Latest / Spooky Butt / 6. Independent Spirits with Drew Mantia

Transcript

6. Independent Spirits with Drew Mantia · Spooky Butt

• speaker-0: Mm. ⁓ hello! I'm Claire, your very fearful host, and I am here in Spooky Butt Studio with Drew Mantia. Drew Mantia is a Midwest-based music producer and mixer whose work with independent artists across pop, RB, and hip-hop has amassed more than 200 million streams. Best known for producing Joshua Showtime Williams's viral RB hit Nasty and LSD. By Prob Cause featuring Chance the Rapper, Drew brings a musician's perspective and release-ready production to every project, working with artists in St. Louis and remotely worldwide. Beyond artist releases, his music has been featured on Netflix, MTV, BET, CBS, Hulu, and television networks around the world. He is also responsible for the music for this humble podcast. Drew Mantia, welcome to SpookyBut. Hello. speaker-1: ⁓ Yeah, my ⁓ my honor to to make the music for for your your great new podcast and I was really ⁓ excited by your your vision. we're always a weird word to use when we're talking about music, but for lack of a better term, your vision for what the theme would be like. And it was it was really fun to create that. speaker-0: Yeah, definitely. And I do want to kind of start this off with ⁓ so we met fairly recently. We met ⁓ maybe around like Memorial Day, early June. ⁓ and what's interesting is that ⁓ we actually have a bunch of mutual friends in common. So it's a little bit weird that our paths didn't cross until about two months ago. ⁓ but I did wanna say that ⁓ when I was getting everything kind of ready for Spooky But and doing all of the prep, when it came to the music, I set the intention, I was like, listen. I want this to be done by a Webster University alum because that's where I went to school. And yeah, I had a bunch of friends who were in the music program. So I was trying to recapture that fun from my college days because it was so cool going to Webster and like having friends who were in the jazz program or whatever, because instead of just going out to bars and partying, we would also go out to see like live, excellent music. So I'm So glad that I was able to find you at the time that I did. ⁓ and we were able to kind of capture that magic for Spooky But. speaker-1: Totally. Yeah. I I remember you know, I used to when I was at Webster's music school, I had a work study job where I was a music building monitor, which just meant like they kept bodies on site until ⁓ it well, I think it was all the way until midnight until the building closed. ⁓ you know, security would come to close the building down at the end of the night. But they would have a handful of students there to just like, I don't know, make sure the place didn't burn down or something. And ⁓ we would often you know, go ⁓ dereliction of duty and and s just sneak out and go to, you know, nearby jazz clubs or go down to, you know, the the Del Mar Loop. Like there was this spot riddles penultimate that was a spot we would go to and we would see ⁓ other students or even just other local jazz musicians perform. And, you know, they had a system where you would clock in and out of your work study shift by just like leaving a voicemail on somebody's on somebody's mach answering machine. So we'd just be like in the bathroom of jazz clubs, like just Drew Mantilla clocking out and ⁓ I as as long as there was like a couple of us there when the security guy came to lock down, like n no it wouldn't ruffle enough feathers to get anybody in trouble. But ⁓ yeah, so I definitely had a a similar experience. speaker-0: That's so funny. I had okay, I had no idea about that. That's that's perfect. And it's like, of course people are gonna abuse that, you know, but yeah. That's I mean, hey, you made the most of your time. speaker-1: ⁓ we would I mean it was a sweet deal in the first place because like you were allowed to practice as much as you wanted, do your homework, mess around on the computer, play games, watch movies, whatever. As long as you were just a butt in seats at the music department building, that was the job. But so we we didn't even all the way fulfill that duty that was already like just be here and you can do whatever you want. We had some parties down there drinking and stuff. I mean we we ⁓ we we pushed an already very cushy gig. But ⁓ yeah, I you know they it was ⁓ it was a form of scholarship. I got like a partial tuition reimbursement in exchange for that. So pretty good deal. speaker-0: ⁓ that's cool. Yeah. ⁓ my God. That's that's just so funny. ⁓ so with your degree ⁓ from Webster, so it was was it like jazz composition or was it music production? What exactly was it? speaker-1: It was a combo. They had and and they may still have a jazz they had two forms of jazz studies. There was jazz studies performance and jazz studies music technology and they were almost identical except for I think five classes. You know, I I had to take less like jazz history and a couple other things, and in exchange some low level audio classes. And what what I did was that plus I took every one of my free credits as every one of my elective credits in the audio department, which I had a lot because I went to a school that had college credit courses, a high school that what that is. And so by the time I got to college, I had several college level credits and the music department had a very low threshold for gen ed necessit n necessary credits. And so I didn't have any Gen Ed requirements by the time I was in their music program. So I was able to take I don't remember, you know, how many credit hours or how many classes I ended up taking in the audio department, but I was able to take a significant I actually looking back on it, not that anybody really cares about my degree, but I really could have just done the jazz studies performance and then minored in audio engineering because I took so many audio classes. But since a handful of those were required under the jazz studies music technology, I wasn't able to do the minor. But No one cares about my degree or ask people will out of curiosity ask me, like, ⁓ did you study this and whatever? But I've never had an opportunity where somebody's like, Well, I need to see your degree. And if they did, it would kind of be hilarious because my degree actually was typoded. So my diploma from Webster says Bachelors of Music emphasis music. So Really? Yeah. Really elegant ⁓ document I have there. So ⁓ speaker-0: Right. So like with the music instruction at Webster and then like your kind of career right after college, that was all analog, correct? Like creating analog music and not necessarily beat making, right? speaker-1: The basis of it was, at the time that I was at Webster, there were some very old school guys heading the department. I'm talking about like, you know, these guys were like their main interest was like the techniques of the Beatles records and stuff like that. But I I'm not complaining at all because that was Getting that kind of knowledge from them and being challenged to do things like work on tape and work on analog equipment. ⁓ even though like I'm a very digital-based producer and engineer, but having that