Imagine a songwriters’ circle, but for music producers, online.
The vibe
The Producers' Circle is not about expertise, but about community. Each session, participants share various pieces that they have worked on, explore how they made it, and receive a wide range of feedback from peers. It's all love.
Sometimes the hardest part is sharing something that isn't "finished." The more opportunities we have to develop that muscle, the easier it becomes.
You don't have to be a producer to hang out. Listeners are more than welcome, too. No pressure 😊.
Overview
This drop-in, co-curricular initiative seeks to support Hart House’s Hip Hop Education by bringing together beatmakers, producers, and music creators, primarily from the U of T community, in an informal and open space to share beats, tracks, techniques, questions and ideas.
The aim of these sessions is to create a supportive music production community of practice, dedicated to creative expression and artistic development. Whether you're just getting started or have been a producer for many years, this session is meant to be an inclusive environment for music producers of all levels and anyone interested in music production.
All genres of music are welcome!
This event is strictly for educational and community-building purposes. No copies of the sampled track will be created for the explicit purpose of distribution or monetization.
Event formats:
Sample Challenge: We provide a track and you chop it, sample it, flip it and create something new. We all share in a non-judgmental space.
Drop-in beat / track share: Bring any music you’re working on, or something you made ages ago! The point is to share music, learn from each other, and maybe get a few collaborations off the ground. All genres are welcome!
Workshops: We’ll bring in a guest to share their knowledge, wisdom, and approaches to various elements of music production and the industry. These are informal discussions, and not so much "presentations." Guests will also hang out and listen to tracks from the group.
Schedules
| Date | Topic | Guest |
|---|---|---|
| Wed, Jan 13 | Drop-in / Beat Share | |
| Wed, Jan 27 | Mixing Essentials Workshop and beat share | Calvin Hartwick |
| Wed, Feb 10 | Artist / Entrepreneur Workshop and beat share | Colanthony Humphrey |
| Wed, Feb 24 | Workshop and Beat Share | Solitair |
| Wed, Mar 10 | Workshop and beat share | David Strickland |
| Wed, Mar 24 | The Art of Sampling | Pursuit Grooves |
| Wed, Apr 7 | Drop-in / Beat Share |
Facilitator
-
Marco Adamovic a.k.a. Vic Adamo
Program Coordinator
Marco is an educator and cultural producer. As an educator, Marco strives to facilitate positive and healthy environments for creativity, connection, and collaboration to thrive. As a cultural producer, he is a multi-instrumentalist, beatmaker, songwriter, and organizer of the things. He works with people, machines, and (mostly) good ideas. His family emigrated to Turtle Island in the 1970s from the former Yugoslavia. Marco is a graduate of the Mille Rotman Shime Academic Bridging Program, an alumnus of Katimavik, and holds an M.Ed in Leadership, Adult, and Higher Education from the University of Toronto. In closing, Ball is Life.
Guests
-
Jan 27 speakerCalvin Hartwick
Recording Engineer, Producer
Calvin Hartwick is a recording engineer and producer based out of Toronto, Canada. Upon graduating the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology (OIART) in 2012 he went on to receive the Couvillion Memorial Award a year later recognizing his success and hard work post-graduation. Since then he has become the head engineer and manager at Dream House Studios located downtown Toronto.
A few notable works he’s been apart of include the Grammy nominated album ‘Freudian’ by Daniel Caesar (2018), four Juno nominated/winning albums such as ‘Dawn Chorus’ by Jacques Greene (2020), ‘Touch’ by July Talk (2017), ‘Can’t Fly Without Gravity’ by k-os (2016), and ‘Freudian’ by Daniel Caesar (2018) as well as the self titled album by Cadence Weapon (2018) which was nominated for the Polaris Prize.
Calvin continues to passionately engineer and produce at Dream House Studios with the many artists that he fortunately crosses paths with every year.
-
Feb 10 speakerColanthony Humphrey a.k.a. Cola H.
