Exclusive Interview
Jun 19, 2020
Produced by: Rudy Manager
Edited by: Eethan Bello
Mick Schultz - “Music will speak the loudest.”
We are excited to share an interview with a Grammy-nominated music producer and songwriter Mick Schultz. Mick has been closely working with Jeremih as well as produced for artists such as Rihanna, Zendaya, Kelly Clarkson and more. The interview was conducted by Rudy Manager and Eethan Bello.
In the interview, Mick details his music beginnings, discusses success with Jeremih and his involvement in working with A-list artists as well as provides advice to upcoming music producers. Team Studio Talks interviewed Mick Schultz over the phone from his recording studio in Malibu.
Were you always into music and what kind of music did you listen to when you were growing up?
I loved music as a kid and honestly I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t producing. I got into that at age 11, I was pretty much into music production my whole life. At that age, it was specifically hip hop and rap, hearing Dr. Dre and Eminem, that era is what got me into producing.
Was there a specific moment when you realized that you wanted to be a music producer?
When I think back on it, my introduction to music was when I got some turntables. I was DJing in my bedroom and at a few high school parties. I would record songs off the radio and chop them up on cassettes. Then I got turntables and I started getting vinyl every weekend and soon after that, maybe a year, I realized playing and mixing the music is cool, but I want to make this stuff. After that, I realized that I want to learn how to actually make these records.
Were there a lot of “musical” people around you when you were growing up?
In my family my cousin is musical, he’s a bass player. I had a mentor named Eric who was older than me and taught me a lot about the technical side of production and got me into Pro Tools. But I actually didn’t have a best friend that was super musical or anyone that I was leaning on or really inspired by. It was really me. People always ask, “Were your parents in music?” I’m like, no. I fell in love with it and I just started chasing it on my own.
Have you worked with artists in St. Louis before going to college?
Mick: I worked with artists and people from my school. There was a group that I worked with when I was young, but it was just experimental and I was just trying to collaborate with people. It was a genuine mindset, but when anyone at my school wanted to make music, I was always down to do that.
Did you study a music-related degree in college?
I went to Columbia College and that’s why I moved to Chicago. I was majoring in Audio Arts and Acoustics which is more of the technical side, the mixing, but I was only there for a year. I was only attending class for like six months because everything with Jeremih happened so fast. I studied some music in school, but 99.99% of what I’ve learnt has not been in school.
How did you meet Jeremih?
We were both going to Columbia College and when I moved to Chicago, I didn’t know anybody. I was there just like, “Let me dive in,” and I was excited to be in school, but I was there to meet people. Not like I didn’t want to learn, but I knew, “Hey, let me go to an art school where there’s a lot of people that want to do music and I can take this collaborating thing to the next level.” I was fortunate to have an apartment, I convinced my parents that I didn’t want to live in a dorm. When I saw all the dorms, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to make music all hours of the day. I had a little apartment and my studio was in the living room. One day, Jeremih came over to do a hook for a track I was recording and it was amazing! I was like, “Wow, this guy is awesome!” I was instantly inspired on a level that I have never been by somebody else. That was the initial introduction, I think I met Jeremih for the first time in 2007 because that was when I moved to Chicago. We met right before the new year and that was the beginning of our relationship.
Was Jeremih making music before you met?
He was making music, but what we were doing was new for both of us at that time. We both just met and it was like this whole new-found love for music and what we could do collaborating.
Have you worked with other artists in Chicago besides Jeremih?
Not many people in Chicago. Over the years people have always asked me, “Can you introduce me to anyone in Chicago like writers and artists?” And I lived there for almost five years which seems like a long time, but I met Jeremih so early and the first three-four years I was so focused and so much was happening with Jeremih that I wasn’t working with other people at that time. I was really focused, either traveling with him or we were working for months and months on end working on those first couple albums. I worked with some people, but I did not get deep into the culture there and all of that.
How many songs did you make together with Jeremih before you started releasing them? Did you have a catalogue of songs ready?
We put a song on Myspace, but then we actually released a song called ‘My Ride’ to the radio with our manager. The song ended up being on his first album. But leading up to ‘Birthday Sex’ we probably recorded maybe 15 or 16 songs with a couple of extra ideas and almost every song ended up on that first album. It’s not like we had 50 records. Once we had 15, it was like, “Ok, what are we going to do?”
(Mick Schultz produced and co-wrote ‘My Ride’ by Jeremih)
Did you have a manager at that time? Or was it just you and/or Jeremih trying to figure it out?
