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With more than 20 years of experience Recording Connection mentor Ira Parker has worked with the likes of Anthony Hamilton, Gunna, Young Dolph, Jadakiss, and is the CEO of the acclaimed Maximus Music Records in Charlotte, NC. Not satisfied to teach just the fundamentals, Ira’s downright passionate about helping students acquire the skills, understanding, and insight it takes to launch their careers in music. We recently caught up with Ira to get his take on how to use one’s time during COVID-19, hear about his brand new 4000 square foot studio complex, talk about a number of his star students, and more.   Have any recent projects you can tell us about?   “I can’t tell you exactly to the extreme or how far they’re going because, you know, it’s not information I can put out yet. But I can tell you I am working with Anthony Hamilton on a number of different things and am having a blast. I recently filmed a segment of him singing the late Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” to raise money for COVID-19 relief. It ran on BET and was watched worldwide. It was a great way to help out. I’m working with J-Harris, which is a songwriter, a hook writer, [for an] incredible R&B act…. There’s a couple of other artists I can’t mention yet.”   Tell us about a number of your recent star students or star graduates.   “It’s hard to say stars because I feel like all of them have amazing potential and they have very unique characters. For example, Chris Williams, he’s one of the Advanced Engineering students. Chris has the ability to pick up [quickly] and be extremely detailed. Like on my advanced mixing when I was working on the G-Eazy mix, he literally was picking up everything I was doing. And not only did he pick it up, he questioned what I was doing to make sure he understood it. And then, you’ve got people like Malik [Franklin]. He’s a graduate. Malik is actually the guy that’s going to be over persistent….Malik picks up on details really fast. He’s over persistent, and he’s going to question you to death but I like it.   Kristin Gillespie, she’s a graduate….She can sing, she can play a couple of instruments, I believe, and she’s more into the folk music but her mind is open to all music. So she picked up on a lot of R&B and pop real quick. She even threw in a couple of harmonies by accident. I was like, ‘Yo, can we use that?’ She picks up on harmony and she picks up on soul and feeling. So it’s like everybody here is a star. I could go on….Then you have the original guy, Chris Hancock. He works for me now. So yeah, he’s a star.”   What was it about Chris Hancock that made you decide to bring him on?   “Chris showed me the absolute most astonishing achievements ever. He started matching me on what I was doing. That blew my mind. And he was paying attention. Chris came in every day. When I say every day, I’m like, ‘Dude, you’re supposed to call me before you show up.’ ‘I’ll be back tomorrow then, boss, if that’s cool.’…Chris really just stayed. He sat through every session. He sat through all my mixes. He sat through other engineers’ sessions and he just kept calling me and I was like, ‘Okay Kid, come on in.’”   Where was Chris at when he started the program? Did he have a lot of experience? A little experience? None?   “He had an idea. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things. He just knew he loved engineering. He loves music, and he loves production but he was not clear on the functionality, the translation of it. He really needed guidance. He needed to understand how the equipment works, the processes of mixing, recording. He was open to it all. Chris couldn’t tell you everything that’s in the room when he first started off. Now he can point out every piece of gear in here, tell you the voltage. He can tell you dynamics. He can tell you if it’s a condenser. He can tell you if it’s an optical compressor, an FET compressor. He’s on it now. And he’s also doing some of the analog console work. Before he didn’t know much of anything.”   You recently moved Maximus Music. What can you tell us about the new space?   “First of all, the building is 4000 square feet. It’s two rooms that were combined. We have a podcast room that’s literally 16 x 16. It has a high-definition recorder for the mics. Yes, I know that’s overkill. I’ve already pre-EQ’d the mics, compression EQ and everything to where it can actually adjust itself to your vocals. So it’s almost like I mixed and mastered your record as you’re speaking. Not only that, it has a broadcast system so people can go live…   The new lounge is like 1300 ft.². The podcast room is beautiful but the mothership is our 1000 square foot condo-style recording studio. I mean we have a 7-foot British console. Everything people have plug-ins for, we have the actual gear…   It is just a load of imagination. There’s screens in each room. We have a screen in the hallway … [so] the artists’ music video can play in a complete separate hallway that just enters the room, just to appreciate their value of being here…   We’re still going to build two more living quarters for clients that come from out-of-state to stay with us, and we’re going build a production room and another recording studio. The production room is to invite writers from all over the US to just come and write, just come and create.”   So Ira, how should aspiring audio engineers and music makers be using their time during COVID-19?   “First of all, you got to have the attitude. For every negative, there’s a great positive because in this business if you can’t think that way, you’re already doomed. So the way I look at it, I’m like this man, ‘Are you serious? The world just got put on pause.’ …So now take this time to build yourself….Take time to rebuild yourself, re-create your brand, be excited about it. You know what I’m saying? Take the time to really feel out what was missing before. So when this COVID crap blows over, which it will, you should actually be like 10 times stronger than what you were before it started.”   Want to learn how you can train with Ira Parker or any of the other talented Recording Connection mentors? Get started here.    

