We were lucky to catch up with Alexion recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Alexion thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I’m 90% self-taught, and one thing I’ve learned is that you have to learn from your failures and have people who you can go to for advice. While I used my previous knowledge in music to help me get my sound to where I am today, I’ve had to use the other 10% collaborating and talking to other local and international artists. I thought I could solely watch tutorials on YouTube, but I was mistaken. There are simply some things videos can’t teach you that hands-on experience can.
The biggest obstacle that stood in my way was sound design and finding the right presets. Melodic house and techno is a genre defined by powerful and crazy sounds. It meant that I had to simply play around with different knobs and parameters which can get quite complicated.
Alexion, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got into DJIng and producing 6 years ago because at the time, I had a love for progressive house and big room music. For a brief moment, I decided to start doing freelance work for other artists and aspiring creatives before undergoing a massive rebrand focusing a darker, more powerful side of house music. 2022 was a big year for me because not only was it the year that I switched my name to Alexion, but it was also the year that I started DJing at clubs and music festivals. This was by far my biggest achievement because I was still in high school, and it was unheard of that an 18-year-old was closing out for some pretty notable DJs.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I think that people should buy downloadable tracks and engage with the artists they love on social media. Us artists rely heavily on social media, and it doesn’t help that certain algorithms only boost posts based on how many comments or saves they get. I also think supporting artists at shows or even the club is important to growth because artists make 95% of their income through this outlet. If people don’t show up, then there is a bigger chance that artists won’t get booked again.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
For the longest time, I thought that good music would always get streams and that any experienced DJs would constantly get placed for support at shows. It was an incredibly stupid thought, and I had to later learn that it was about knowing the right people and having the right connections. While this certainly is important, I think that the music industry should stray away from this mentality and approach it in a way that benefits artists based on how talented they are.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alexionmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexionmusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcNEpMFuVIcprLANkA7ROfA
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3GjfS2zSrxIzUaxHztkY2Z?si=MadklGJQQfyrHNhxLhLiug Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/alexion/1593193677 SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/alexionmusic
Image Credits
Garrett Cardoso Connor Morss