Most of us do not know the process in which it takes to make music. We hear it, we dance to it, input it into our IPods and MP3 players, and it’s very much a part of our lives and it’s so instrumental in shaping our lives, culture not only that it moves the world. There is a grand magic behind music and the magician behind the sounds that we hear. This would be the job of the producer. It’s a process that takes a lot of detail, technique and style. Indie producer Bink Wills is the definition of a grand master when it comes to music production. I spoke candidly with this soft-spoken musical genius as we delved into the process of music production.
It was great to finally sit down and speak with Bink whom was born and raised in church. He started out in the choir and from there his love of music just took of. Music production began and really became ‘more of an addiction’. From there he started hitting the studios with the likes of Tony Toni Tone and started working with a lot of R&B singers and even traveled with a band. Having that experience and being around these type of people really inspired him. When it comes to music Bink Wills goes all out, he plays the drums, a little bass and keyboard.
Hailing from Washington D.C. he came to California for love but ended up loving the atmosphere in California and it’s laid back feel he decided to stay. One producer he really looks up to is Chucky Thompson of D.C., a former member of Bad Boy Entertainment’s “Hitmen” team of in-house producers in the 1990’s whom has worked with the likes of Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans and Nas. His goal is to work with Chuck eventually. Bink hopes to become not just any music producer but one that is open-minded to other things such as movie scores and soundtracks. His style is more of an R&B, Jazz style and he does produce some gospel. As far as dream artists, he’d love to work with John Legend, Keith Sweat, Jill Scott or Erykah Badu keeping up with his old-skool roots however, the sky is the limit. With that being said we delved into the obvious that being the acknowledgement of how much the music industry has changed. He went on to explain how it has changed in that it is ‘moving much faster than it used to. The young people that are coming in don’t realize that they have a lot more tools then they had back in the day, and the network is just huge. The independent audience has a way of molding themselves on a higher scale then it used to be. That’s why the music industry is really, really picky as to whom they will select. It’s moving fast but the heavyweights are pretty much taking their time. The Internet has a major influence on a lot of these artists bank-ability as far as a following. However, a lot of these independent artists are better than the people out here, but that’s because a lot of them do not have the direction in which to get themselves out on a broad scale to become visible’.
Advice for some one just starting out in the business as a producer is to get a bio, because people are going to want to know who you are and to get yourself out there so you can establish yourself, it’s all about artist development, you have to push what you are selling. You want people to know who you are so they can relate to what you are trying to sell because a lot of people are going to be looking at you. As far a social networking, that’s a great tool to use. You want to keep it professional because a lot of the top people will be looking at your stuff so you don’t want to be talking about drama with your baby mother or anything like that.
So, is Hip-Hop dead? Is it violent and how do you feel about it and the rejection of some Hip-Hop? Bink went on to say that, ‘it isn’t dead because it’s beginning to evolve because they are collaborating with other genres like rock and Jazz etc. But you have to understand that hip-hop sells because of drama in a certain sense, just as sex sells. However, I feel hip-hop will never truly die out.’
To describe Bink Wills in one word it would be, talent! That’s it. If he had another word it would be “out-going”.