Ange Meehan, a senior at Northwest Academy, has made $15,000 producing and selling beats online. Using Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs), Meehan creates tracks with digital instruments.
“I sell beats to people,” said Meehan. “[I] gave one to [a] person in the UK and another person in the US. They got a whole bunch of views.”
In fact, the tracks that sold for $15,000 received nearly 7 million views. Meehan, a musician proficient in violin, drums, piano, saxophone and bass, started experimenting with DAWs and music production in middle school.
DAWs are a type of software that allow artists to synthesize musical tracks using either live or digitized instruments. Meehan began working in GarageBand, using digital versions of the instruments he wanted in his music, which made it easier for him to compose original pieces. The ease with which tracks can be edited and tweaked prove invaluable.
“[With DAWs], I can edit [tracks] all I want,” said Meehan. “I can just listen to [the track] and then rephrase [it].”
Meehan’s favorite genres are R&B, jazz and boom bap. Drawing from his favorite artists — Pharrell Williams, Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis — Meehan seeks to find his own musical voice in his work.
“I create my own style, because every artist creates their own genre, ” said Meehan.
Another aspect of Meehan’s artistry is his continued relationship with playing physical instruments. He plays drums in the school band, and other instruments in his free time, and incorporates them into his music production through recording.
“I like recording my stuff on actual basses and drums,” said Meehan. “I have an electronic drum kit and a real drum kit at home. I use that to my advantage.”
He also has a bass, saxophone and MIDI piano that he uses while recording at home.
Meehan has taken the Arts After Hours Recording Studio class for four years, and has a fine sense for the minutiae of recording.
“If you’re gonna record, you wanna make sure [the mic is] set perfectly in the same setting,” said Meehan. “If you wanna record something with your phone, you have to keep it in the same spot — so even if you move a chair [in the room], it’s gonna affect your whole recording.”
Meehan’s expertise in recording serves him well in the classroom, as he often mentors newer members of the class on the nuances of recording equipment.
Looking ahead, Meehan doesn’t see his passion for music-making becoming a career, and doesn’t plan to go to college to pursue it. Instead, he wants a career as an air traffic controller.
“I plan to go to a training program [for air traffic controllers] in Oklahoma for two years,” said Meehan.
Reporting by Nakul Bharani and Shambhava Srikanth
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