Modern Sunshine – “Hippy Hop”

During the last couple of weeks in December, I worked with Adam Tucker to final mix/master Modern Sunshine’s newest effort, the “Hippy Hop” E.P. It was my first time working with Derek (aka “Mod Sun”) as a solo artist (I tracked his previous band’s preproduction a couple of years ago), and also my first time working with Hip Hop of any sort, and it quickly became one of my favorite projects thus-far in my admittedly short career. The dude’s positivity and drive can only be described as infectious and refreshing. If you could bottle up this dude’s outlook on life and sell it as an energy drink, you’d be an instant fucking millionaire!

Of course, attitude is only part of the equation. Fortunately, his music is damn good, especially considering he just started really doing this last year. The dude got a nice mic, a good preamp, and a copy of Pro Tools, and in collaboration with a few friends and colleagues, he made a damn respectable EP. Honestly, most everything we did on these tracks was polishing what was already a fantastic effort. Of course, there were a few hurdles (a new reverb plugin for each vocal track nearly melted my laptop!) Fortunately, the dude’s out to learn and constantly improve his craft. There’s no doubt in my mind that both his music and his technical skills will continue to get better and better as the days/weeks/months/years go by. I doubt there’s anything that can stop this guy. Hopefully, he’s as excited to continue working with me as I am with him!

(aww, Steve made a new friend *tears*)

-steve.h