Benson and Tonic Productions
Advertisement
» go to the music page for more
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Phazed
play lo-fi play hi-fi  Hustlas Anthem
The production team that you have been waiting for is now here.Benson and Tonic grew up in a Caribbean environment and became close friends, where it seems like they always had something up their sleeves. Their musical careers began separately, Benson as he is infamously known, began his career observing local dj's in his town and instantly falling in love with the craft decided to learn from at the time the most talented dj on the island Dj Quxx. He quickly learned the ropes and performed at many parties and shows even surprising himself with the talent that he had developed at such a young age. By the time he was 20, he branched off to help younger kids develop their (What we call in the Caribbean) Sound Systems. Around 2003 Benson was introduced to a program formally known as Cool Edit (now Adobe Premiere) by Dj Quixx and again instantly fell in love with it. His love for music and now new technological advances, Benson furthered his knowledge of music mixing and creating to a whole new level. Today, Being the humble student that he is, is now mastering the craft of music production at every angle possible. From composing to mixing and mastering he is definitely on the right path to success. With his roots coming from Antigua in the Caribbean and Kenya in Africa from both parents and then being born in Chicago Illinois doesn't hurt the fact that his musical diversity is one of worldwide proportion. Tonic at a very young age learned the art of Classical piano as most young students he urged for more musical knowledge. During his final years of high school, Tonic became involved in becoming a dj and quickly learned the art as he had many friends who were involved in the art form. Tonic became known as Dj tonic and was affectionately called this because of his inner energy like the old energy booster SSS the iron tonic. He gave up his dj days to further his education as an engineer in the United States where him and Benson (who also retired from the scene) linked up once again but this time for a different journey together. They realized that their love for music had not burned out just yet. Although being very young in the music business we guarantee that there are very few producers that have such a diverse musical background spanning from as far east as Japan to the beautiful islands of Hawaii. Benson and Tonic are geared and ready to take you on a journey that includes musical composition beat making and fusing their Caribbean flavor with world genres like hip hop, r&b Zouk, Soukus, Soca/Calypso, Reggae and many more. Be sure to check out their music and support them enormously.
Why this name?
We chose this name simply because of our childhood nicknames. We were Looking for Simplicity and at the same time a catchy name, i think Benson and Tonic works!! What do you think?
Do you play live?
Well, we grew up playing live and mixing records on turntables back in the day and djing for parties and shows etc from time to time we do it but not as seriously as we used to.
How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?
Oh my goodness. We are in the information age now Technology has changed our lives and i embrace 100 percent what technology has done for the music industry simply because you can get so much more done from the comfort of your office or home studio etc. Its absolutely amazing and i cant wait to see what else comes up in the coming years.
Would you sign a record contract with a major label?
Probably not because we like to work for ourselves and we like to independently contract ourselves out and be free to work with who ever we want to weather its Universal or Bad Boy or just a local Cat that needs a hot beat for a cheap price. So we probably wont but it all depends on the terms of agreement
Band History:
CHECK INTRODUCTION......
Your influences?
Where do we start? There are too many to mention because of our musical backgrounds and cultures but We love each and everyone that contributes to the world of music not just American music but music on a whole weather its a young kid in the village banging on something and invents a new instrument to the world class classical instrumentalists out there so we cant really put a finger on our greatest influence because once our represent music in a musical sense then you influence our way of thinking period.
Favorite spot?
New York City, Paris France, St Johns Antigua, Nairobi Kenya,London England...and More to come once we start traveling more
Equipment used:
Mostly Software, a Few Midi Controllers M-Audio Preferably. We Desperately want to get an Open Labs Miko or Niko probably an Mpc and a few other Hardware. Some software we use Mostly come from Native Instruments, East West, Yellow Tools, Big Fish Audio etc. Top of the line stuff to ensure Quality Sounding Tracks
Anything else...?
We Believe in Giving consumers a fair deal weather we sell a beat for 300 dollars or 3000 dollars we want to make sure that the consumer is not being robbed of his/her money and is getting a great product Because in the end you want the Rapper or singer to come back to you and work with you again and we really want to work with a lot of up and coming artists as well as the already established artists....Holla at us anytime Peace
Join The Mailing List
We will not store or use this email address other than for this newsletter.