Powerhouse mentors Parker Ament and Danny Ferrare of XLNT Studios (Hollywood, CA) are the quintessential example of music producers who are entrepreneurial in their approach. In this interview we discuss how XLNT and their popular YouTube webseries XLNTSOUND came to be and we get their proven insights on making your own path in the industry.   So how did XLNT come to be?   Parker: About three years ago we were both making music separately, but showing each other our music and getting each other all pumped up and stuff… We wanted to find a vehicle to release our own music and produce individually. So, we were trying to figure out how to do that without a record label, without anybody else’s help…We wanted to do production clinics at the studio, but the studio wasn’t ready [yet]…We both watched tutorials online, like on YouTube all the time, and we were like, ‘Why don’t we just do production tutorials?’   Danny: We saw a niche, and also we just wanted to do it for fun. It just seemed like a fun thing to do.   Parker: So we could do those tutorials online and then have people come to the studio. In turn, that would get business for the studio and get our names out.   Many of your online tutorials instruct people on how to do remakes of popular songs. Do you consider that a good way to elevate one’s production skills?   Danny: When you’re remaking a song, what you don’t realize is that your brain is essentially learning, getting ideas and getting inspired by these things. So later, when you’re actually are creating your own music, you might remember a certain thing that you did for a remake that was really cool. It might be a completely different genre, and now you’re using that trick or that tool that you figured out while you’re creating music on your own (XLNTSOUND).   What are you doing on that first meeting when an artist walks into XLNT Studios? What’s the objective?   Danny: We want to get their expression and creativity out, and help them achieve what they’re trying to do. We get a lot of artists that have the ideas in their head, and they give us their tracks or like an idea, but they don’t know how to achieve what’s in their head. So I feel like that’s the biggest objective. I would say Parker and I, we have a gift at being able to meet people and get close with them really quickly. It’s just because we like people…   Just getting somebody in the room and not even really getting right into it, just making them feel comfortable with you as a person, expressing your personality and your true self; if you’re confident in your own personality, people will like you. Once somebody likes you, and then the vibe is really, kind of, already there, because you want to be making music with your friend, not some stranger.   That’s been successful for us. If we just get somebody in the room, even with the kids that are interviewing for us, wanting to extern with the school, we want to bro down with them and get to know them.   Parker: And when we’re showing them our stuff and when we’re listening to their stuff, we’re watching them. You know? We’re watching their expression in their face to see how they react to certain parts, and vice versa…You have to be attentive in that way, instead of just looking at the screen while you’re listening to music. You have to be present with them, if that makes sense.   Completely. So how should an extern handle themselves when you let them sit in on a session?   Parker: They should be like an attentive fly on the wall. So, the first rule is: you don’t say anything unless somebody asks you. And even when they ask you, you should keep it short and sweet. You can’t kind of go on tangents, because then that might drive the session in a certain way…   That’s super important because the reason why they’re there, in the session, is not for an opinion necessarily, it’s to learn how the session is going and to learn the process. So, I think it’s really important to be a fly on the wall when you’re an extern and literally take notes, if that’s your thing, or sit as close as you can to the screen, out of the way of the client and engineer, while really watching. Because, with every little note or trick, you’re going to be learning something new every second. Even if you think that you know everything, there’s going to be something that you didn’t know when you’re watching us or a particular engineer.   If students are really serious about making it in their careers, what should they be focusing on?   Parker: I think the biggest thing is putting in the hours.   Danny: What I found is, if I do something long enough, if I commit to doing something and I say, ‘Look, I’m going to make money at music’ or ‘I’m going to be a musician or a music producer,’ or ‘I’m going to have a studio,’ if I make a conscious effort every day to try to attain that, eventually it will happen.   What qualities do you look for in the students you choose to train?   Parker: The word is passion. We can see who is passionate about what they’re doing right when they walk through the door. Even if they’re shy, we can sense the passion. And I feel like that is the most important thing. If somebody is socially awkward or they don’t really know what to say during the interview or something like that, we don’t base any of that on what we’re looking for. We’re looking for passion, we’re looking for dedication, and we’re looking for somebody that is going to create their own path. So if somebody has the opportunity to extern with us, we want them to make their own path with the opportunities that we are showing them.   Follow XLNTSOUND on Instagram.   Learn more about Recording Connection for audio engineering, music production, live sound, Ableton, beat making and more.      

