We recently connected with Max Arney and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Max, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
There are a lot of times I do wish that I would have started sooner. I started to learn how to make music in a DAW when I was 17 almost 18 and did not even fully understand how to write or structure a song together until I was about 20. Right out of high school, I attended Belmont University in Nashville, TN to learn to become a studio audio engineer and to also make music. At my high school, I was really the only person I knew of that made music by themselves on a computer. There were other singers and rappers making music but mostly hopping on “type beats” they found on youtube. When I got to Belmont, I was humbled very quickly in that just about every person I met not only made music like I did, they were MUCH better than me and I felt a lot of why that was the case was because they started much younger than I did. On average most of the people I made friends with that also made music said they had started around the 13-15 age range. That gave them 3+ years of knowledge of experience on me, so of course they were going to have developed some skills that I had yet to learn. I am very grateful however, that I learned so much from my friends that I feel it helped me gain a lot of knowledge very quickly and allowed me to become comfortable enough to try and start releasing my own music as an artist and to work well with other musicians that I had met! Though I wish I had started sooner because of the gap in skill between myself and other friends that made music, I also realized now (being 23) that if I wanted to become an artist I would have to 100% commit to my project and dedicate years to it. I feel that being older allowed me the perspective to realize that I have to think for the big picture of what it is that I am trying to accomplish. Planning goals and achievements that might even be years ahead of now. I do not think I would have come to that realization sooner had I started any younger. I feel that it would have still taken me up until this point in my life to truly realize that for myself so I am glad to have finally come to that realization first. The thing is, everyone will come to that point at a different age. For some, it comes much younger and others it might even be into their 30’s that they have this realization for themselves. I am glad that I feel I have reached that point for me and that I have begun the work necessary to help reach my creative goals.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Max Arney. I am a Bass Music Artist and DJ from Indianapolis, IN under the alias Urban Essence. I started getting into making music on my computer because of the style of dubstep and bass music that came out of Croydon, London in the mid to late 2000’s. This specific style of dubstep and bass music was deeper, much more emotional and expressive in contrast to the more aggressive, in-your-face style that became popular in America during the 2010’s. These types of genres are fun to listen to on their own, but to truly experience the core of these genres, they exist in their true form in the live context. A highly skilled and regarded DJ that not only play the music, but make it as well and a large, acute sound system are a combination that make for a therapeutic-like experience. Once I had found these sorts of songs and style of playing, I was hooked and could not get enough. I wanted to contribute in the best way possible to a movement of sound that has been flourishing in the underground bass music scene across the United States and United Kingdom for the past couple of years.
I set out to make a name for myself in the scene almost a year ago to date. I write and create my own style of dubstep and bass music songs to perform in my DJ sets and for others to perform in their sets as well. I put up all of my original songs and remixes up on my SoundCloud and Bandcamp page for free streaming or download. When I DJ, I usually play the latest songs that I have found to help push the sounds and genre forward while also incorporating my own music and music that came before myself and others.
I am most proud of the recognition and support I have received from other artists and DJ’s in the community that I look up to and respect in what feels like a short amount of time. In just under a year, I moved back to my hometown to set out on this specific journey of performing, making and releasing my own music and feel that I have made great strides rather quickly so I am proud of my commitment and work!
I would want for people to know that my mission for this project is not fame or money. I want to grow the project to a point where I can foster my own community to help try and solve issues in and around our immediate environment that are not able to be solved by any one person on their own. Things like charity events, fundraisers and community care to address problems that have been prominent for decades. I do not want to make this project about “me” I want to curate a way for people to come together to become a part of something bigger than themselves whether it is just for a good night to see their friends or to help fix problems within the surrounding communities. I want for this project to become a way for me to give back to the communities that I came up with when I was younger.
Have you ever had to pivot?
There was a time right about when I was 21 that I had to try and decide whether or not I wanted to continue working as a studio engineer or move back home to try and help make my own artist project realize itself. The genre that I make and perform has a very niche demographic and with Nashville being a primarily rock and country music oriented city, there were not a lot of opportunities to connect and put name out in the scene as it was almost non-existent. Because of this, I made a lot of music that was closer to the styles of 90’s hip-hop and boom bap, also making beats for and helping record other artists that I had met while I was there. After a while, I did not know where to take it anymore and I couldn’t help but gravitate to trying to make the music that got me interested in making music in the first place. Even though I had plenty of friends around me who made music, I couldn’t help but feel a little lonely in being the only one I knew of in town who made the style of music that I wanted to make. I think I knew of one production company that put on bass music shows and even then they didn’t throw them often. I knew that back here in Indiana, there were at least quite a few venues that hosted events like this weekly. I would not say the scene in Indiana is large, however it exists and that was enough for me to seriously consider trying for myself back here. At the beginning of the summer in 2022, I set my plan into action to stop pursuing my career as as studio engineer to work on my own music, the music that I really wanted to make and play and to also continue my undergraduate degree. It was an odd feeling as I was nervous about leaving Nashville because I had lived there for the past four years. I did not want to leave my friends and the network I had started to create but I felt the change coming within my gut and I felt that I had to follow that. I wanted to work on nobodies music but own and in July of 2022 and forth I have done just that. I am proud of that decision because I love the music I make and I love where it has taken me so far!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I would say the satisfaction of knowing I have committed myself to something through to the end. Such as writing songs or playing shows. Whenever I finish a song or finish a show I become in awe of myself for simply following through with my goals and it drives me to complete more. There is nothing like having an idea and realizing it in full from beginning to end all on your own. I also feel that the affect that it has on my friends is super rewarding. Every time I have a show it feels like its one night in a handful that all of my friends are able to see each other for the sake of having a good time. People are busier than ever it seems so when I am able to help facilitate a time for people I care about and who care about each other to come together, to me is a great feeling.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urbanessencedubstep/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/max.arney.75
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_urbanessence
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkd9ucBVQqw-JwkFqKoU6GQ
- Other: https://soundcloud.com/urbanessencedubstep?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing https://urbanessence.bandcamp.com/music
Image Credits
Paul Novosel, Jonathan Sonntag and Jacob Sonntag