Interview with beneboi

Beneboi won the beat contest we had going through October, below is an interview I done with him.

OPENING

Tell us a bit about yourself, your name, age, where you’re from, and anything else?
My name is Vaughn Coldewey and I come from Fort Worth, Texas.

MUSIC

Where did you get the name beneboi? What does it mean?
I made it up. It used to be Le Benebois, which was just supposed to be some fake french word, but I would always be called “Bean Boy” at shows so the name just kind of stuck.

What genre(s) of music do you produce? What’s your favorite?
Thats a really tough question, I suppose these days I produce primarily hiphop.  My favorite genre of music is probably 60’s Tejano or Columbian music.

How long have you been producing? What first got you interested?
I started making and recording music when I was 15 years old (1998).   My cousin gave me a copy of Cool Edit Pro and Sonic Foundry Acid and that was pretty much it, I was immediately hooked.  I started out trying to recreate music by some of my heroes: Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Plaid and focused primarily on techno/IDM music.  In 2002, I started becoming interested in hiphop and I guess I haven’t really looked back since.

What’s your inspiration?
Haha, I’m not sure.  To be honest, probably Marijuana.  I don’t think I have ever worked on anything or felt inspired to work on anything without being high.  Jah bless, rofl.

Do you Sample, Compose or Both? What do you prefer?
I think this is a misleading question, because I compose with samples, and I would never see sampling and using electronic instrumentation as mutually exclusive.  When I sample something, I chop it up, pitch it, assign it to a keyboard and play a new melody with it.  Even when I record live instruments I treat them as samples.  I suppose these days I have been a bit more focused on using synths than sampling records, but if you were to listen to any of my songs you would see examples of both.

Do you use software or Hardware to produce? Which Software/Hardware? Which do you prefer?
Most of my drum beats are tapped out on my 505 and then compressed and mixed into Adobe Audition for multi-tracking and vst’s. I use Propellerheads Reason/Recycle for synths and exporting midi files to control audition.  I run everything through hardware compression (dbx) and most of my samples come from records I get at second hand shops.  I record live instrumentation for alot of songs (bass, trumpet, guitar, drums occasionally.)

When did you decide you wanted to take your music seriously?
I don’t take music seriously.  I have a small studio and I get fairly regular work, but I don’t depend on it to survive or anything.  I will quit doing this the moment it stops being fun.

What are you trying to do with your music? Do you want to help your community? Are you trying to get rich? What is your goal for your music?
I’m not really trying to do anything or make any kind of statement with my music.  I’m not trying to get rich or help out my community.  I just like to smoke weed and sit down and make something that sounds cool.  I suppose after doing this for so long I should have some kind of philosophy behind it, but that’s all there really is to it.  Just making stuff I think sounds cool and smoking drugs.

Do you have any kind of management, publishing or distribution teamwork behind you? If so what are their responsibilities?
I run a small netlabel called Headfoam.

What are some accomplishments that you have achieved, and are most proud of?
Winning the Crazypellas beat contest. Haha, no, I’m not sure, I have won lots of laptop battles, and online remix competitions and that sort of thing.  I suppose the accomplishment that makes me the most proud was working with Pimp C before he passed away.

Have you ever made any contact with big time people in the industry and do you keep in contact with them?
Yes.

CRAZYPELLAS / INTERNET

Can you tell us how you found CrazyPellas?
Google, probably, searching for some acapellas.

Has this forum helped you at all in your musical journey?
No?  I have only been here a few weeks to participate in the contest, but all the other threads I have started have been largely ignored and I have run into some pretty arrogant people that make me not really want to return (real talk, sorry CP)

What made you post your music online?
Being a narcissistic self-absorbed asshole?  Lol, I’m not sure, why do any of us post our music online?  To stroke our egos?

Do you feel like the internet is helping you as an underground producer?
No, if anything I feel the internet has almost doomed most underground producers, because no matter how good you are there are 3000 people just as good waiting in line right behind you.  It has made available large libraries of samples so that people dont have to crate dig anymore, or even make their own shit.  Someone can just download a bunch of loops and throw them together and call it a day.  I think the internet has destroyed the creativity in a large number of people trying to produce music today.  Why does almost every “underground producer” (i.e. kid messing around with some computer software) have to directly copy some other famous producer?  When I listen to peoples beats, most of the time it sounds like the same person is making all of them (Check out the homemade beat subforum and you can see what I mean.)  I feel like the internet has cultivated a society of guys trying to bite off of eachother and then in the same breath diss eachothers work.  It’s maddening and I only see it getting worse.

IN CLOSING

Do you have any upcoming projects, events or anything?
I am finally finishing the debut Beneboi full length as well as producing the new J-roc and Plus Ultra albums.  I am also trying to get a netlabel off the ground, and I am looking to sign a few more artists if you guys wanna get some demos to me.

10 years from now where do you want to be?
Mars, but I’ll settle for the moon.

Any shoutouts you want to give out?
No.

Any final things you want to say?
Thanks for running the beat contest, I will definitely participate in any more you have in the future.

Finally, thanks for taking the time to do this interview!

You can check out beneboi’s beats in the Homemade Beats forum on CP, and on MySpace.