{"id":3296,"date":"2022-05-09T07:11:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T07:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/byta.com\/blog\/?post_type=methodtomymusic&p=3296"},"modified":"2022-05-09T07:11:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-09T07:11:54","slug":"zanda-elwood","status":"publish","type":"methodtomymusic","link":"https:\/\/byta.com\/blog\/methodtomymusic\/zanda-elwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Zanda Elwood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Where are you based?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m based in the South-East of Melbourne, Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How, when and where did you start making music? Are you primarily a musician or a producer, or do something else?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been around music since the day I was born, my dad bought me my first acoustic guitar when I was about 3 years old. Over the years I played guitar growing up though I continued to be a huge Hip-Hop fan (again, thanks to my dad for that one). When I hit highschool I somewhat made the decision to focus on Hip-Hop\/Rap music. I felt that I couldn\u2019t exactly sing like the rockstars I grew up listening to, but I still wanted to make music and be the front man. So primarily I\u2019m a musician\/songwriter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who would you consider some of your biggest influences when it comes to your \u201csound\u201d?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, my sound<\/a> is really spread out. I don\u2019t like sticking to a certain sound when I make music. My goal is to create my own sound through the inspirations I had growing up. My main influences in Hip-Hop growing up were artists like, Eminem, Notorious B.I.G, 2Pac, Bliss N Eso, The Hilltop Hoods. But as I got older I started to find more artists like, Mac Miller, G-Eazy, Joe Budden, Post Malone, Russ and Jelli Roll. Though I still listen to a different variety of music. I\u2019m still a huge fan of bands like, Guns & Roses, Bon Jovi (again, thanks dad haha), ACDC, Ed Sheeran, Luke Combs, Muse and so on. Honestly I think my songwriting stands out more due to the fact that my variety of listening isn\u2019t restricted to one genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explain your creative process? Do you have a routine?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For me the beat comes first 9 times out of 10. I like to sift through the beats I get sent from producers and see which one speaks to me the most at the current time. The beat has to match the mood I\u2019m in, the beat is honestly one of the most important components in music and a lot of rappers forget that when it comes to selection. Sometimes I\u2019ll write for days, others I\u2019ll write for a couple hours. Though no matter what I\u2019m doing or where I am, I\u2019m always writing notes in my phone of random bars I come up with inside my head. It\u2019s like a curse sometimes because I get lost in my thoughts and don\u2019t always concentrate on conversations because of it. Though I just can\u2019t seem to help myself sometimes – but that’s how I feel the best music is made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your \u201cstudio\u201d setup?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I record out of SP Records in Melbourne with my Engineer, SLothy<\/a>. We\u2019ve been making music together since 2020, but we\u2019ve known each other for about 8 years now. The studio is amazing, I don\u2019t exactly know the gear but whatever you hear that comes out of that studio always sounds professional, has international sound quality and is run by a team of some of Australia’s best. So it\u2019s always a privilege to represent SP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your process when working with other people? How is collaboration different in the studio vs working remotely? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I\u2019m doing features, or collabs or anything of the likes it usually works well. If the other artist is from Melbourne and they can get to the studio with me then that\u2019s perfect. Otherwise if they can\u2019t due to being in another city, we simply talk on the phone. I\u2019ll wait for the song to get sent to me, if I\u2019m digging it I\u2019ll jump on the song. It\u2019s extremely rare that you\u2019ll find me in another studio, and it\u2019s also extremely rare to hear me on a song with an artist I don\u2019t exactly mess with. If that makes sense? I did a verse for a kid named Mitch Montano not that long ago – he\u2019s based in Queensland so he recorded his bit from home and sent the stems to SLothy so we could work. The song came out great. Though I always prefer to record a collaboration with that person in the room. Though I don\u2019t write with that person, I just bring what I\u2019ve got ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At what point(s) are you comfortable letting other people hear what you are working on?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Back when I was starting out it was mainly my friends who I did show my unreleased stuff to. These days the camp I work with at SP have probably heard 70% of the unreleased stuff I have in the bank. It always depends on the song, there are certain songs that only myself and SLothy have ever heard, as well as the other people that generally come down to the studio while I record. So these days I\u2019m always comfortable to show my unreleased music to people – just depends on the song and who that person is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you share<\/a> your work in progress (streams or downloads)? Any technical frustrations? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I always like to keep my streams public with my fans, I don\u2019t have any shame sharing that my \u201clatest song cracked 1,000 streams\u201d on Spotify in a couple days. Those numbers aren\u2019t huge, but any success is success, it’s always a WIP but streams aren\u2019t hidden, anyone can check your monthly listeners so why lie? I\u2019m all about progression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Byta delivers fast and secure audio sharing<\/h3>

