We recently connected with Jarred Barnes and have shared our conversation below.

Jarred, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project that I’ve worked on would have to be my last EP, Anima.exe. This collection of songs marked a turning point in my career, both sonically and aesthetically. Prior to this project, my solo material was primarily bass music. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and work with amazing singers and songwriters to put forth fully produced songs with concepts and deeper meanings. Unfortunately, listening to this project is bittersweet. After over half a year of creating the music, planning the release schedule and setting up promotional materials, my label and I couldn’t have ever imagined that a global pandemic would shut down the world and essentially halt the entire music industry. No more shows, no more fun, no more outside, just uncertainty and fear. The song Amethyst featuring Madison McFerrin was recorded RIGHT before the lockdown. All in all, when I listen to that project, I remember the good times before the pandemic and also the amazing sessions I had while creating it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Jarred and I hail from a town in New Jersey called Piscataway. My musical journey started before I was born. My family has always been musical. My Uncle was the lead singer of a popular band in the 80s, my Aunt is a vocalist and has several recordings in the 80s as well. My father is a bassist and blues musician and my brother is a producer DJ and was the one that introduced me to hip hop. I have them to thank for raising me in such a musically rich environment. When I was 10 my parents pushed me to take piano lessons. I realized pretty quickly that I could learn complex songs quite easily. From then I joined band in high school and stuck with my lessons all throughout my time there. Thanks to a partial scholarship, I was able to expand my knowledge and take my musical journey to the next level by attending Berklee College of Music. While there, I released several albums under the moniker The Arkitekt. Upon graduation I went back to the tri-state area and began climbing the industry ladder, eventually landing music production placements with platinum artists like Fetty Wap and the YBN Crew (Almighty Jay, Nahmir and Cordae).

While chasing these industry placements I switched my artist name to ARKTKT and continued releasing solo music and working with labels like Noisia’s Division Recordings, DJ Craze’s Slow Roast and Jamz Supernova’s Future Bounce Records. After a hiatus I’m now returning to my electronic music origins and continuing to release solo music in the months to come.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

One particular story that comes to mind is my experience with shady industry execs and a project from hell that I had to take part in several summers ago. Long story short I was part of production team that was essentially held hostage for months until we could provide a project for this “artist”. Me and a co producer were promised a publishing deal if we completed said project. The main issue was the “artist” was a total con and mentally unstable.
We were underpaid what was contractually owed and essentially strung along for months with the promise of more pay. I was forced to take part in the most toxic recording sessions any producer could ever imagine. There was drug use, manipulation tactics and threats of career black-balling if we didn’t come through with the product, which was the recreation of master recordings.
This was the dark side of the industry that I had been hearing about all my life and by the time I realized what it was, it was already too late; I was completely swept up in it. To make matters worse, I signed a new lease on an apartment before the sessions commenced. The sessions were only supposed to last 3 weeks but when it became apparent that we weren’t going to be paid until everything was “completed” I had to leave the sessions on one coast to move into said apartment then fly back after the move to finish. 3 months had passed during these “sessions”. Due to reasons brought on by the artist, we were unable to finish the sessions and not only was a deal off the table, I was now in thousands of dollars of debt and left without a job. It was a dark place and if it were not for family and friends and God, I would still be down there. Most would quit after an experience like this but I believe my story isn’t done. After a lot of healing and rebuilding I’m back and better than before with many lessons learned. Ready to get back to what matters, the music.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal with my art has always been to create something fresh that I haven’t heard yet. This concept keeps me on the right path whenever I feel stuck. I may not always succeed in this but that’s always been something I strive for with my solo music.
When I’m working with clients I try to incorporate this concept as much as possible while catering to the artists’ vision.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/ARKTKTmusic?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=97b5a9ce-2a28-4335-bf5d-f4d697a559ac
• Instagram: @ARKTKTmusic
• Facebook: @ARKTKTmusic
• Twitter: @ARKTKTmusic
• Youtube: @ARKTKTmusic
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/arktktmusic

Image Credits

RQLSNTS.Photography

E.La.She.Creates