Part of this musical journey for me in Executive Producing the SPEAK N SPELL EP with Murs x Wiardon was understanding the ins and outs of the music business. As I got more involved, I started to gain more of an appreciation for the inner-workings of how a project sees the light of day. Artists like Murs and Wiardon put so much of themselves into their music that you can quickly pull from the beats and lyrics but the sound itself is something that you need another expert to help with. I’ve always heard about sound engineers and mixing and mastering but I didn’t know what it truly meant. I knew of sound engineers like DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, Bob Power, 40, Mixed by Ali, Mike Dean, Young Guru, and more but I didn’t truly understand what they fully did.
When Murs told me we needed to master this project, I didn’t have any clue on where to go next. So he told me about Nothing Else Productions out of Tulsa, OK. I quickly connected with Nothing Else and paid him for the work he’d be putting in to this project. But this wasn’t simply transactional for me. I wanted to learn more about Nothing Else and understand how he started working with Murs and his introduction to music as a whole. Sound engineers rarely get the shine they deserve but without them, we don’t have clean pieces of art through your eardrums. So how did a sound engineer like Nothing Else get linked up with the legendary west coast emcee Murs? Great question! The answer is through Groundwaves.
Launched in 2019 in partnership with The Music District and Bohemian Foundation, Groundwaves is a free open mic and rap mentorship program led by Murs. You see, when Murs was a youngster coming up in Los Angeles, he would attend The Good Life Cafe which was an open mic night held once per week at a health food market and cafe. Rappers like Freestyle Fellowship, Abstract Rude, CVE, and many others were pioneering abstract rhyming styles and techniques that had never been heard before on the mic. These open mics gave a lot of young artists like Murs something positive to look forward to each week whether they were planning to go on stage or just watch as a fan. If you haven’t seen the doc, This is the Life, I suggest you do so! It tells the story of the underground hip hop movement that took over Los Angeles in the 90’s.
The Groundwaves program encourages rap hopefuls to bring their raps to the stage for an open mic and a chance to work exclusively with Murs on their craft. The best part about Groundwaves was that it was hosted in cities where you’d least expect something this to be going down. Some of the different cities he’s been to with this are Fort Collins, CO, Bentonville, AR, and Tulsa, OK. It was in Tulsa, OK where Nothing Else was working at Whole Foods when he found out about the music mentorship program coming to town.
Nothing Else saw this as a message that he needed to attend. He was a big fan of Murs through albums like Murs For President and Have a Nice Life which were both exceptional albums. Nothing Else had been playing the guitar since the age of 10 and had been dabbling in mixing since the age of 14. In his early childhood, Nothing Else didn’t have any fellow classmates into music like him. So what he did was invest in his sound while messing around on tape decks, watching tutorials and just going through trial and error as a whole with the instruments and equipment around him. Nothing Else fell in love with mixing and mastering through the work of Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails around the age of 15. When I asked which NIN album specifically resonated with him he paused… Trent Reznor is Nothing Else’s main inspiration and it’s just cool to understand that a music cat like him can be a fan of metal, rap and other genres at the same time. Eventually Nothing Else told me that it was the album Downward Spiral that provided him the most inspiration with his future career endeavor. He just loved NIN’s texture to their songs and how dynamic they were and he tries to bring that same aesthetic to all of his work.
The ongoing Groundwaves event held monthly for a 6 month stretch gave Nothing Else a place to meet and network with other musicians and get over some some stage fright that he had. Of all places, Murs came all the way out to Tulsa? This was a sign for Nothing Else and he showed up for every single Groundwaves event. And it wasn’t just the open mic events as Murs gave artists the chance to sit with him and ask any questions they had about the music industry. Murs saw the work ethic and dedication Nothing Else had with music and further invested time into the young artist. In talking with Nothing Else about Murs, he told me that Murs was everything he expected him to be. Murs has built a a cult like following over the years for shaking hands and kissing babies wherever he toured. For anybody that’s seen Murs live, you know that he will come down into the crowd after his performance to meet as many people as he can. It’s rare for artists to do this but Murs handles the customer service like a G. He’ll take that pic with you but then ask you some genuine questions about your life. That’s dope!
It was Murs who told Nothing Else to quit Whole Foods to pursue his hobby full-time. I know firsthand how hard it can be to walk away from that full-time job, the money, and the benefits that come with it. But Nothing Else hung on every word Murs said and quit Whole Foods while deciding to never look back. Time and time again I hear about artists that have been impacted by Murs’ generosity and willingness to be there as a friend to anybody in need. This is something I feel isn’t covered in everyday hip hop editorials but it should be. Murs and Nothing Else’s story is one that is beautiful as Murs believing in Nothing Else gave him what he needed to take that leap. Nothing Else still remembers that first time Murs hit him up to mix and master one of his projects. Here he is trying to hide the fanboy in him while being a professional at his craft. But at the end of the day Nothing Else handled the mixing and mastering like a professional on “Adam Westcoast” from Murs.
Now that the SPEAK N SPELL EP is out now, it is cool to look back at how all of the tracks went from beat to song with lyrics to mastered track that will sound clean no matter where you bump it. I feel like sound engineers rarely get the credit they deserve as they mostly sit behind the scenes being perfectionists while obsessing with the various layers and instrumentation of a track. But through working with Nothing Else Productions, I was able to get a peak behind the curtain as this project came to fruition. I have a lot of young artists reaching out to me looking for placement on my various playlists that I have on Spotify. While many of you have beats and have your own recording software and possibly even write rhymes, please invest heavily into your mixing and mastering. Give my man Nothing Else Productions a shout out if you need some mixing and mastering on your project and make a sound investment with his skills as a sound engineer.
You can contact Nothing Else at nothingelseproductions@gmail.com if you need any mixing and mastering help or need a dope beat. Nothing Else got you on both!