opportunity to do those things and learn from, you know, even though they were behind the times, I was already. I was taking care of the digital audio side. I was learning that on my own. I didn't really need help because I with that, because I was going to spend the time to do that. So I was really fully content to have these super old school guys teach me techniques from the 60s, 70s, and 80s ⁓ that I could then adopt into a digital workflow. And You know, that is something that still sticks with me that I did, you know, I started on tape, you know, ⁓ like cassette tape. You could get, you know, a home recorder with four or eight tracks to a cassette tape. And I started I started, you know, making crappy recordings at the same time I started playing guitar. Like for me, music making and recording making was always blended. And I got into music because of my love of of listening to recordings. I wasn't really exposed to live music until after I was already making music myself. ⁓ you know, I wasn't, I'm not from a family of musicians. No one in my extended family was a musician. Wow. I didn't really have any exposure, you know. ⁓ you know, my parents would take me to church on Sundays, but it wasn't even ⁓ A cool church with like good music. It was like an old guy playing the piano and some old ladies like singing in unison. It was very it was very boring and very vanilla and not not interesting. And so I had, you know, very little exposure to live music or musicians until I started learning myself and playing with other kids that were learning and making recordings. So Playing and recording were always, you know, the the first day I started playing guitar, I wrote a crappy song with the open strings of the guitar and recorded it on a crappy tape recorder. So, you know, those have always been the same journey for me. And so yeah, I started on tape and then later in high school, I got, you know, like a standalone digital recorder. Like it wasn't even, it wasn't like a computer system. It was a little. box that had faders and everything and knobs and it was digital recording but all you know built into a device. And so I had learned all of that. You know, I I I owe I think back often to my first audio class at Webster because, you know, I rem we were there a little early waiting for the professor to come in. And I'm kind of, you know, we're we're we're chatting around with the other kids, introducing ourselves. And I'm like, you know, what if What have you been recording? What's your background? And they're like, and you know, some kids were like, ⁓ I've never recorded anything. And you know, they were audio engineering majors. And I was like, that's really interesting to me. That, you know, like I've been recording for years at this point. Yeah. For, you know, by that point, like five years or something, I had been making recordings all the time. And ⁓ you know, it was interesting that someone had, you know, and and this was more than one. one other student that that had this experience where they had chosen audio engineering as their emphasis, their major of study, but like had never made a recording before. I was like, that's that's interesting that you 'cause you know, it i i it would be, you know, like to get into the music school, you had to audition and and show some proficiency that you had learned an instrument and and had some initial level of mastery with it. speaker-0: That is yeah. speaker-1: And you know, so that that was ⁓ interesting to me. But yeah, so ⁓ digital audio was not an emphasis at all in their department. I did later, you know, eventually they did have some digital audio classes and I did take those. I took a class on ⁓ well there was a couple digital audio classes that led into a commercial composition class. you know, which is ⁓ which really has roots in in in what I've done for your show as far as ⁓ you know it was about how to construct music for applications like programs, like ⁓ you know, especially it was especially rooted around creating music, you know, for TV and film. Like we would take little scenes, ⁓ you know, our professor would give us the raw footage of stuff that he had done comp composition work to, and we would do our own composition projects, you know, to those scenes and everything. but that's where I learned ⁓ about, you know, how to time out the music and stuff like that, which is a kind of skill that that came in, you know, to your project. Cause we're talking about about how long we want the intro to be and what the the genre is and that helps me like, okay, this is the tempo. And if if the tempo is this, then I can do, you know, this many bars of music within the time frame that we're trying to hit and and things like that. So ⁓ so I ⁓ so to their credit, I did also end up getting some, you know, digital education ⁓ as well. But yes, it was initially Very rooted in the old school technique. speaker-0: ⁓ that's so cool because that like you kind of bridge that gap because you have that analog experience. Whereas nowadays it's like what, ninety nine percent digital. So it's cool that you can come at it from that perspective and that informs your digital producer. speaker-1: Fully, fully digital at this point. Like my entire studio is very it it it looks pretty bare bones because I mean a most of the investment is in like the software that I use, you know, differ software instruments and stuff, which what I like about that is I can capture performances really quick because I don't have to spend time sound checking things and whatever. You know, if I'm playing a keyboard part, I can put just kind of a generic piano sound or something on, get my idea down, and then on the computer, I can sculpt that performance into any sound of instrument that I want. Whereas if you're do recording analog, that instrument has to sound like what it's going to end up sounding like when you record it. speaker-0: Right. So you got out of Webster and then you basically jumped into the music business, correct? Wow. speaker-1: Yeah. I I yeah, I I don't know if if if I I if I would recommend people do it this way, but you know, ⁓ you know, kind of ⁓ do as I say, not as I do. I I might recommend to somebody like, you know, get a get a job that you don't completely hate that has some flexibility where you can like work your way up in the musical world. But for me, I just dove both feet in before I ever established anything in the working world. So, you know, I've never had a full-time job in my life. ⁓ I went from part-time kitchen gigs, you know, I was a cook for years. I went from part-time kitchen gigs and then I started, you know, transitioning into teaching guitar lessons and playing guitar gigs and speaker-0: Wow. speaker-1: And then, you know, started doing recording sessions for people. And so I did, you know, ⁓ up until from my teens to my early twenties, those years, I had, you know, the the side jobs in the kitchens. ⁓ but then, you know, I think ⁓ when I was 24, which was ⁓ sixteen years ago. That was the last time that I had a non musical job. And I mean to to to be straight with you, I was super broke my ch in my twenties. So, you know Me too. And you know, I just fought through it. ⁓ that was my method. You know, it it depends. Some people have different tolerances. ⁓ you know, no ⁓ No shade on my parents, but like my my upbringing wasn't very financially stable. So I felt like I felt like it was almost an advantage because when I decided to take that dive into music, like poverty or near poverty was something that I was already used to. So it wasn't It it it it wasn't like a step backwards in lifestyle or something. I was already scraping by. So it was like, well, if I can just make music and scrape by, that's hu that versus you know being in kitchens and scraping by, or like, you know, living under my parents and scraping by. Like this is amazing. So ⁓ you know, I I wasn't ⁓ speaker-0: Which that's speaker-1: super financially sound in my twenties, but I never missed a bill. You know, I didn't plan, I didn't, you know, plan for the future and stuff until my 30s. And I was actually able to catch up on responsible things like ⁓ you know, funding a retirement and I owning a home, you know, and and and and you know being married and all these adult not that these are things you have to do to become an adult, but ⁓ They were actually things that weren't really on my radar at all. But just ⁓ you know, very gratefully, like my music work led me down a path to eventually in my 30s, I found stability of, you know, lifestyle and of of finance. And ⁓ you know, I didn't know if if things like eventually owning a home or being married or something were were were for me, but I just ended up ⁓ down that path. I I did get to a point in, you know, kind of going into 30 where I was like, you know, I don't know if I want to be married or own a home or if I care about healthcare or retirement, you know, because in my twenties I wasn't having health issues and I wasn't thinking about the future, you know, i i was I was in a sense very Zen because I was very like one day at a time and you know, I didn't have a bigger vision for the future. I just knew that it was all music all the time and that's what what mattered to me and the rest that I would figure out because as long as I was living a life that was music first, you know, that was that was enough to satisfy and then You know, going into my thirties, I was like, you know, I don't know if I if I want all those things that, you know, a quote unquote normal job would have provided, but I don't want to feel like I'm disqualified from having them. You know, I was like, if I if if I'm not married, I want it to be a lifestyle choice and not ⁓ I feel like nobody wants to marry me because I'm, you know, financial deadweight. speaker-0: Or you know speaker-1: You know, I don't wanna I if I continue to be a renter for a long time, I want that to be a choice and not because like I couldn't possibly afford to buy a house and and and and on and on. So ⁓ and then, you know, I just I figured out a way to do both and do it my way. And you know, I I've always I always when I first picked up that guitar and that cassette recorder, I had you know, the intersection of art and commerce on my mind. I was from the jump, like once the I I was always, you know, mu my life as a music fan, you know, was so important. And I knew years before I picked up instruments, I wanted to do it. I guess it just took a while for me to convince my parents that I was going to be dedicated enough to speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: spend money that was not readily available on instruments and lessons and stuff like that. And eventually I was able to convince them that it would be, you know, worth the investment for them ⁓ to to get me into the game. ⁓ so like music, a musical future was on my mind for, you know, th almost my entire life. And by the time shortly after I picked up the guitar and the and the tape recorder, I was like, I want to do this all the time. I want to do this as a as a vocation. ⁓ just if nothing else, just for the reason that like I feel like for me to make as much music as many hours of the day as I want to, I'm just gonna have to find a way to make money with it because I don't wanna spend eight hours doing something else and then do my music. I want to do my music and then make time for other things in life. So I always had, I've never had ⁓ an issue with the idea of art and commerce interacting. You know, I think that art is absolutely valid on its own. Anyone, anyone, art is for everyone and anyone that's interested in any form of art Any form of creativity should do that. It's a total worthy pursuit. Whether you want to share it with the world or just do it for yourself, or you know, share it with the world, but not with commercial intention. You know, that's however you want to go about that, that's totally beautiful. and I know I've, you know, I've met plenty of people who feel like art and commerce are at odds. And I, you know, I've always just felt at peace with that. Maybe it's because I was so driven by my love for the radio and and for, you know, listening to recordings and stuff. And I understood that this was these people's livelihood. And, you know, at that time, like home recording was becoming a more viable thing. But When I was young, that was new and you know, up till that point in like all of history, if you wanted to make recordings, you had to have a financial situation going on. You had to have a record I mean, you know, s ⁓ certainly in times of like I referenced the Beatles earlier earlier, like the 60s, like someone like that, they couldn't have just made recordings on their own. They had to speaker-0: They could speaker-1: Work with a label. They had to have backers to even be able, people didn't even know what the inside of a recording studio looked like. And part of what was so revolutionary about the Beatles was A, not only they were revolutionary in pushing recording and eng audio engineering techniques to create these sounds that they were hearing in their heads. And they collaborated with their audio engineers to create. speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: so many techniques that are now like daily techniques for people like me. ⁓ but they also inspired the, you know, the ⁓ the garage band revolution of people wanting to pick up guitars and drum sets and get with their friends in the garage and start making music. And, you know, down the road that led to people wanting to be able to, you know, ⁓ Make their own recordings and it became more available. But that's all a tangent just to say that I recognized early on that there was financial factors involved that allowed these people to make their recordings and get them out there. And I knew that I not only wanted to be making music, but I wanted to first and foremost make recordings. That was my, you know, I I still I I I love performing and and it was it was a performing was also a bigger focus for me earlier in my career as I started off also being like an artist myself. But recordings were always the first love for me. ⁓ so you know it wasn't just music, it was what you know, I just heard those recordings and I was like, I want to do everything that's happening right now. Every all the instruments, the writing, the recording technology, whatever it