RRFC: Ira, you have a wonderful way of comporting yourself. What can you tell us about the best ways to present oneself in the world or in the studio?   Ira Parker: A professional attitude goes a long way. I tell people to check the ego at the door, keep an open mind, and for me, knowledge is the number one key for me for opening and being professional…Always kind of presenting yourself as confident [without bragging]…I tell people the bragging thing’s not cool. Some people will kind of go more in depth about, ‘I can do this, I’m this, I’m that, I’m this,’ when truthfully the work should speak for itself. So presenting yourself as a professional means for one, again, having an open mind. Presenting yourself to others: “Hi, my name’s Ira Parker with Maximus Music Records Studio. I’m the head engineer here, 750 clients, I’ve worked with eight different labels, major labels, features, production. You name it, I can be of assistance to you. Let me know what I can do.” That’s a really good opener for me when I go to establishments, like going to the legendary Saltmine, which since the 70’s has been one of the most amazing recording studios, from The Beatles probably all the way to Ariana Grande now currently. Going to places like that, how you present yourself is always going to matter.  They’re going to look at you and remember you, so how are they going to remember you? How are you going to present yourself professionally to where people are going to be like, “Okay, I like this guy or gal.”   RRFC: So let’s say you want to network, you’re out at a club in Los Angeles and you’re talking to other people. Should you be saying, “Hey, I’m an engineer, this is what I do,” or how does one network themselves in sort of a pseudo-social business environment?   Ira: You need to understand your surroundings, and this is the phrase that your mom or dad always said, “There’s a time and place for everything.”…You’ve got to learn when and where to present…Now, if this is more of an event where you shouldn’t really be approaching people, they’re kind of on a mission, then hold back for a minute. But like I said, it just depends on where you’re at…If it looks like the crowd you’re in front of are a little bit more in the area of performing, they’re writers or producers, then it’s a good time to go up to them and say, “Hey, I see you have interests out here. What music interests you out here?” You’ve got to give an icebreaker… For example, this is my little trick. Take it if you want to, I don’t know. I have a digital flyer on my phone. It’s a two-in-one. It kind of messes with people…My card or my digital flyer on my phone has a $10,000 mike in front of it and my boards. That’s automatically a, “Whoa, this guy is serious.”…It gives me an icebreaker and opening to present myself to them without doing the standard, “Hey man, what’s your number? We do music.” That’s like, no. Everybody is going to look at you like, whatever. It’s being creative, opening people’s minds, and making them think. They’re going to remember you…I’m not saying everybody should do it like that, but at the end of the day it’s how you present yourself at a time and a place.   RRFC: Do you think looking a certain way matters? And can people overdo it?   Ira: That’s a good question…Conrad Dimanche told me something very amazing. He told me that when you’re going to go out and you need to present yourself, you need to give a reason for people to remember you. So yeah, I believe that your image is everything. At the same time, you can overdo it. For example, me, I like to do the cool look. I like to have a graphic tee on, something that’s fit, not baggy, but it’s bright…I’ll have on some fit jeans or something like that. They don’t have to be designer. They could be some ripped jeans or something cool, but they’re fit, not loose…I would have very unique shoes on. I’ll find the coolest Nikes, like pink, gray, and white with a designer tee that’s pink, gray, and white. I have a skinny beard that’s kind of long, and I’ll have glasses to kind of match it—white, pink, and gray glasses, something really cool. When I’m in LA, for example, people will approach me at the airport. They’re always like, “You must be in the entertainment business.”