When I was a child, we weren’t very wealthy so the only form of entertainment we had was an Antenna TV set and a bunch of VHS tapes. My mother and sister loved Bollywood films and they usually have music incorporated into their films. This was my first exposure to music, so the more movies we watched the more songs I was exposed to. Thus, I began to sing along to these songs, and I guess that’s how my vocals developed. Flash forward a couple years in 7th grade, I started listening to more R&B/Soul, Hip-hop, Rap and Pop. I tried out for the talent show and sadly I did not make it, looking back probably due to my song choice that I wanted to perform. However, I thought it was talent related so I ultimately dropped this dream for many years till my friends in my first year of university convinced me that I had a great voice and I should practice. So, at the end of the day, it was a confidence issue and I had to take a leap of faith. Last year I started writing my own music and began taking vocal lessons and now I’m just working on my craft and continuously trying to improve every day and having fun with it. At this point it’s just a hobby, but I’d love it if it became something more.
Your track “Forget” is absolutely amazing! How did you achieve such a great signature sound in such a short time? Also, what is your creative process like?
First off, thank you so much. I get ecstatic when people enjoy my music and it motivates me to keep doing what I love, as I feel that every song, I make is a piece of myself. I wanted to create something very relatable, emotional and something that everyone could relate to. Losing someone you love and dealing with the aftermath. Also I have to credit RyiniBeats for his beautiful work with the guitar on this beat. To develop my sound, this summer I had a system in place to improve my music and obtain a style or sound that fits me, I called it the “Beat of the day”. Every morning I would go on BeatStars.com or YouTube and look for about 4 to 5 beats that I felt I could experiment with and possibly make a great record out of it. Then in my free time I’d try each of these beats and complete a concept for what I would want the song to sound like using my vocals. Essentially creating 1-2 brand new songs a day. The more I did this, the less the time it took to create vocal melodies for a specific beat, and I began to see elements in my sound that I could be like “That’s a HeLix melody”. Of course, this took around year to get to this point and I believe I can do better. The key discovering a signature sound is to just be yourself. I don’t like doing covers that much, because I end up comparing them to the original artists and that can really mess up my confidence, however, it is a good way to train your vocal ability. My creative process is very simple, I select a beat, layout my vocal melodies and then write to them. When creating a song beat selection is the most important element to me, if you don’t connect with the beat, you won’t connect with your vocal melodies, and then your songwriting will suffer. Producers do not get enough credit, they work hard, they are so talented, and without them there would be no HeLix.
Going over your Soundcloud we can tell you love experimenting with new sounds. Can you tell us more about your studio setup and some of your favorite plugins/instruments?
Most of the stuff on my Soundcloud is just me experimenting with my voice. I decided to put that out there to show my progress and go back to it in the future to see where I’ve grown and show others that if you put in enough work, you’ll see improvements. It’s also my way of expressing myself and not really worrying about what others think. My studio set up is barebones and simple, I’m transitioning to my own recording setup instead of buying studio time. The microphone I’m using is an Audio Technica AT4040 and my interface is a Scarlett 2i2. My engineer and good friend Felix utilize Pro Tools and other software to master my music for me. I’m not really educated on the plugin side of things but when I look for a beat, I love the piano and the guitar. I just connect with them easily.
Your music sounds very organic and authentic. Do you play any real-life instruments?
Thank you, I really try to be connected to every song I make. The ‘me’ factor is what I think contributes to the uniqueness of my music. I do not play any instruments, I treat my voice as one though with all the warming up and exercises. I tried playing guitar in high school, but all that theory stuff was so boring and I just lost interest.
What are your musical goals for the future?
One of my goals is to get heard and build an organic fanbase who regularly follows and listens to my music. Like I said earlier, it just gives so much motivation and drive to get even better and I like having that thought in my head that my music is bringing people together or making their day a better day. Another goal of mine is to start performing at venues and building up the confidence to perform anywhere at any time, just preparing myself for the future. I also would like to have a decent amount of content out for people to listen to. This is only my second single, but I have a lot more projects I’ve been working on and I’m excited to release them soon.
What are your goals for the coming months? Any upcoming projects we can get excited about?
I plan to release an EP next month consisting of four songs, one of which is already out called “Call Me”, and three brand new unreleased songs. Haha, I get excited just thinking about it. Then I’m going to end 2019 strong with a fun record that’s in the works in December and finally plan out my 2020 year.
Thank you Amber and HBT Magazine for my first ever interview. These questions really allowed me to reflect on where I’ve been and where I am now, and I can say that this leap that I took was one of the greatest decisions of my life. I’m excited for the future and where my path will take me, experiences like this make it look promising. “Forget” is now available on all platforms so show some love and have a listen!