takes to make this recording that's on my radio or on my cassette tape or my C D, that's what I wanna learn how to do. speaker-0: That's awesome. And it's interesting that you brought up the Beatles and like record labels and all that sort of thing. Because my next question for you is how long have you been fully independent? speaker-1: I mean, the whole time, you know, I I've had ⁓ I've worked under like some contracts here and there. I actually ⁓ like kind of the first major experience that led me to producing for other people was I was actually signed to a startup label in my late teens and early twenties as a a singer-songwriter where This was just ⁓ a local recording studio who you know decided that they wanted to use their studio to invest in some new talent. So it basically was just an arrangement of I got free studio time at their studio, and in exchange, you know, they would get whatever percentage of sales of my albums, which you know is kind of the The typical kind of recording contract. It was definitely structured, modeled like what a major label recording contract would look like. ⁓ you know, I had like a three album deal with them. And ⁓ you know, I ⁓ I really ⁓ asked begged them to let me be the producer of my own first album. And and and they agreed. And so they let, you know, I was given access to a studio and and an engineer. And I was able to, you know, bring in myself and other musicians, ⁓ what other Webster musicians mostly, ⁓ because I was already, you know, I was ⁓ This was like I was a freshman, sophomore, junior at Webster when this was going on and ⁓ you know, produced that recording and ⁓ it was formative in a couple ways. First of all, I I was really disappointed in the engine they had a couple, few different engineers that they had working with me, and I was pretty disappointed with their skills. ⁓ the project still turned out pretty good. ⁓ But it was really like I really had to push for what my audio vision was. And they made it kind of difficult. And that was really informed my future. That was in that informed my future in that I I myself as an artist like had the experience of working in a studio and being like, these guys don't get it, or they're too slow, or they're messing up, or they or just, you know, generally feeling like. With the experience that I had gathered messing around at home and starting to take audio classes at Webster, I was like, I I really feel like I could just do this whole thing better. Like they're letting me produce it musically. And but like I think I could do this recording and mixing of it better myself as well. And ⁓ you know, also, you know, they were. I guess I I I framed it as they were giving me free studio time. They were giving they were invoicing me the studio time to like be paid back through the recordings. So it wasn't just like free unlimited studio time. You know, I was racking up bill, w which is how labels work. I was racking up a bill that my records were supposed to pay back. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: And I was like, you know, these guys are just wasting time and money. And I feel like I could do it better. So the second album that I did with them, they I also engineered it as well. I mostly did it at home. They let me use their studio. You know, I did some, you know, recorded the drummer there and stuff like that, and then did a lot of it at home. ⁓ Because I also recognized like I don't want to keep like running up this studio tab with them if I feel like I can do a better job myself. So I did part of it at their studio, some of it at Webster, a lot of it just at my apartment at the time. And ⁓ and and other musicians at Webster, I was showing them. They were seeing me perform. You know, we were performing together at shows on bills together. ⁓ I was performing at like school concerts. I was, you know, playing them my recordings, and they were like, ⁓ you produced this? And then, like, you know, on the second album, I also had recorded it and mixed it too. And they're like, ⁓ well, come like you know we know you know you know music because we're in music school with you. And so if you know audio too, like come work on ours. So that was like my first experience being hired to. engineer and produce other people's recordings ⁓ because of my experience working with that label and putting my mu they were also you know impressed that I even though it was like a no name startup label they were impressed that I had a label contract and they were also impressed that like my music was on iTunes. Okay. Like because at the time like you know today anybody can easily ⁓ release their music on every digital platform easily. Spotify, Apple Music, everything. So easily. It caught it cost twenty dollars a year for the basic membership to release as much music as you want. I mean it's ⁓ become super accessible. But my first album release was in 2008 and it was not easy or common at least to you know, be on iTunes with your digital release and to have, you know, printed, you know, professionally designed and printed CDs and all of that. ⁓ so I started there, but then, you know, when other people started hiring me to do theirs, I was like, yeah, I really love this. And, you know, I can make an album like once a year or once every two years as myself, or I could make like 10 albums a year. And, you know, I might not be the primary songwriter or vocalist, but I still find it really, you know, pretty equally satisfying, you know, because I was so like recording first with my love of music that I was, you know, kind of quickly drawn away from the artist thing. ⁓ 'Cause I also, you know, I loved to perform, but it was it was it it was, you know, energetically more taxing than than the studio thing. And it was also like when I'm producing for artists, ⁓ they're in charge of of releasing the music and ⁓ trying to get it heard and marketing and booking the shows. And you know, when I was the artist, I was doing This this startup label was helping me with some stuff. And ⁓ in retrospect, they did more for me than I thought they did, you know. In in hindsight, they did more for me. You know, part of the reason I stopped too is like I was disappointed that the label didn't do more, which is like a common theme you see from artists when like a label has to be a supplement to what you're already doing for yourself, not like, ⁓ well, I have a label. Or I'm gonna seek a label and then I'm just gonna do nothing but make music. Like artists, even major label artists, are heavily involved in their business, their back, you know, they're not it's there's very few artists who are just sitting back doing nothing but making music. That's really, you know, an illusion. But I was caught up in that illusion as a young singer songwriter. And I was also like disappointed in my album sales, which is another thing in hindsight. I'm like, damn, I killed it. Like I sold hundreds of CDs, you know, at full price, which like looking at it now where everything is like streaming based for like sub a penny per stream, I was like, I had people buying my album for twenty dollars and I sold hundreds of them. Like, I'm like, that's crazy, you know. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: If an artist that I produce for right now was like, ⁓ in the past few months I just sold two hundred copies of my C D at full price, I'd be like, ⁓ my God, that's amazing. Like you need to push hard because you're doing it. So ⁓ but I I at the end of the day I have no regrets stepping out of the artist thing. So speaker-0: Yeah, and I I kinda on that note, I do wanna switch gears a little bit 'cause I'm curious. ⁓ when did you start working with podcasters? speaker-1: So ⁓ it would have been I think twenty seventeen. Yeah, so and that was and and producing brought me there. Cause I mean, obviously, like I've had the audio skills for a long time because compared to you know producing sometimes complex musical arrangements and recordings, you know, doing a few speaker-0: Wow, okay. speaker-1: dialogue mics and some background music and stuff for a podcast is like really easy. And I was also, ⁓ you know, I I got into podcasts like fairly early, like twenty ten. I was listening to like podcasts regularly, like, you know, some stuff that's cringe to me now, like Joe Rogan and stuff like that. Right. So like I was on like the first early years of like Joe Rogan and stuff like that. Stuff that like I wouldn't listen to now. But anyway, that's a whole nother thing. But speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: I understood podcast as a listener and and one of like my indie artists that I've been re referencing in this conversation that ⁓ you know they had a fan base and they had they were doing like a a YouTube series that their fans really liked where they, you know, did footage of themselves on the road and at shows and stuff like that. And ⁓ were doing that and it was r really cool. I kind of wish they still did it, but you know, it was they were doing it completely themselves. And and one of them what, you know, is a ⁓ was a film major in school. So it's like he knows what he's and he worked in film editing before he became full time with his music. So I mean, they had the skills to shoot and edit that stuff, but it was very labor intensive and a labor of love. So they decided to try podcasting as a way that they could share their personality with their fans on a more consistent basis because podcasting was way easier than, you know, producing these, ⁓ you know, basically like they were like short form docuseries episodes, ⁓ that were, you know, 10 to 20 minutes. ⁓ speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: Like I said, I wish they did the bl they were really cool. I wish they still cause once they got into the podcast, they like all you know, occasionally they'll do for like something special that happens, they'll do an ep, you know, a kind of behind the scenes like that. But ⁓ or a tour wrap up or something. I wish they, but you know, I wish they still did those more often. But they went to the podcast format and so I helped them learn how to I actually, you know. ⁓ initially there's you know they're a duo. I was initially like producer in third mic and you know ⁓ developed their the tech that they needed and ⁓ and over time you know taught them how to use it, how to edit it themselves. and ⁓ eventually this was when I lived in Chicago and eventually when I made the decision to move back to St. Louis, it wasn't really viable to be third mic. I mean, I guess. We're doing a even though we're in the city, we're doing a remote podcast right now. And I do like a lot of my work is remote now product producing as well. But I guess we just weren't as minded around ⁓ production or ⁓ you know, remote being a viable option. I don't it's not also like not like my presence was super important. ⁓ I mostly just like laughed at their jokes and stuff, but You know, there were fans who like expressed that that it added to their enjoyments just like hearing me stupidly laugh in the background to what they were saying and eventually like saying something that was like occasionally funny and sometimes stupid on the mic myself. So there were people who were ⁓ you know, sad at my exit as a as a normal presence, but ⁓ you know, I I still will guest on occasion and stuff. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, at this point, you know, I've fully taught them how to record and edit it themselves. And you know, but they still ⁓ work off just like I also helped you with for this show. I built them ⁓ a template to record into and edit in ⁓ you know, back in 2017. It might have even been 2016, but at the latest it was 2017. And, you know, to this day, they ⁓ still are recording and editing in that template I built and in, you know, the equipment that I helped pick out for them. speaker-0: Yeah, I wanted to bring up the template because ⁓ I know there are probably some aspiring podcasters who are listening to this because I know I have some friends who have kind of shown an interest. And I wanted to say that ⁓ you created that template for me and then you recorded a video showing me how to use it and editing was the one thing that I was really dreading about doing this whole project. Yeah. And now it's kind of become my favorite part because that template has saved me hours. So I wanted drive home that Drew can help you if you're trying to get a podcast set up. And then Drew can do this remotely. Cause what I did was I sent you the first episode I ever recorded. I sent you the two audio files. And then you built the template around that. So I just want to drive that home. There's help out there. speaker-1: We did that remotely. We did we worked together in my studio ⁓ to create the the theme song, but also like that's something that I am fully equipped and experienced in doing remotely too. So if if anyone out there is an inspiring podcaster, I can build your templates, I can ⁓ help teach you how to edit and mix and and I can make you a theme song if you need that too. So ⁓ and I really do ⁓ You know, it it's it's something I've done ⁓ you know, maybe a a a handful of times. It's not like my main bag, but I I am good at it and love working with podcasters, ⁓ you know, as well. So I'm I'm definitely here. If anyone on the airwaves is is ⁓ in need of something like that, or hey, shout out any ⁓ aspiring indie musicians. I also ⁓ have my own studio here in Saint Louis if you're local or or ⁓ remotely. I work with people I I ⁓ across the US and also ⁓ you know, in Europe as long as they know English. So speaker-0: Yeah, it's it's kind of funny 'cause like you mainly make very, very cool like hip hop and R and B songs and then you also help cat lady podcasters like myself. Yes. So I just wanna I wanna drive this home that Drew has range. speaker-1: Yeah, well well, you know, you also I do have range. I I do ⁓ you know, I I w promote myself as like an R and B producer because you really I have found that you kind of have to specialize, you know. I used to try to do the thing like, I do everything, you know, and it's like I do you know, I can do so many genres. And I mean, even genres that I haven't done, it's like if you give me a few days to listen to stuff. I can come back and produce you a genre that I've never done before, you know, and I can do podcasts and I've done, you know, short