Tedd Boyd Talks How He Connected With Cousin Stizz, The Importance Of Honing Your Craft + More
I got the chance to connect with Tedd Boyd. A producer who's talent has landed him placements with artists like Cousin Stizz, Animé, The Underachievers and more! Make sure you listen to all the songs he's produced or been apart of producing his sound is truly rare.
You're from Boston, right? What was your upbringing like? And what was the music scene like in your area growing up?
Hey, what's going on its Tedd Boyd from Boston, MA aka your producer's favorite producer. My upbringing was typical of a musician but also unique, at least I like to think so. Being surrounded by music every day my parents playing their favorite oldies from Ramsey Lewis to The O'Jays. Being the second youngest out of my 5 siblings I also got experience my brothers and sisters taste in music. A lot of Maxwell Ginuwine, Prince, Wu-Tang, and OutKast were played at the house. To be honest I have no idea what the music scene when I got into music production I was like at 8 or 9 years old at the time.
How did you first get into producing music? How long have you been producing?
I got into producing music through my brother I remember we had a white Dell computer with a Pentium 3 processor (cutting edge at the time) in my parents room and my older brother aka Latrell James came home with a demo version of Fl studio 3 or 4 on a floppy disk (or CD I can't remember) and after that I was infatuated with sound and music production.
You've produced a lot for Boston artist, Cousin Stizz, when did you first connect with him?
The Cousin Stizz connection came through my brother. The music video for "Shoutout" came out produced by Obeatz and he let me hear it and pretty much was like: "Yo if you want to get some beats to him I'll send it through".
You produced "I Got It" with Latrell James another Boston native. Released off his debut album "Suffolk County" in the summer of 2015. Can you run us through making that beat?
The way "I Got It" was made was just capturing the essence and we got from "Shoutout". I was kind of on a triplet swing style at the moment and once I found the main melody riff on this Fairlight VST I was using I knew it was a go. The beat kind of just made itself. At that time, only like 4 beats were tailor-made for Stizz and 2 of them ending up being on Suffolk County.
You produced "Where I Came From" Cousin Stizz featured that song off his sophomore album "Monda” released in 2016. Can you run us through collaborating on that song with Stizz?
The mindset was alright we got the attention we wanted from working on the first project so now it was like do it on a bigger scale. I liked how Stizz rapped off the triplets on "I got it". So I just wanted do I got it on a bigger scale more dynamics more emotion. I am heavy in to like Japenese music and anime so I was doing some E-digging and found this Yuji Ohno sample once I heard it I knew pretty much where I wanted to take the beat. 15 minutes later I had most of the beat done and took another like 20 minutes adding additional layers the bells and vocal chops. None of my work so far has been in the studio with the artist oddly enough.
You've also produced for New York-based rap group, The Underachievers. When did you first connect with them?
I linked with the underachievers via twitter. They put out a tweet said they were looking for beats. I sent 4 or 5 beats and they took every beat. Issa called me and was like: "YOO we using all of these!" and that was pretty much it.
Let's talk about "Eyes Wide Open" off of the album "Renaissance" released in 2017. You produced that beat for the Underachievers. Can you run us through making that beat?
When I was making music at the point in time it was very cerebral so I had this sample by Beck that I found while I was digging at this flea market. I knew I wanted to use it and I kind of sat on the sample for a little bit. A month or two later I was consuming a lot of 90's hip-hop and one of my favorite drum breaks used in that era and still in this day is the Melvin Bliss synthetic substitution and was once I heard it again it was kind of like a light bulb moment I just put the two together and that was that. Like I like to say the beat made itself.
You worked with Animé, and Tee-WaTT on the "Hiccup" by Animé (feat. Gunna) released off the Album "ONEPOINTFIVE" in August of 2018. How did you end up connecting with TeeWaTT and Animé on the beat?
Working with Animé came pretty much from the homie Tee-WaTT that's one of my good friends. He was out in LA working and I sent over some melodies to him. He ended up chopping one of my melodies and making the beat around it that's how hiccup came about. Not much to it.
What's the best way to get into the music scene as a producer?
I don't know if there is the best way but what I would say probably is social media and showing face. Pulling up to shows meeting the artist you want to work with face to face and being available. I think also honing your craft comes first before that though. Sit down study different genres of music study the greats and find out what makes them different and unique and incorporate that into your music. The things I mentioned are pretty much the steps I took to get into the position I am now.
What's on the horizon for your music career in 2019?
A lot of big things under wraps right now I don't even know if I can mention them but some exciting things on the music production side. As for myself putting together another beat tape. I have an EP planned featuring artists I worked with so far in my career drum kits etc. The overall theme for me for 2019 and beyond is MORE CONTENT.