Being a manager with Steez Promotions has afforded me some insane opportunities, by my favorite part of the job is getting to work with up and coming artists in the area. Seeing the pure, raw talent of so many local artists gets me excited about where the Electronic Dance Music community is headed. Kyle Beatty, better known as ADEY8, is one of those artists who has blown me away the past few months. Now, he’s about to drop his debut album, “Edge of Darkness”, just in time to keep you busy during quarantine.
ADEY8 has only been producing for a year, yet has managed to create an incredibly talented masterpiece that will take Bassheads by storm. We had the chance to sit down and chat with him about his upcoming album and how it all began. Here’s what Kyle had to say!
FMF: Hey ADEY8! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us about your upcoming album, “Edge of Darkness”. Before we dive in, can you tell us a little about your background in the EDM world? How did you get started?
Kyle Beatty: Megan first off, I wanted to thank you for reaching out and taking the time to work with me on this! When I was a little kid, I always found the music to be extremely interesting. I used to watch festival after-movies and I was floored. About six years ago I bought my first DJ controller and started to mess around on it. Shortly after I would try and set up at every little gathering. One thing led to another at college and I was playing bigger “events” and then massive tailgates. I wanted to see how far I could take it, so I reached out to other colleges in the area and actually ended up doing a small tour with schools from Delaware down through North Carolina, ending up in NC on the weekends. This ultimately landed me with my first actual show playing direct support for SLUSHII in Wilmington, NC on his little “College Campus Tour with Monster Energy” performing in front of around 2,000 people maybe. This was probably what I consider to be one of the bigger turning points. Once I graduated college, I was lucky enough to make a smooth transition into the club scene continuously landing slots as an opener for some pretty big names.
I’ve had the pleasure of getting to see you open up for some of those huge artists over the last year, like Slander at the Hijinx Festival after-party, and even got to work with you as an opener for Borgore’s tour stop in Virginia Beach. You always have a strong stage presence. Has it always been easy for you to perform?
You know I honestly think the answer to that question is yes, I love performing and putting on a good show. Sometimes I think I probably look like an idiot, flailing my arms around but you know your kind of just black out and let the music take over. When I was little, I used to do the talent shows, and I worked at a haunted forest which was almost like acting, which in turn kind of taught me how to put on a show. I always thought to myself “why do people go to shows?” You go to hear music, yes, but you’ve heard it a bunch of times in your room on your headphones. You buy tickets to a show for the live experience! You want to see your favorite DJ put on a performance. Maybe it’s Excision and his crazy visuals, Pretty Lights with his lasers, deadmau5 and the cube, or Steve Aoki and the cake. It’s a live experience that you can’t get through your headphones listening to Soundcloud. For the small number of shows I’ve actually put on myself, I’ve been lucky enough to partner with some good friends of mine at AR Entertains. They bring out their massive LED walls, CO2, and special effects because it makes for an unforgettable experience!
How do you differentiate your sets from others to make sure you stand out when you’re playing for new fans?
Referencing back to the previous question, I try to put on a solid performance and interact with the crowd verbally or with my physical movements. On another note recently I’ve been trying to find and use songs that are from artists that people don’t widely know. I hope that it sparks the thought that this is something new to the listener which hopefully draws them in. You know I could play the songs that everyone is playing, all the heavy Dubstep and Riddim songs, or I could go my own route and play some midtempo/Industrial tracks which are on the newer side of EDM but definitely still have some heavy-hitting songs. I think every other DJ would tell you the same, but you try to play songs that people don’t even know they like yet which holds true for sure.
Where did you get the inspiration for the name “Edge of Darkness” for the album?
I’ve always been intrigued by the darker aspects of life, ghosts, omnipotent beings, hauntings, and whatnot. Which is where I draw some of the inspiration you hear in the album. However, sometimes I feel like the album is the darker half of my thoughts manifesting through my production. So, it was almost like inviting the audience into that half of my life. Growing up, I’ve experienced a lot of things from deaths of close friends and family to having issues with drinking and so on. If you think about it though everyone is the same. Everyone gets angry, everyone has doubts, everyone feels unlucky or that the world isn’t on their side and everyone experiences loss. We all are equal, and sometimes we all teeter on the “Edge of Darkness”.
I always get major REZZ vibes whenever I listen to your music. Do you draw some inspiration from her? Who else do you derive inspiration from?
I think you hit the nail on the head! Yes, I definitely tend to associate my production with REZZ. However, one other main inspiration of mine would be 1788-L. Although, I’m still trying to dive deeper into the production aspect of glitchy effects and rhythms. Some other artists I would definitely have to give homage to would be SNEEK, 13, and Synesthesia among others. I’ve recently been really drawn to the whole Industrial Bass sound. Which we will be seeing more of on some other tracks that I have been working on off the album.