film work, you know, with sound effects and and scoring and I, you know, do TV background music and and all this stuff. But it's like when you try and tell somebody you do everything, they can't picture what you can do them necessarily. But ⁓ yeah, you know, I've done a lot. ⁓ I mean, first of all, you know, you wanted to do like a kind of funky speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Kind of ⁓ kind of musical intro. And that's you know, very you know that's incredibly like in the RB universe already. So it's like even if I'm just saying I'm an RB specialist, like that's totally within the wheelhouse. But I also have a ton of past experience playing with funk bands, producing funk music and dance music, and so you know, it it's speaker-0: Disco. speaker-1: not only adjacent to how I currently promote myself, but I have a huge, you know, background in that, you know, I mean, playing with funky bands is really like my my real like start, especially by the time that I became a music student at Webster, you know, that was like my real ⁓ background. Playing with bands as a guitar player. And when I was doing my singer-songwriter thing, it was like pop singer-songwriter with like the funky influence. It was kind of ⁓ you know, it was like I hate to say it because they're so lame now, but it was like Maroon 5-esque, but like their first album that was like actually pretty cool, really fresh at the time. so and I was also very RB influenced back then as well. But anyhow. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: ⁓ you know, that that ended up being in my wheelhouse, you know, plus like just the unique request of like adding a little bit of touch of spooky to it. which, you know, ⁓ that was like the fun challenge of it. But I started hearing, you know, little spooky melodies in the back of my mind, like ⁓ because typically I like just like we did. I have a conversation with, you know, the client, the whether that be an artist or a podcaster or a someone, you know, the music supervisor for a TV show or something or a a filmmaker. You know, we have a conversation and usually, you know, I have enough experience in those conversations now where I can lead that down a direction where I, you know, before the conversation's even over, I'm hearing things in my head of like, yeah, I've got like, you know. By the time I say, yeah, I can do it, I've already, you know, got my first like demo rolling around in my brain. So it's like, ⁓ you know, and what what's ended up as the theme to this show was, you know, a development of basically like my first idea. Fortunately, it just c it just it it worked out. I g I it was in the back of my mind like that. I jammed on it a little bit on my own time and I was like, I think this could work. And then by the time you got to the studio and I showed it to you, you were, you know, ⁓ I took your your feedback into it and then we ⁓ came up with it and and I'm ⁓ really proud of it and ⁓ I think it's it's super fun and I'm ⁓ really impressed with you know having been involved with Having tried my hand in podcasting, having been involved in the starts of other podcasting, I'm really impressed with how this show is is going. Your think your hosting is great. You're really you're insightful with the questions. You're natural as a host, you know. ⁓ you know, with with with some outside help, the audio is really great. Right. And having the fun music is really cool too. So I'm ⁓ I'm ⁓ really impressed and I was ⁓ excited when you asked me to ⁓ try out an episode because I'm always I mean I'm always down to ⁓ do a podcast if if if you know if it was a podcast absolutely nobody listened to, it's like, well, I can take a some clips and put it on my Instagram and have a nice conversation with somebody and it's all it's all a win. So ⁓ So yeah, I'm ⁓ yeah, giving you some flowers. I really enjoyed I have listened to to episodes and ⁓ and definitely will continue to to check in on it. speaker-0: Thank you so much. Yeah, and it's yeah, it's just so great because like if I was kind of joking about this with s you know, a friend, like you did the music and then Lauren Seely, who will also be a guest on the show ⁓ in the upcoming weeks. ⁓ I joke that you guys are the only professionals involved in this podcast. But like the thing is like it was it's just been nice to have like, okay, boom, cover art. Here's the like phenomenal music as well. ⁓ and just kind of presenting that to someone who's a prospective guest and being like, Yes, this is this is, you know, legit, granted it's basically one hundred percent indie, but ⁓ it's just nice to have both the music and the artwork to create that picture, you know? speaker-1: Hey, I'm going for it. Like, and yeah, I also I I didn't mention the artwork, but sh I also really think the artwork is really great and and has you know adds a great dimension to the personality of it. You know, I think that ⁓ you know, the the artwork is really crucial in can someone see the artwork and see the title of the show and you know, and maybe the description. But maybe all they have to go off is the artwork. And it's like, can they kind of imagine what the show could possibly be like? And I think that the spirit of the show is in your artwork and it's in the opening music. And ⁓ you know, you're you're starting off as a great guest and I mean a great host. And I I'm sure that you'll only get better and better with more experience. So yeah, I I ⁓ love the way You're pretty you know, as I'm always very satisfied when, you know, someone I work with, whether that be one of the music artists I produce or a podcaster, you know, takes the work that we did and really packages it and delivers it in ⁓ in in a really you know clean way that communicates the quality of it, you know, like you don't have to fake it till you make it like you have some gigantic budget or something like that. But just to show that like I did put thought into ever you know, I put thought into the title of the show, into the artwork of the show, the music of the show, or, you know, the artwork of the album, the promotion of the album, the title of the album, whatever, you know, I didn't, you know, just like AI generate a cover or, you know, like some like super low effort thing that's just like You know, ⁓ because you you hate to see, you know, when I see something that just like looks obviously low effort, I'm like, that doesn't entice me to want to check it out. And, you know, ⁓ fortunately, you know, the I I tend to work with great artists to take that stuff seriously too. But you know, it's it's always a bummer on the occasion when someone like takes your work and puts like a really crappy artwork on it or yeah, you know, puts like no effort into promoting it or something. And you're like, ⁓ you know, come on, you know, because I I'm proud of the work we did. So anyway, but enough trashing on the people that don't do a good job. ⁓ that was all just to ⁓ say I think you're doing a great job. speaker-0: ⁓ well thank you. So ⁓ we have gotten to the point of the show, the spooky butt portion. so what spooky story did you bring today? speaker-1: There were some spooky vibes in this studio I worked