We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ian Knox a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ian , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Music has been in my blood for most of my life. I’ve been singing since I was 8 years old which was when my mother sat my older brother and I down at our grandmothers kitchen table and started singing to us. She started singing “Don’t drink no wine, Whiskey is good and it’s easy to find”. My brotha started singing first and sounded HORRIBLE as he is not a singer. I came in right after and for whatever reason I started singing the song with tons of emotion, almost like I knew exactly what to do. My mom smiled at me and said ” We share the same gift”

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For a while I was just writing songs but not really recording until I turned 19. I met a guy who had a cousin with a recording studio in his garage. I auditioned for my friend by rapping to the most RANDOM instrumental he had which was C&C Music Factories ” Gonna Make You Sweat”. He was extremely impressed as to how I was able to consistently stay on the beat while freestyling and promptly introduced me to his cousin. I quickly started working in the studio which did not work out well as the label went belly up. In the end, it taught me a lot about studio etiquette and how to record properly. After leaving that label, I started learning about the business side of music, doing more live performances and getting a better handle on my songwriting and producing abilities.

Fast forward to now, My main objective when working with various artists is to take their raw music and make it radio ready. I spend the majority of my time producing beats, mixing and mastering songs which are the main services I offer through my website: www.mrknoxbeats.com. The two things that sets me a part from other producers in this business is the quality of my mixing and the many different genres I produce. it’s hard to pinpoint one type of sound from me but no matter what, you know it’s one of my compositions.

My goal is for an artist to hear the beat and instantly feel like it’s ready to go and does not need a lot added. I am also very proud to provide quality mastering services with the mix of digital & analog gear I have been blessed to acquire over the years.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I feel that doing music for money is the wrong approach. What I’ve always wanted to accomplish in the music industry is being able to sit back and listen to my own music and actually love it while having others love it/bond with it too. Sometime when you are creating your own material, you tend to be much harder on yourself and feel like it’s not good enough.

Once you start working with others who are complimenting your stuff or better yet, getting placements in TV and film, it adds a sense of accomplishment. This is what makes music so fulfilling by going from a making beats on a synth keyboard with headphones in a studio apartment to having a full recording studio in your home and the world is listening.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Many years ago, when I finished work on my very first album, I started looking at things more professionally. I obtained an entertainment lawyer who listened to the album and liked it. He started shopping my album to various labels. I was so excited that my music was being shopped around. Then the discouraging part came from the negative reactions to the album. Multiple record labels were providing very rough feedback and it was harsh. They were saying that my music was not good at all, I had no direction with my content, no image, and was not ready for the music business.

This was EXTREMELY hard for me to work through as it demotivated me severely and made me wonder, Why should I even keep going? I had to learn that you will get 1000 no’s before you get one yes. The industry is tough and I had to be tougher which gave me the drive to keep working on myself as an artist and producer and to never give up. My skin is a lot thicker because of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mrknoxbeats.com
• Instagram: mrknoxonthebeat
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrknoxbeats/

Image Credits
Noellehphoto