We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alex Macias a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alex, thanks for joining 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?
Ever since I was teenager growing up in the San Francisco I always had a passion for art and music. Back in high school I picked up some basic guitar by hanging out with Skaters and Punk rockers, and all the while going out to Raves and shows in San Francisco Bay Area. I was doing graffiti at the time and the Graffiti culture was not just a being embraced by the Hip Hop scene but also the Punk scene, so there was lot of crossover, my friends and I would draw and play music all night, some nights we would end up at 924 Gilman, some nights we romed the streets of San Francisco, some nights were warehouse parties in Oakland were DJs played all night.
I had always wanted to be DJ as far back as I can remember. My friends at the time were picking up new things with music, samplers and drum machines. I knew if I got some turntables I could fit right in. I invested in a set of turntables and then began my journey.
I was lucky growing up in San Francisco I was surrounded with the best DJs in the world. I spent countless hours and picked up some skills, I then wanted more and started learning production from my friends. I learned how to sample and use studio equipment. I also enrolled in Sound Engineering classes and learned the fundamentals.
Being around all of that taught me to be resourceful and how to be productive with what is at hand. One studio might have a sampler, one studio might have a drum machine, I learned everything so I could be useful in any situation.
Alex, 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 am from the San Francisco Bay Area, originally and came to LA in 2011 to expand my network. I had a sound engineering back ground and had produced Hip Hop and DJ, and San Francisco was not enough for me.
When I arrived to LA I met Bay Area Radio personality Matty Staudt who had just recently moved from the bay as well. He hired to me to assist in production for new formed podcast for Kevin Smith called the “Smodcast”.
It was great introduction to podcasting and great learning experience. From there I went to DJ shows, clubs, bars, and museums. I also produced songs for artists such as Terrill Williams and J Claude, and more recently YB Ghosty.
During the Covid shutdown I got into house music production, I always dabbled with DJing dance music, and wanted to get serious about creating it. I ended with a mentor Ill.45 and hit the ground running. I created the “Johnny Hash” project from there. Since then I have linked up with DJ/Producer Robot Millennium and joined his DJ crew Serendipity.
Currently I waiting on my next release “When I See You” a dance single being released on Above the 10 records and will DJing Mama Shelter Dec 8th for their weekly “Utopia” event.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I feel as a creative something a non creatives don’t get is being in your head about life. Usually when I get stuck on something sometimes I tune out the rest of the world. It can come off as disconnected and rude sometimes. It cause me to lose sleep at times, and cause me to be a tad obsessive. However, I’m able to call myself out in these situations so my loved ones and friends don’t feel like I’m icing them out. It took a little time to get it to that point.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I wish I knew how to use a mentor earlier, I am glad I found one at this point. But I feel it would have been benefited my experience earlier, it would have expedited my professionalism.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @flightriskbeats and @johnnyhashofficial
- Soundcloud: https://SoundCloud.com/alexmacias213
Image Credits
Alex Macias