We recently connected with Elshannon Simmons and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Elshannon , thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Back in the early 80’s my siblings and I were blessed to have experienced some of my moms and dad’s parties while being upstairs in our rooms. As a kid I use to listen to my dad, Dj Super Joc, mix music. Not only was my dad a Disc Jockey he also organized concerts and events for WBCP radio station in Champaign, in addition to his work at UPS. My mother, an elementary school teacher and the family matriarch, always kept our home welcoming to family and friends. My parents and most of my elders are from Chicago, and there was a lot of soul & funk vibrating through those walls back home in Champaign, Illinois. Those songs resonated and stayed in my memory till this day. As my dad transitioned from one record to another, I began to perceive music in a different way. That changed my mind on how music can be played without being stopped. In 1989, at the age of nine, I experienced my first mix on the Technics SL-1200 Grand Class Turntables. One tip out of many I remember my dad telling me was, “While sliding the fader to the opposite side change the song that you were listening to in your headphones.” As I kept moving along, I started to learn how to transition from one track to another by using Hi’s Mid’s and Low’s to make my mixes smoother and seamless. Thanks dad for the musical contribution from the 70’s till now.
In the summer of 1994, our family moved to Stone Mountain, GA. I started my high school career at Redan High School, which was a heavy influence on me. Although I had my own style, I couldn’t resist the southern hip hop flowing through my brain.
During the shift of getting settled in my new environment technology was enhancing fast, CDJ’s became the new way to mix and soon after the MP3’s. I was blessed to have the CDJ’s. Blending the music I knew with southern rap truly revolutionized the game for me. But I must say, I wish I have invested more time into practicing. This significantly slowed the pace of accelerating my skills. But what can I say, I had school to focus on. If I knew what I knew now, I would have managed my time more for practice.
My essential skills are homed in my ability to add samples in my seamless mixes. I believe that came with the love of house music and hip hop. Using loops, ques, drops etc. enhanced the sound of my mixes. Thanks to new technology, I was able to focus on other tricks in the mix. Shout out to my Uncle Shawn for always keeping me in the know of hip hop artist since the 80’s/90’s.
The main obstacle that stood in place for me and I had to defeat quickly was procrastination. There were times I squandered that could have been spent working on my DJing skills. Although Djing is a must needed asset to the music industry, I went to venture into music production. In the years of 1999-2003 I was focusing on music production with my brother Elliott Simmons (Cre’ada). Much of that music was used for our hip-hop group, Da’ Nest which consisted of my brother, Cornelius Jeffers (C-4) and myself. My sister, Carisma use to record as well. The music was mixed very well, and our stage performance was naturally on point. It conveyed a message to us, realizing we possessed the raw skills necessary to mix our music to CD quality for radio play. We rocked a lot of stages during our time and were selected for next level spots in showcases. One showcase that we experienced was for Adonis. His showcases resided at The Crow’s Nest in Atlanta off of Old National HWY. I remember being in that V.I.P. section with my fresh British Knights on with spikes piercing out the shoelace holes watching artists perform before us. My style was impeccable. Those were the times.
In 2004, I started music engineering/IT classes at Omni Tech in Decatur, Georgia. That experience taught me a lot about music engineering and production and also the ins and outs of IT. This knowledge has enabled me to grasp the technical terms for what I already understood and provided me with the means to articulate my understanding.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
So, as you know music is a passion of mine like many others. I can go down memory lane with 7o’s funk music by way of my elders, I can instantly pop up with stories while listening to songs from the early 90’s hip hop or I can feel certain emotions from 80’s soft rock. Music is deficiently a time stamp for me.
God works in ways that ‘wows’ the mind. Let me fast-forward into time. It was the year 2019 when I reunited with a cool brother I met years prior. His name is Erik Harris. We had two similar pasts. We had both been in the music industry and we both had toxic situations to battle, but we were passionate to make things better in our lives. And the ultimate common interest we have are fitness and film.
So, as I was getting my mind right with my fitness journey. Erik was making Tik-Tok videos, that thousands of people loved. I had no idea he was creating and quite honestly. he didn’t know how great his editing skills were. One day I went over to his house, and we started filming. Erik created an intro for what we call now, STAY COZY SATURDAY’S. Subsequently, we began creating impromptu skits and ventured outdoors to film them. Over the course of two years, a team began to develop, and the edits were becoming impeccable. As time went on our confidence grew and the film company HOUSE OF 1000 DOORS LLC was born. Currently, we have our work outlined for the next five years. In fact, we just wrapped up our first scripted film project pilot called “SYNERGY” with the production fulfillment of filmmaker, Trae Gibson. Trae Gibson is the founder of Crown 1080 Films. The next few projects will be collaborated with Crown 1080 Films.
I am proud to say I am able to utilize my Dj skills, music production/engineering skills and fitness skills while working as a film director in the film industry. As I embark on this new journey of mine, the skills that I possess will be used in film festivals, film production and also character development for actors.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My paramount objective, fueling my creativity, is to harness my skills in a way that they work to my advantage. I feel if I never give up, I will always be ready for the big break in my life. Like I said before, the filming opportunity allows me to utilize every skill I am worthy of.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The best reward of being a creative is to know that the results end with a product. That product will always remain as something to look back on and improve from. I have two daughters, and it’s important to me that they see and hear about their daddy’s accomplishments. I thank my wife, Lola for supporting me through this creative journey,
Contact Info:
- Website: https://staycozysaturdays.com
- Instagram: dj__mixmore
- Facebook: Elshannon Simmons
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elshannon-kariem-simmonsb46a75146
- Youtube: @staycozysaturdays
- Soundcloud: Elshannon Simmons
- Other: instagram @houseof1000doorsllc
instagram @mixmorefit
Image Credits
House Of 1000 Doors LLC
Cornelius Jeffers
Whitt Phillips
@retrochrismedia