those evenings, he decided to link with Obago (Phyno) on a collaboration they had going on, I was readily available with recording tools and my computer as usual, so we get there, everything is good, energy is right, we record a few things and I had a some beats I had made prior laying around in my computer, I played them for Phyno and he happened to like two of ‘em, once of those being the Oso Ga Ene one, after we left, I didn’t hear much of the work progress as I happened to leave town towards the end of the year, and it was at that time I had the call like: 8! How far? Obago don record on that your beat o! I’m like: Oh yeah? Ok no wahala. Album dropped, mine was track 2, two years later, new album came and I still happened to mix & master track 10 on the new one as well. so yeah, I’d say Phyno is extremely intentional with his music and I’d work with him again anytime.

As a producer and mix and mastering engineer for these calibres of artistes, is your creativity your own — or does it only exist within the boundaries of the artiste’s ideas?

It goes both ways, never one sided. Even in times when the ideas are mine, the recording artists always play a massive role in shaping what everyone hears in the end. I’d say it’s a 50:50 thing although Mix engineers are highly under-appreciated in the business. I can boldly say NONE of the hits or popular songs we have today would be in existence if Producers & Engineers are taken out of the equation, reasons being, even if you decide to be an acappella artist, you’d still need an engineer to record your vocals and lay it out on tape right? but producers on the other hand can straight up make and sell instrumental tracks and get paid heavily off of that. But anyways, shout out to all artists giving due recognition to their engineers and producers and shoutout to the engineers and producers doing great stuff with their artists as well. Issa a 50:50 thing! We need each other.

Who and who can you say are the producers that have most influenced your approach to music production & engineering and why did they have that influence?

Oh! MasterKraft! Being a church boy and listening to lots of Tim Godfrey music to play for the choir, I’d say Masterkraft is one of the main reasons I became a producer in the first place, we all admired and still admire his pro level playing and production skills, I wanted to be like him so bad and once I realised he didn’t only play the mind blowing solos we heard, he also produced most of the songs, I strived to get all the required skill to be the best at what I was doing and here I am now, although I’m not actively producing but that’s where the influence came from initially and with the mixing, Leslie Brathwaite & Mixed By Ali are my favourite engineers, I listen to their approaches because they are a perfect blend of old and new. Leslie has been mixing from the days of Michael Jackson till date, Mixed the new Jack Harlow album etc, so he is very experienced and yet capable of adapting to the sound of the new generation which is an essential ability in our career path. Adaptation.

People starting out in music may be questioning what they really need to get started. What was the first set of equipment/software you ever bought?

First gear I ever bought was a pair of Casio CP-16 Stereo headphone; I had access to a computer which I sneakily installed Fruity Loops on. But in today’s world, things are a lot different and music production gears are more accessible, I’d advice any newbie to get a good computer first, Mac or Windows, it doesn’t matter. Just get the highest spec computer you can afford, get a pair of good headphones, it’s the most important thing after the computer because music creation has to do with a whole lot of listening. Before investing in Audio interfaces and monitors, MIDI input devices or fancy gear. Get those first two right first because personally I can do anything with just a laptop and a pair of headphones and I know lots of Pro engineers can say the same.

What are a few key lessons you’ve learned about engineering that other aspiring musicians and engineers could take advice from?

Key lessons I’d like all new and aspiring musicians to learn are…Build great communication skills, you’ll need it forever. Be nice, ask questions, listen, seek, there’s always more to learn, everyone knows something but nobody knows everything, never think less of the next musician because they always know something you don’t. I’d say stay low, keep calm and put in your 10,000 hours of practice in confidentiality, that way, when you pop out. It’s easier to access things and people as the “New” guy who knows what he’s doing, yes there’s beauty in the process, but with music, we deal with the ears and memory, even perception. It will take you loads of more time to revert the minds of the people you’ve met to understand that you’re no longer “new” if you had everyone seeing your days of Ringtone-sounding-beats or trashy mixes than you popping out with tangible quality beats or mixes at first meetings. So drop the camera and get back to practice first. Publicity is great, it does wonders but your work will always speak for you more than and longer than you can ever speak for yourself. Make good relationships with other experienced musicians and honest friends. In my opinion, it’s best to hear “You’ve got to work harder to improve your work quality” than hear “That’s fire! bro you are the best” from friends just when you’re starting out and can barely put together a decent beat or mix. They are not encouraging you, they are wrecking your growth, not because they know better, it’s because they don’t, their ears are not advanced enough hence anything sounds good and it’s easy for you to relax rather than put in the work. There are no shortcuts, just keep doing it, study the greats and give it time.

What plans do you have for the future?

I strive to leave a positive mark on the music scene during and after my active years, inspire lots of other young musicians just as I had been inspired by others before me, meanwhile I recently moved to England and I’m working on expanding my reach here as well as it’s a fast-growing market for afrobeats. I’ve been making music for 10 years as of the time of this publication and in the next 10 years. We’ll see what happens.

How do you catch fun?

I took up skateboarding recently, haven’t devoted enough time to it though, so I still suck at it.  But 9 times out of 10 I’m trying to be productive, work is fun to me.

What’s your take on the global acceptance of Afrobeats and how it is taking the world by storm?

What’s understood doesn’t need to be explained? Afrobeats is a genre based on fusion; hence it will always bend and evolve but never go extinct. It’s beautiful seeing how much it’s spreading worldwide, the global acceptance, the quality attained in terms of production and engineering, the collaborations, everything. It excites me & I think it’s a great time to be active!