…I’m not saying I wear Gucci every time I walk somewhere or Versace every time I go somewhere. It’s just presenting flavor, presenting who you are, your attitude, your spirit. If you can mimic your spirit on how you look, people will approach you first most of the time. And it’s cool. Be different. I do weird stuff all the time. …Everyone has a look. Everybody has something they’re known for. So you should do your own thing…Whatever you do, whatever your key features are, whatever you do that makes you who you are, you should hone in on that.   RRFC: Can we talk a little about your creative process? Are you one of these guys who, do you hear something in your head and then you want to put that down somewhere? Or are you more like messing with something and then something happens and that inspires you?   Ira: I’m the most random dude you ever met in your life. It’s ridiculous, but I make it work. But I fill up my phone recorders, I’ll fill up two phones with ideas of recording myself. If I’m in a car and I have a feeling, a melody that I cannot get out of my head, I’m going to put a recorder on, and that way I’m not going to get in a wreck, and I’ll hum it and beatbox the drums just so I can get a feeling by the time I get to some electronic goodies so I can actually lay something down…I’ll pick whatever melodies I’m feeling that I have on my phone when I get to it, I’ll drop a good portion of the melodies in my phone, and some way home in my porta-gig or the studio, I’ll at least get the melody out.   RRFC: How do you stay inspired? It seems like for creatives who work professionally, we have to measure our own level of interest and inspiration and know how to keep that well full.    Ira: Right…The thing is how do you keep the flair and fire going? I do weird things…[For example,] if I want an adrenaline rush and I need it on a track, I’ll [rent] a Corvette Stingray, dual exhaust turbo, like something dumb, and I will drive that thing for the weekend and just keep revving the engine, and it gives me ideas. It’s just the feeling in the drive, the rush, it makes me feel that adrenaline, and I’ll take my ideas on my phone and I go to the studio and I put that record down. I’ll start the beat and then I’ll go somewhere.   RRFC: Can you tell us about some of your students and recent grads that have stood out to you?   Ira: Absolutely. Wes Hagy—cool dude. Totally cool guy. Really great. The clients loved him here…The cool thing about Wes, Wes did the program here in North Carolina…We even hired him for a couple small jobs, and he got so inspired he moved to the West Coast. He moved to LA and he’s starting up his own studio out that way and doing production… Julia [Putintsev] is very outgoing…I think it’s super awesome that females get involved in the industry, and I don’t think there should be any type of waiver because she’s a female. I think females are just as great as dudes, and everybody has a great opportunity. I don’t see it any other way, and what she was dealing with at the time was her friends were kind of doubting her because she wanted to do music, and, “Girls don’t do stuff like that,” and I’m like, “Dude, are you serious? Yes they do.” And she was telling them the same thing. So what did she do? She got herself a new set of friends like I told her, and she came in here with her heart, her mind, and her soul like, “I’m going to do this, I’m going to be one of the baddest females ever to step into this business.”… Daniel Katan, which actually I’ve really taken a liking to, and I’m literally training him on my own…I’ve taken him under my wing along with doing the master’s program and training him also in studio management and everything, because he has a background as a financial advisor before he even got into this, and he’s really a good people person, and I need that type of spirit…Chris Hancock is every day going, “When can I come in? When can I come in?” I’ll get questions at all times of the day, all times of the night. I’m really busy but I love the fact that he’s eager to throw questions out, and he always listens particularly a bit closer than everybody else…I’m fond of all of them…Some of them stick out more than others by the questions they ask, the stuff I don’t think they’re picking up, and they pick up on it and drill me on it later…that type of eagerness is exciting because I know you’re learning. I know that the program for the Recording Connection works. I think it’s a wonderful program.     