Multi-instrumentalist / producer / songwriter
Cola H. paints the artist mold with pristine quality and taste. His genre-breaking palette refuses to be in line with the regular as he leads ventures in both music and business. From punk rock, hip-hop, to R&B projects, Cola H is just getting started.
Cola draws outside the lines and paints his own path in music and business. The Toronto- based multi-instrumentalist/producer/songwriter enjoys the abnormal and adds his own colour to punk rock as the drummer of The OBGMs, touring extensively as the drummer for Sonreal, to hip hop collaborations with Clairmont The Second & DijahSB.
-
Feb 24 speakerSheldon Pitt a.k.a. Solitair
Hip Hop Artist and Producer
Sheldon “Solitair” Pitt is a Toronto emcee and record producer, as well as a founding member of the now defunct Black Jays record label and production team. In the late 1990s, Solitair formed as a part of a Hip Hop collective known as "The Circle" alongside artists such as Kardinal Offishall and YLook. In 1998, Solitair released his first 12" single titled “Silver Surfer.” By 2000, he and Kardinal Offishall founded a production company called Silver House and the Girl (S.H.A.G.). Together, they largely produced for various local hip-hop and R&B artists. Solitair's first internationally successful production was Kardinal's single “BaKardi Slang” (2001) from the album Quest for Fire: Firestarter, Vol. 1. By 2004, Solitair and Kardinal renamed their label Black Jays. In 2006, Solitair began to collaborate with Cipha Sounds of Hot 97 – together they produced under the production name “More Fire” for artists such as Nina Sky, Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes, DJ Khaled, Jim Jones, Elephant Man, and Trey Songz. On his own, Solitair has worked with Nina Sky, Glenn Lewis, Cham, Maestro Fresh Wes, Rascalz, Kardinal Offishall, Ivana Santilli, Jully Black, Choclair, and Sugar Jones among others.
-
Mar 10 speakerDavid Strickland
Engineer, Producer, DJ
David "Gordo" Strickland is an Indigenous, Toronto born and based award-winning engineer, mixer, producer and DJ. Known for being behind the boards on iconic Hip-Hop and R&B records for over two decades, his work has graced seminal tracks by the likes of Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, EPMD, Keith Murray, Redman and Method Man, to records by ground-breaking Toronto hip-hop acts, including k-os, Ghetto Concept, Jelleestone, Kardinal Offishall, Jully Black, Choclair and Drake.
David has deep family roots running generations back to the East Coast along Mi'kmaq, Innu and Beothuk lines. His latest album, Spirit Of Hip Hop (June 29, 2020, Entertainment One), highlights some of North America's Hip Hop progenitors and innovative Indigenous artists alike to share an embodiment of the teachings, art, traditions, and music of the community, aligned with his Indigenous heritage. Spirit Of Hip Hop (Remixes) arrived on November 20, 2020 as a follow-up featuring fresh takes on the album tracks by Gordo himself, and some of his esteemed colleagues. From control room to canvas, David is also a prolific visual artist that has been featured at many galleries across Canada. Currently, one of his original pieces graces the Indigenous Now playlist on Apple Music.
-
Mar 24 speakerVanese Smith a.k.a. Pursuit Grooves
Producer, DJ, Instructor
American born, Toronto based Pursuit Grooves has released numerous sonically adventurous projects on labels such as What Rules, Deepblak and Tectonic to name a few. Her most recent album Bess is a tribute to the first Black American female pilot Bessie Coleman. Creating genre-bending soulful and bass laden electronic music she has performed internationally at theaters and festivals as well as hosted workshops on creative sound sources and unique music production techniques. She served as consultant and instructor on a forthcoming Disney film (Fall 2021) about young beatmakers. She also co-runs the monthly producer/sampling event Loop Sessions Toronto.
Other things to know
- This is an Online Event that will be held on the Zoom videoconferencing platform. Download the Zoom desktop app here
- The session will not be active until shortly before 5 pm.
- You'll want to have your DAW and track ready to go before we start.