Originally you said this started out as a simple EP project, but grew into a full-blown album over the last year. How did that process transpire?
That’s a good question and I think, in short, I only started producing a little over a year ago. When I started the album, I was still learning the DAW (digital audio workstation) and how to be effective with my creative process and workflow. So, at the time a simple EP of four songs sounded like a more obtainable goal. Though as those songs progressed and constantly changed over the months, I learned more about my production ability and things started to click. I often found myself stuck on a certain part of a song for days. When this happened I would start another bass line or lead pattern just to mess around, which led to an intro or a drop for a completely new song. As I started to finish songs, I would go back to that intro and work towards forming it into the skeleton of a complete song. Before I knew it, I had around seven songs and just needed to focus on each one in order to finish them off. It’s definitely been a learning experience, and I’m still learning even now!
I had a chance to peek at your album before its release, and I liked how you progressed it from some midtempo tracks to heavier Dubstep. What was the process of organizing your album in this way?
I believe the intention was to create a flow to the album a sort of upward progression if you will. The order in which the album is organized is actually not the order in which the tracks were produces they were all over the place. However, I thought the midtempo to Dubstep acted almost like a build of a song. You have the melodic vibey mid-tempo tracks, building into the slightly more Industrial sounding glitchy vibes, then laying it all down with the Dubstep heavier drops. With seven songs on the album, I really wanted to keep the listener interested enough to stick around for the entirety of the tracks, almost like reading a book your goal as a writer is to have your reader turn the page and continue reading.
What was your favorite part of the production process? What did you have the most trouble with?
I think my favorite part of the production process would definitely have to be the story I would like the song to tell. When listening to the album I think there’s definitely some songs that you’ll find yourself vibing too, as oppose to others near the end of the album which were meant to be heavier. I tend to enjoy putting the ideas I have into the DAW and trying to create something bigger from it. I think the aspect of producing I struggle with the most is trying to make sure I’m not being too repetitive. It’s difficult to find the balance between repetition that’s needed instead of overdoing it. As well as of course mixing and mastering, I am still trying to get better at both of those.
My favorite track on the album was “They’re Here”. It gave me those dark, creepy, almost haunting vibes I’ve come to love in EDM tracks. Do you have a favorite of the ones you created? What makes you appreciate it so much?
That is a very interesting choice, a fun fact that is actually the first song I ever produced. However, what you hear sounds nothing like the original version and a lot of revisions were made! I believe this is probably one of the hardest questions to answer. I spent the better half of my last year going in-depth with every single one of these tracks so it’s hard to pick a top track. I like certain parts of certain tracks. In no particular order I like “Welcome“, “They’re Here”, “Bad Omen“, and “Enter Darkness“. However, I think there’s a certain part of me that thinks they can all be better in some capacity, a track is never really done there’s always room for changes or revisions. At some point, you need to be happy what you’ve created and be ready to let it go and start work on something new because you’ll always get better. I’ve actually got another five singles I have been working on recently, as well as already starting to brainstorm for an EP. Stay Tuned!
COVID-19 has shaken up the music industry pretty hard. How has that affected you as an artist, especially while releasing your first album?
I never thought throughout the entire last year working on this album that these were the circumstances I would have to release the album under, but you need to adapt and roll with the punches. I’ve played from Philly down to South Carolina and one thing is for certain no show has ever been the same, no audio engineer, no visual jockey, DJ rig, and especially no crowd. I’ve been able to teach myself how to adapt as I go. Hopefully, with everyone staying inside they’ll all have time to listen to the album!
As for it affecting me as an artist, I’ve actually had more downtime to focus on my production as well as music in general. I’ve had more time to better myself individually. Working full time from 6 am to 5 pm every weekday, I find it hard sometimes to take care of myself emotionally and physically. Recently I’ve been able to rest more and work out which is equally as important as producing. Especially when driving from state to state on the weekends playing shows, you need to be healthy.
Anything else before you go?
I wanted to give a special thanks to some important people that helped me get to this point: Alex Verouden, Max Vanegas, Kelly Nguyen, Louis Piotti, Karen Flores and every person that has ever taken a chance on me and booked me for a show. Without them, I wouldn’t be here today.
Thank you so much for talking with me today. We are excited for others to get a chance to listen to what you’ve worked on. Be sure to check out the album when it drops May 2nd.
ADEY8: Facebook | Instagram | Website | Twitter
* Featured Image Via Kelly Nguyen *