A true music industry veteran, Recording Connection mentor Ira Parker is the owner and chief producer/engineer for Maximus Music Records, one of the top recording studios in Charlotte, NC, serving clients like Jadakiss, DMX and many others. As a Recording Connection mentor, Ira is passionate about training up new talent and always looks for opportunities to push his students to expand their skills. In a recent conversation with RRFC, Ira shared a bit about his own journey into music and offered some insights into his teaching style—and even shared how he sometimes gains new perspectives from his students, as well! The best nuggets from that conversation have been mined for you below.     ON THE TYPES OF CLIENTS HE SEES AT MAXIMUS MUSIC:   “We do all music. I guess it’s kind of a cliché because it looks like there’s a lot of rappers and R&B artists up there, but we do all music. My guys are very versatile. I do a lot of pop. I’ve been doing a lot of alternative acoustics lately with guitar and vocals. I’m very good at that. Me and my guys, we do R&B, pop. We do soul…Of course, we have done a lot of hip-hop. In the building, we’ve had Jadakiss, Beethoven Beats, we’ve had DMX, Naughty by Nature. Currently, we had Yung Joc, Yung Ralph, a couple of [the] Barrino family, which is Fantasia’s family–Joe Barrino, which they call Teeny on the VH1 episode…a reality show with Fantasia. We had her brother Ricco Barrino. Ricco, he does a lot of work, a lot of R&B work.”   WHAT HE SEES AS THE STUDIO’S BIGGEST ADVANTAGE:   “Our mixes are what we’re known for. Our guys are just amazing…We’re dealing vintage equipment and having it modified, power supplies taken out, more beefy power supplies put in, analog railings, the headroom and some of this older vintage equipment which allows us to push the envelope a little bit harder than anybody else.”   ON WHAT DREW HIM INTO A MUSIC CAREER:   “It was on my mom’s side of the family. My mom taught school. She was a teacher for 33 years, the majority of that. She was a music teacher for elementary kids, school kids…My uncle was a jazz musician named Matt Smith. [He] was like my hero when I was a little kid…I learn differently so I couldn’t–it was hard for me to pick up instruments like that because I repeat a lot. It was hard for me to go past measures. So I guess falling into engineering…I could just take steps and try to go over it until it’s correct. It’s more like problem solving if anything, so I guess it kind of really worked out, which makes me pay attention to meticulous details a lot of people just miss. So that may have made me keep coming up with my own sound. I’m even nerdy enough to take apart equipment and modify it to get extra measures out of a sound.”   ON WHY HE DITCHED COLLEGE TO LEARN HANDS-ON:   “I ended up going to school for broadcast communication. I was bored senseless…I was antsy, and we’re in the classes, some in the actual audio room…kind of like a station, but it wasn’t for the college set up…I ended up putting down broadcast. I just started following myself into audio engineering and ran into a couple of great guys at the time that were actually teaching me. I just kept learning from there.”   ON WHY HE MENTORS FOR THE RECORDING CONNECTION:   “I’m always providing information to and for someone and explaining it…It’s just a good feeling knowing that you can get that light bulb to go on in somebody’s head. This program should be for everybody: songwriter, artist, producer, engineer, whichever one you want to be…The biggest advantage is you’re working with the recording studio…instead of paying a very, very large amount, and maybe not acquire the attention that is needed…you’re doing all three at one time, you’re learning, then you’re learning hands-on, then you’re taking a quiz, and then you get to come in and watch it happen realistically every week. The only real way to learn is to be around it enough.”   ON HOW HE PUSHES HIS STUDENTS TO STRETCH THEIR LIMITS:   “I think if you’re going to be here, you should get pushed, because if you’re not pushed, you’re just going to be mediocre and moderate…You’ve got to push the limit. You got to jump on top of the mountain. You got to get up there somehow. So that’s what I do. I’m always trying to find, every week, I’m trying to find a new way to push the limit. I think everybody should.”   ON HOW HE GAINS NEW PERSPECTIVES FROM HIS STUDENTS:   “The really cool thing is people like Wes [Hagy]. Wes is curious. His curiosity leads to doors. Sometimes, it makes me scratch my head like, ‘I never thought about that.’ When he gets it, he gets it, and it’s so cool. The fact is he got it by working with me and working with the Recording Connection, and because I push him a little bit harder, then he starts pushing back, and I like that…Sometimes, I get new ideas because of guys like him. I’ve got Spence [Green], I’ve got Demario [Rushing], Chris Wedlock finished the master’s program. These guys are…totally enthused. They make it worth the reason to be in this business in the first place because you know you’re doing something that’s making a difference.”   ON WHAT HE LOOKS FOR IN AN APPRENTICE:   “First of all, I don’t have to do this; I want to do this. So if you’re really not going to take it serious, I’m not going to take you serious. I am going to go about my life that is serious, for other future students that might need mentoring they really want to take it serious, because at the end of the day, if you’re wasting your time, you’re probably wasting someone else’s time, too.”