It was both because when I started working with Jeremih there was no one involved. I was trying to collaborate with artists at that time because I knew by myself, especially in 2008, to get your music heard, it was very important to collaborate with an artist and get a song. The local WGCI-FM in Chicago had, I think it was, a “local music Monday” where anyone could go up and play music for the DJs to be considered to be on the radio. Everyone was focused on that. I did a bunch of records with Jeremih and some other artists and I took it up to the radio station and that’s actually where I met our former manager, his name was Luis, he did radio promo. I was playing records for the DJ at WGCI-FM and I just remember him calling Luis like, “You should come in here and hear this shit,” so he came in to listen. I was just a kid hoping that someone likes any of this and I get a play on the radio [laughs]. So Luis came in and he seemed to love it, the DJ seemed to love it and Luis was like, “Hey man, I want to meet you and the artist that you’re working with.” We had a meeting after that within a week and Luis was like, “I want to manage you guys, what you guys are doing, keep doing it, it’s special.” Luis did radio promo for some of the major labels, I think he was new to managing artists, but he was someone that had some foot at the door and experience with the music business which I knew absolutely nothing about. I didn’t go to school for music business, I was a creative.
Was your former manager around when you released ‘Birthday Sex’?
I have to credit him. For Jeremih’s first album, we flew to New York and we played the records to A&Rs at labels trying to get a record deal, we played a bunch of songs and received good feedback, but good feedback means nothing. We went back to Chicago empty-handed. ‘Birthday Sex’ was made a little bit later. I remember we did a second trip to New York to meet a few other labels that were slightly interested. We played them ‘Birthday Sex’, but we were just two kids and nothing was going on. In hindsight, I understand that these labels don’t want to gamble, they want to see something going on. We couldn’t get any type of deal without any music out, so we went back to Chicago again. In the fall, around Halloween in 2008, because Luis did radio promo, he had very strong relationships at radio. I think all the stars really aligned because we had good music and we also had an “in” at the radio station. I remember guys would get their records played, but it was just so hard. There were a couple of hot local guys, but it was very rare to hear someone cut through. So Luis said, “Look, let me take the records out to the radio station and just see. I’ll play it to the Music Director and maybe they will like something.” He took it up there, and this moment I remember, I was sitting at my apartment with Jeremih and I get a call from Luis and he’s like, “Can I leave ‘Birthday Sex’? They like the record.” Bam, she was the one who said, “I want ‘Birthday Sex’ out of all of those records.” It wasn’t like ‘Birthday Sex’ was the single, we just had a body of work. Right now, of course, I knew ‘Birthday Sex’ was a great record, but back then I thought they were all great. So, I probably wouldn’t have probably known which song to drop as a single. Luis was like, “We should leave this with her,” and I don’t even know if they said they were going to play it, but I want to say at that evening or the next evening at like 5 PM, which was like the primetime, they played the record twice, back to back. Once that song played, it was game over, I had never seen anything like it, that song played and instantly we were performing in the clubs, the phones were ringing. I was running Jeremih’s Myspace at the time. Myspace was ending, but it was still a big platform to put music on and the numbers started going through the roof, thousands of messages to Jeremih. I’m like, “Holy shit, this thing is going!” So, Luis really was a major part of making that happen.
(Mick Schultz produced and co-wrote ‘Birthday Sex’ by Jeremih)
How did your classmates at college and friends react to the success of ‘Birthday Sex’?
We were famous at the school all of a sudden, it was weird. My friends from back home were at other schools sending me videos of the record playing at the campuses and it was surreal. It was like an out-of-body experience that first year or two because I was young and I was very passionate and I have always been about the music and I always dreamed of doing exactly what was happening, but it was just like, “Whoa! People know the song,” I was in disbelief, getting messages every day like, “Yo, I love the record, this is crazy!” I’m like, I can’t even drink alcohol legally but I’m going to the clubs and Jeremih was performing. We did a show where he was on the podium, like a high stage and the fans almost knocked it over. I’m like, “This is crazy!” and it was all genuine, there wasn’t money thrown into it. I did invest some money, which I’m talking small amounts, but enough to get some photos and to get the artwork for the single, that was it. The song took on its own life, we weren’t running ads online, there was no streaming, so we weren’t trying to get playlisted. We had radio station support and the public just literally ate it up, it was wild. I say that sounds so simple, but I think when something does connect, even today, it just takes on its own life, you can’t really stop it at that point.
How was the process between you and Jeremih working on the album?
It’s very collaborative, Jeremih is super musical and knows what he likes when he hears it. It’s not like there’s a set formula, but at that time I didn’t make beats for him or prepare ideas or do sound design. I was learning about the process in general, but we would just sit down. I’m a piano player at heart, so I would play some chords and Jeremih would start writing and I would build the track as he was writing. Sometimes Jeremih would have an idea for the music like, “Maybe we could do this,” and I would have an idea for the melody, and it was just a back and forth thing, that’s the way we work best, just bouncing [ideas] off each other. I know a lot of people would bring in an idea or have something already prepared, but for us, it was just on the fly. I would record him as I would be adding stuff to the production and everything happening at the same time.
When you moved to LA, how was the transition and how long did it take you to work with artists there?
