We were lucky to catch up with Shannon Oli recently and have shared our conversation below.
Shannon, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
From projects I’ve done for myself as an artist, to projects with major artist to projects with hundreds of indie artist. I think my most meaningful project has to be “Writers Block” with the artist Nevv who is now a good friend of mine. He found me on Instagram I believe before he even released his first song (I could be wrong). Contacted me and we got to work. I produced, mixed and mastered the whole album which was such a pleasure because he’s a very talented and focused artist which is hard to come by on the indie level. The reason this project means so much to me is because it sparked a working relationship that is continuously growing and evolving as well as a friendship. I sometimes compare it to Noah 40 and Drakes relationship and or even Logic and 6ix. We went from songs getting a couple thousand streams to “Buried” just hitting 1 million streams on Spotify. Its amazing to grow and build with an artist who’s as dedicated as he is especially being the perfectionist I am. With that being said…We have a lot more coming.
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 artist/Producer name is Shannon Oli. I’m a producer/songwriter/artist/audio engineer and I also do photo & video. I am CEO of the label XII Productions which is a collective the artist and producers, Nevv, Charlie Rose, TrevB, Tre Dion, Donnough and Shannon Oli. As the label owner I/we offer custom instrumentals, mixing and mastering, recording, photo & video, graphic/cover art and content creation services. The most common problem I solve for clients is dialing in their creative sound, whether that be based off a type beat style or a feeling or vibe that they’re going for which brings me to what I’m most proud of. Which is, our ability to make artist and creators a like feel good about the product they receive and put out that has our stamp on it.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
My 9-5 is actually aviation based. I am a prior army aviator. Have been on about 9 deployments to various warzones. I got out of the army and started doing it civilian side…which is a lot more money. So really that’s how I funded my studio and music equipment when I decided that I WAS going to be successful in the music industry.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist and creative is being able to physically get my ideas out of my head and on to something that’s a hard copy that holds value. Its a good feeling knowing what you produce and or work on that starts from literally nothing becomes accounted for, heard or sold. I’ve always been a creative person, my first love with actually drawing (huge anime fan) and it evolved into music in my later teenage years. In the end I see enjoyment in being able to share my feelings with fans through music. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.xiiproductions.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shannonoli/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shannonolii/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/shannonoli
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/shannonoli
- Other: https://solo.to/shannonoli ^All My Links In One Place!
Image Credits
Shannon Oli XII Productions