Senior uses tech tools to create big beats

Rap groups have come and gone at CFHS, but one musician has the drive to keep going. Senior Michael Jeni describes himself as a young producer. Working with R&B and hip-hop beats, he has been producing and mixing since he was 13.

Influenced by Chris Brown, Drake, and Lil Wayne, he finds a mix of R&B and rap that works. “Often, it’s not really the artist, but the producer. I usually look for a sound of a certain song  and think, ‘This is the sound I’m going for’,” Jeni said.

Jeni has taught himself the ins and outs of producing. He started messing around with mixing software. “At first it was it was really, really hard. I started messing with the keyboards and it just sounded right. Out of nowhere I just made something, and it was really nice, so I kept doing it  and doing it over and it grew to something I love to do,” Jeni said.

Jeni has created over 24 songs and shared them on the web. He can be found on music sharing sites like DatPiff and Hot New Hip Hop, alongside famous mixtapes. “Bascially, any artist can use them. They just upload their mixtape there and people can go check it out and send it out to other people,” he said. He’s harnessed the power of social media by promoting his work on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube in hopes of being discovered.

Jeni mainly works with himself, except on occasions when he creates beats for others. “There’s a couple students at CF that ask for a beat to rap on, so I make it and they can do whatever they want with it,” he said.

Using Mixcraft and FL Studios to record beats, he incorporates a beat maker. “It’s a lot easier than using a standard keyboard,” he said. Besides mixing beats, he also plays violin, participating in CFHS orchestra. He’s incorporated that talent into a couple hip hop songs. “There’s a couple hip hop songs that have a violin part at the beginning or the end. I listen to it and go play it back on violin. If I heart it, I can play it on the violin,” Jeni said.

The toughest part of producing is coming up melodies to work off of. “I don’t really play the piano, I just play by ear, so I’ll be sitting at home trying to think of something, so I might go on Youtube tutorials playing piano and I’ll work off of that,” he said.

The future looks bright for the young producer, no matter what field he chooses to go into. He wants to go to college, even if it’s not for music producing. “I’ll just have that as something I do for fun or as a hobby,” Jeni said. Side project or not, Michael Jeni has got a lot going for him.