at for s for some years in Chicago that was built into this old building that you know had turned into a warehouse, but it was initially ⁓ among other things, a a bank. And there's this whole legend around, you know, there were these bank vaults that Al Capone, you know, w used for his own personal performation. money and whatever purposes. And ⁓ these vaults were actually left behind and were like built inside our studio was like built around these vaults and still contained we actually ⁓ the owner like had built a small like side editing studio into one of them. And then we used another one as as a lounge. And so, you know, they're There were ⁓ nights where I slept at the studio. because, you know, at the time I I didn't have a car and lived in Chicago. And I was living like deep south at the time, ⁓ south side of Chicago, and like the train out there stopped at midnight. And and at the time I would take recordings, I was new to Chicago, I would take recording sessions, anybody, anytime. So I was working late nights often, sometimes through the nights, you know, like. People would call me, you know, it'd already be like 11 o'clock at night. And people like, can I come in for a two-hour session? I'm like, well, I've got some. Yeah. I was like, well, I got someone here until 1 a.m. And they're like, all right, give me, give me one to three. Like, all right. Someone else will call. Like, you in the studio? I'm like, dude. Well, I mean, I've I'm booked until three. They're like, give me three to five. I mean, like, seriously, like, so so I was like not gonna be able I was way past being able to catch a train home and I didn't want to pay for an Uber or something. I was broke at the time. And so I would sleep at the studio a lot and I didn't I c I can't say that I saw or experienced anything spooky, but I sure like, you know, kind of f felt called back a little bit to like my days as a kid falling asleep and being like, is there a ghost in here? Because You know, it was just like thinking back on the history of the place and just like this super old building, and it still had like the original old wooden floors and the exterior walls and the old, you know, vaults from like the 20s and and and like you know, the hallway like leading into the studio was still like a lot of original stuff and ⁓ You know, I I was like I was d I I I I was gonna say I was open to the spookiness finding me. I was hoping that it wouldn't. And you know, ⁓ you know, Al Capone's ghost never did visit me, but it was it was it was a conversation topic, you know, with artists. It was always a fun conversation topic, and it was it made it into like speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: lyrics of rap songs and stuff like someone said ⁓ you know Al Capone in the boo Ghost of Capone in the booth while I spit, you know, or s like stuff so people were like putting so there was a little bit of of spooky influence on the music, even if like I wasn't and we weren't first hand experiencing it. Just like the it added this mystique to the studio that was making it into speaker-0: ⁓ my god. Hilarious. speaker-1: into lyrics and and stuff like that. So ⁓ you know, and it just had ⁓ a very rustic vibe. And I mean it it also like added to it that the owner of the studio had it like decorated in a very interesting way. Like it was like the walls were covered in these bookshelves with these ancient books and super old books and everything. Because you know a lot of you know you see Sound baffling fixtures and stuff inside studios. You can imagine what that looks like. And a lot of that is just simply breaking up a sound wave, you know, so that because a sound wave's a physical thing, and the worst thing that you can have are like totally flat surfaces with with the sound waves just bouncing like from flat surface to flat surface. So you want things that break up. the the sound waves and something you can actually do instead of like your cliche sound treatment is use bookshelves because the books are different shapes and sizes different depths inside of the shelf and and all that and that can work as well as sound treatment. So and he got all these books from just like places that were like giving away all these old books and stuff and just like these speaker-0: ⁓ okay. speaker-1: Crazy old books. So not only do we have in this, you know, we're in this super old warehouse building, ⁓ like right on the Chicago River, like just south of downtown. And we've got, you know, these ⁓ Al Capone Al Capone bank vaults, and we've got these old bookshelves. And it was just like a very ⁓ interesting. vibe that you know ⁓ if nothing else started conversations around the spooky and there were you know we didn't like allow them into our studio but there was a ghost tour company I could have known that I was gonna be on your show I wish I would have taken the ghost tour myself but there was a ghost tour company that did regular ghost tours through the building and they like would come speaker-0: ⁓ my god. speaker-1: By our area where our studio was to talk about, you know, the Capone stuff. And they would go down to like the dirt. Like there was like a, you know, basement, like dirt floor, like old, old, spooky, spooky basement at the bottom of the warehouse building that they would go down to and give their ghost tours. So I would often coming in out of the studio, you know, run into people like single file going throughout the building, being there, doing their their ghost tours. So ⁓ I'm all I'm like on the side seeing if I can like if they like still exist. ⁓ I don't remember like I don't remember what their ⁓ company was called but I'm like I might ⁓ speaker-0: ⁓ that'd be cool. Yeah. speaker-1: I or it might be there's this company called Gangsters and Ghosts. So they potentially depending on where they cover, yeah, so ⁓ there was definitely somebody around who was exploring the paranormal of my surroundings. ⁓ you know. If not me. So yeah, that's like my general experiences around spooky. Maybe you can lead me somewhere else. Like ⁓ you know, not necessarily anything firsthand, but I feel like I've been on the fringe of discovering something spooky, you know, been in spooky spaces. ⁓ you know, people were like that ghost company were actively exploring spaces that I was in for spooky and I'm certainly open to the existence of it of it all. You know, do do I want to meet a ghost? Probably not. But I don't know. Maybe, maybe it could be a really cool experience. Maybe ghosts are nice. speaker-0: Well, I do have a question about the studio in Chicago. Is that place like is it still a studio? Like a Okay. speaker-1: Not unfortunately. ⁓ it was it was ⁓ you know, the the owner had it for 10 years and it was going really well and we were busy and everything, and it was ⁓ but he didn't own the space, he rented it, you know, and but it was within this big warehouse and it was really easy for us to do our thing uninterrupted, but it was bought out and like within a month the new management was like, ⁓ we're we're trying to turn this into self-storage. So we got we got boo. speaker-0: Interesting. speaker-1: Yeah, so I don't know if you know they if they did something I