With Byta you are in control of your music. <\/p>\n Read More<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How do you know when a track\/album is finished?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once SLothy adds his touch in with the mix and master and I\u2019m happy with the vocal recordings we generally bounce the track and leave it. I\u2019ll listen to it for a few days and see if there\u2019s anything I need to change or re-record. But generally speaking, I tend to write songs, record them and stack them away. Some get saved for future releases like albums or EPs and some get stacked away as singles that will be coming out over time. I know the track is finished when myself and SLothy are happy with how it came out. Transparency is important, so if SLothy isn\u2019t digging it, or I\u2019m not digging something he’s done to the mix, we always tell the other. That\u2019s how we always ensure the best work and know that the songs finished, because we\u2019re both happy for it to be released in the future and have both our names on the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you listen to the final mixes\/mastered work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I listen to all my final mixes and mastered work firstly at the studio, at the end of the session when the tracks are emailed to me, I\u2019ll play them for a couple days while I drive or through headphones while I\u2019m out and about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How important is pre-release security<\/a> when sharing new work? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I haven\u2019t had any horror stories yet (thank god) but I\u2019m always careful when I share work, usually you\u2019ll only hear it from my phone or if we\u2019re in the studio we\u2019ll open up my session folder. Otherwise no one has any of my unreleased work unless they are a part of the team that works alongside me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who on your team gets to hear the final versions first and why, what formats do they each need?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Excluding myself and SLothy, the people that hear any final versions of a song before it\u2019s released are a select few. My live drummer Lil Gerbz has a stack of my unreleased work, though he needs it in order to create the live drums for when we play shows. But in reality I show my partner first,  she\u2019s always honest with me and tells me if the song is a bop or not. Due to her not being a musician her opinion is always taken on board. I want the outside listener to enjoy what I\u2019m making. Other people include my videographer ZacoBro, Matthew Craig and Frank Tremain at AUD$<\/a> and a very few selection of friends. Anyone who gets sent one of my unreleased songs always gets it in WAV format<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of your inner circle who are the people that will need to hear the new tracks next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whoever makes sense to hear them, whether that’s a friend that isn\u2019t exactly in my music circle or it could be industry people that we work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anything you are working on, anyone you are working with and want to share? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Right now I\u2019m working on a range of single releases for 2022, I want to showcase the different styles I have behind the mic and show people that I\u2019m just as diverse as the next artist. But secretly, between us? I\u2019m working on my debut album slowly too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3298,"template":"","categories":[14],"class_list":["post-3296","methodtomymusic","type-methodtomymusic","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-methodtomymusic"],"yoast_head":"\nZanda Elwood | #MethodToMyMusic - Byta Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Melbourne hip hop artist and rapper Zanda Elwood speaks with Byta about his music creation process, collaboration and influences.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/byta.com\/blog\/methodtomymusic\/zanda-elwood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zanda Elwood | #MethodToMyMusic - Byta Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Melbourne hip hop artist and rapper Zanda Elwood speaks with Byta about his music creation process, collaboration and influences.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/byta.com\/blog\/methodtomymusic\/zanda-elwood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Byta Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BytaLtd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-09T07:11:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/byta.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mtmm-zanda-twitter.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/byta.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/mtmm-zanda-twitter.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bytaltd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/byta.com\/blog\/methodtomymusic\/zanda-elwood\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/byta.com\/blog\/methodtomymusic\/zanda-elwood\/\",\"name\":\"Zanda Elwood | #MethodToMyMusic - 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