We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Freddie Harb. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Freddie below.

Freddie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I first got into music when I was in third grade. We had a music class with Roland MIDI synthesizers that taught us how to make simple beats twice a week. I loved it and bought a little Casio keyboard at home. When I got into high school, I was really involved in the skateboarding scene which definitely shaped my perspective on music. I was constantly listening to local Z90 DJs on the radio like DJ Rags and Smally Bigs and other underground hip-hop DJs and groups that I fell in love with. When I met Chris Cutz in 12th grade, we bonded over music and were inspired to buy turntables. We started playing around with recording tapes and DJ’ing on vinyl. After we graduated, I tried to go to college but none of the classes really connected with me. The one class that did, however, was my audio engineering class. I completely threw myself into learning the ins and outs of recording and was already working with local rappers, singers and artists. Inevitably, I knew that this is what I wanted to do full-time so I decided to leave college to pursue music professionally, and well, the rest is history.

Freddie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

When I left college, Chris and I started to play gigs underage with local promoters such as Matt Spencer (the now-owner of SDCM) in downtown San Diego. While playing a show, we were introduced to a rapper named Blest and a neo soul singer named oneson that recently left a record label and had made their own. We started working with them to make more music and we put together a compilation with a bunch of friends which landed us a worldwide distribution deal.

When Blest and oneson moved away, the label was quickly put to a halt. The mp3 came out and everything I knew about the music industry was rapidly changing but my DJ career continued to grow and flourish. At that time, I was working a job at an insurance agency to make ends meet and started to quickly learn how offices and agencies worked. Eventually, we had an opportunity with LRG Clothing to create a mixtape that would go in every box of clothing they sent out to stores and featured it at the MAGIC Convention (Fashion) while simultaneously getting booked more and more as San Diego’s music scene grew. Chris, our friend Mikey, and I started getting so many booking requests that we had to pass them along to our friends who were other talented local artists. We ended up doing this so often, we revamped the label into a booking agency and thus, the idea for Sleeping Giant Music was born.

Taking elements of business I had learned from the insurance agency, we started signing on both local artists and bigger artists including two of my idols growing up: DJ Demon and Mike Czech. In 2012, we decided to join forces with Troy Gilmore at Blue Moon Management. Through Troy, we merged again with Angel Matos (from In the Sound Management) to expand our agency to Miami’s market in 2016. Together, we built Sleeping Giant Music to where it is now. Today, we have a national and international roster of artists and offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Miami.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I would say that the most rewarding part of my job is the ability to be involved in other artist’s careers and to watch them grow. Also, I have developed so many key relationships in my life through a mutual passion for music that I am incredibly grateful for.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I’d say my main goal is to take the lessons I have learned in the music industry to benefit others pursuing a career in music. Through years of experience of running a booking agency and as an artist myself, I try my best to pass on my knowledge and skills to coach others around me both personally and professionally. Sleeping Giant Music is actually launching two programs soon that will hopefully help us as a company continue to help others. We noticed that there was a common misconception that getting a booking agency would solve many rising artists’ problems- when in fact, there is much more to the industry than that. Therefore, we built out a program named SGM University to teach new artists how to start their business, build their brand, and market themselves to eventually attract agents and managers. We are also launching Simply Gigantic, a brand new PR agency, that will aim to bridge the common gap between artist’s and publicists in the industry. Our sole mission is to build personal connections with artists, venues, and labels and help them market their work so they can focus on their craft. Both are launching within the next few months and I am incredibly excited to share.

Contact Info:

• Website: sleepinggiantmusic.com / djfreshone.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deejayfreshone
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deejayfreshone
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/freshone/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/djfreshone

Image Credits
https://www.jeffcorriganphoto.com/