imagine they unfortunately just tore down the studio space and I you know ⁓ it'd be interesting to know if they relocated those vaults or not. It probably sure would have been a lot of work. So ⁓ although it was bought out by like a major corporation, so they might have had the U-Haul. So they might have had the funds. Okay. They might have had the funds to do that. But ⁓ like yeah, like the ghost of Capone or maybe somebody he whacked or something might be living in somebody's U Haul self-stored unit right. speaker-0: God, could you imagine? You like lift up the jet. Yeah, the the ⁓ speaker-1: To date the little mini garage door. speaker-0: ⁓ my god. Yeah. So Like was it I mean, yeah, there were like the ghost tours and all that, but like was it a legend or was it proved that Al Capone actually used that space? speaker-1: You know, I mean I wasn't able to ⁓ verify it from a official source, but you know, it was like i it was an accepted as fact legend. You know, what do I do I have any actual proof? No. But you know, yeah, it was to the people that rented and managed that building and the people that came through the building and the people who ran ghost tours out of there, it was it was accepted as a fact that he, you know, ⁓ banked there and stashed things in those vaults. So ⁓ you know that was good enough for me. speaker-0: Yeah. Because like on the one hand, I feel like cities that kind of have crazy history like this, sometimes places will be like, ⁓ Al Capone stayed here and blah blah blah and they're you know, they're just trying to like garner interest. ⁓ like it the place where this was located, like just south of downtown, ⁓ that's I'm pretty sure that was like his very, very like active zone. So like I guess speaker-1: All over the place, sure. Yeah, it's in the right area. It's you know, the building is the right age. It ⁓ it it it all it felt it was a believable story and with a little research I'm gonna have to put it in the category of legend, but the legend around this place was you know, 'cause cause the the legend is that Capone had vaults, you know, around the city and speaker-0: Yeah. And speaker-1: The legend is that some of the vaults in this building were vaults of his. And that was, you know, part of the premise of the Ghost Tour company and all of that. So whether it was actually true or just legend, ⁓ a little research, more research might reveal, but it was something that was Driving ghost tours and it was a topic of conversation that was interesting to talk about it and made it into song lyrics for songs that I produced and recorded there. So, you know, whether it's there's some real truth behind it or just some bullshit, it did it did make it into the legacy of my production work. So there your spooky connection. speaker-0: That's hilarious. speaker-1: Spooky connection there. speaker-0: Well and also like since he had vaults around the city, there's probably no way to like definitively prove because he probably took out the space in someone else's name. Like he he didn't want a paper trail. Right. You know? Totally. So I kinda I'm leaning towards it actually being like just because it was so close to the Lexington Hotel. like, okay, this kind of it kinda makes sense. speaker-1: the right it's the right kind of vault, it's you know, it's the right time period. So ⁓ could be, could be, could be. speaker-0: So before we wrap up, ⁓ I like to ask if the guest has any last words, anything that they kind of want to end on. speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ you know, if anyone else is listening and is a podcaster or looking to launch a podcast, ⁓ I'm available to do the kind of work I did here for Spooky But, whether that be ⁓ helping build a template and and teaching ⁓ you how to edit and mix the thing and or creating you a music theme, you know, for For Spooky Bud here, we did a theme that we did an intro version and outro version, and I made her ⁓ several little interlude pieces that she can use in the middle of the show where she transitions from kind of the interview focused the the guest focused interview to the the spooky focused part of the interview. ⁓ you know, same thing. ⁓ I'm available to talk. With ⁓ I'm also just available to talk, you know, no commitments. We can see if it's if it's if it's a fit for your podcast or if you're a musician. ⁓ and if any of the production and musical philosophy that I talked about sounds like something that could interest you, you can find me at drewmantia.com, D-R-E-W-M-A-N-T-I-A dot com. ⁓ To get more info, fill out my contact form. I'm also, you know, Drew Mantia, my name, no space, on all the social medias at Drew Mantia on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, any of those. I don't really use Facebook, but I mean there's a page. so you know, you can feel free to reach out to me on ⁓ particularly my website or Instagram are really the best places. and if you're interested at all, if you have any questions about anything I said, you can feel free to reach out. and ⁓ yeah, I'd love to talk to anyone that's curious. Or hey, if you were just ⁓ if you're a fan of hip hop and RB, then I might have some music on my pages that I've produced that you might be into listening to. So if you're open to discovering some new artists. ⁓ also some pop stuff in there as well. Then you can also ⁓ I post clips of that on my Instagram and also on my website. You can find like a playlist with some of my top portfolio picks and ⁓ and things like that. My YouTube has a ⁓ a YouTube playlist that I'm proud of that has a collection of music videos for songs that I've produced. So ⁓ yeah, if if you Have ⁓ had your curiosity struck at all by by what I had to say here, please. ⁓ or hey, if you like the spooky butt podcast theme, check out some of my other work and and maybe you ⁓ can find one of your new favorite artists because I work with some ⁓ incredibly talented singers and songwriters that I am honored to produce and ⁓ co-write with and we've made some really great songs. So if you're already an indie music fan or you know you're willing to give indie music a try for the first time, hey, even if it's not my production or my artists, you know, ⁓ also just shout out to indie music. There's so much amazing music out here that maybe isn't being recommended to you by the algorithms or if you still listen to the radio or watch TV or or all those things. So ⁓ hey, if I could if I yeah, maybe I'm just gonna plug the concept of indie music. You're listening to the podcast. So maybe you're down to listen to some indie music. Yeah, drew mantia dot com, Instagram at Drew Mantia, see if ⁓ there's something for you there. speaker-0: Hell yeah. Well Drew, thank you so much for joining me. This has been great. And on that note, goodbye. ⁓ speaker-1: Woo. speaker-0: Thank you for listening to this episode of Spookybud. Music by Drew Mantia. Artwork by Lauren Seely. Listen to Spookybutt on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Please be sure to like, rate, and subscribe. Follow SpookyButt on Instagram at Spookybutt Podcast. Need to make contact? Send us an email at spookybuttpodcast at gmail.com. We'll see you on the other side. Goodbye.