I moved in 2012-13 and it was instant because I had hits, that’s the real reason. People were willing and wanting to work. There were writers and opportunities because I was coming here [LA] not to get started, but I had several platinum records, so people were down to work. Then right after that, I had two more platinum records. Within a year of moving [to LA], I did a record with Zendaya, ‘Replay’, which was successful. Not that you have to have hits to work with people, but I think that coming to LA was a smooth transition for me because I had things going on and some people knew who I was, that helps. Also, I worked hard and I never said no when I came out here. It was like, “Writer? Yes, I’ll do it. This artist? Yes, I’ll do it.” I said yes to everything and I think that’s very important especially when you’re getting started. It's important to build a team and a network of people that you like to work with and find out who your match is. Collaboration is an important part of getting your record out. So, when I came out here, I wasn’t like, “I just want to work with so-and-so or this big artist.” I was working with tons of new artists and writers, no ego, none of that, just like, “Yeah, let’s work!” And I said, yes to everything for a year.
(Mick Schultz produced and co-wrote ‘Reply’ by Zendaya)
You solely procured the first two Jeremih’s albums. How did you find the transition of coming to LA and collaborating with other music creatives?
Even to this day, I do collaborate and I’m open to it. When I came to LA, I wasn’t collaborating with producers whatsoever. I was working with songwriters and they would come to my studio, I would produce or have tracks and they would write to them, or I would be put in with an artist and if the artist didn’t write themselves there would be a songwriter and I would be doing the production. At times when I think about it, I did everything, I would produce, I would cut the vocal, get the rough mix ready. I did all the steps, but it strengthened me as a producer because doing it with Jeremih helped me understand that it’s not just about beat-making. It’s not about making a beat. It’s about how you take an artist and give them a sound. A producer is supposed to help achieve the best song, they don’t have to play the instruments, but I always played everything, it was what I was used to. I didn’t know any producers to collaborate. So when I moved down here, I wasn’t working with any other people on the music side. I was just doing it myself.
What was the process of working on Rihanna’s album and producing ‘Desperado’?
Mick: That’s easy to tell in a short story because it was very straight forward and this goes a lot to building your network. The songwriter Rook [Monroe], who’s an amazing writer and I'm good friends with, he was working on Rihanna's project at her house in Malibu and I was living in Malibu. I remember him calling me saying, “Hey, I’m working on Rihanna's record, you should come by and work.” I’m like, “Ok, I don’t know what the situation is, so let me bring like 15 beats that I have that I think will be dope for her and we’ll go from there.” I went over there and met him, Rihanna was there, we got to talk for a minute and then Rook and I literally went off. I was playing him a bunch of stuff, the guy is so fast he wrote a couple of songs that night. Then she’s listening to the songs that are being written. I guess her manager and her A&R listened and a week later I got a message, “Hey, Rihanna wants to cut ‘Desperado’, she likes this record, send the files.” And of course, I would have loved to be involved, but Rihanna has her process and I respect it, she’s incredible. So I sent the files and that’s how the record happened, really straight forward. The track that you hear on her album, that was it. It wasn’t like, “Oh, she cut it and then I did the production,” there weren't notes, none of that. She cut it, made it sound amazing, and there was ‘Desperado’.
(Mick Schultz co-produced and co-wrote ‘Desperado’ by Rihanna)
What’s your opinion on producers sending out beats to artists, A&Rs, and the remote working on projects?
I think you should do both because everyone is in a different position and there’s an opportunity that can come from every angle. I would never say that you have to be in the room or you should be sending beats every day. There was a while where I wasn’t making beats, I wanted to be in the room, be inspired, and create it custom-tailored every time for that artist. Then I go through phases when I’m making beats and just putting ideas together that I can play for people, but I think you need to do both. If you can’t be in the room, of course, you should send tracks out even if you don’t get a placement because some A&R or someone else can hear that and be like, “I really like that and I hear what you can do and I want you to come to meet this person” or “You should work with this artist because they like your beats.” They might not use those beats, but they might need you now. Or you could work with artists, but when you have free time, it doesn’t hurt for you to send some tracks out to people that maybe you are unable to get face time with. It’s having a balance and everything works a little different for each person, but you’ll find whatever that winning formula is or whatever inspires you, and do that. I love being in with the artist because it’s very personal for me and I’m passionate about that. I do love making beats because that’s how I got started in hip hop, especially now during the quarantine I made a lot of beats, but I love connecting on another level. I think the magic comes from that.
What advice would you give to upcoming producers trying to get placements and work with established artists?
One, constantly try to push yourself with the music every day because the music is always the most important. Music will speak the loudest. You can network, you can have an amazing following on Instagram, a YouTube channel, and that’s cool, but you gotta always work on your craft, don’t stop. Just because you have a hit, that doesn’t mean that you’re the best you could be. Push yourself every day, learn something new. And I think the other side if you’re doing that and making great music is the collaborating and the network side because having a team, even if it’s one person, it doesn’t have to be like, “Oh, I got the manager, the assistant, the lawyer,” you need somebody on your side. So making sure those two elements are strong, you’re good and then what we just talked about, sending beats out and being persistent. Don’t be afraid to be a little aggressive. It’s ok.
Mick Schultz created a series of sample packs Paragon Kits full of unique and original sounds.
Follow Mick Schutlz’s educational Instagram page @paragon_kits where he shares his wisdom and knowledge about music production.
More Blog Posts
See our latest blogs
