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| -------------- Jeremias "Jerry" Santiago--------------
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"There really isn’t a deep/soulful house scene at the moment and unless the house music industry sticks together instead of everyone being out for themselves it is not going to make it much longer."
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PART I
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Could you tell us how you got into the music and about your early career?
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I feel I was destined to make and play music for the nightcrawlers. Now at the brink of obtaining some outstanding club hits, I have been mastering this craft, and entrepreneurial skills, since my father gave me my first reel to reel at age 4. I began to DJ after hearing my cousin's Brooklyn Dynamic Sound crew, my obsession for music grew stronger. A cheap Yamaha keyboard was one of my favorite toys. Eventually my junior high classmates would buy my club mix tapes with their lunch money and MC wannabes would give me $20 for my homegrown hip-hop beats on 90 minute cassettes. Over the years my producing progressed from fiddling around with equipment and never reading the manuals to a hooked up studio, where I learn every program & equiptment inside out. I knew I wanted to make my own tracks after hearing Todd Terry's 'A Day in the Life.' Although I love all types of music, I haven't turned away from HOUSE since I entered the Sound Factory Bar, felt the bass hit my chest and saw the crowd going crazy for Little Louie Vega's masterful set.
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In 1996, I finally pressed my own 'Remix Delux’ EP. It became a weekly crowd mover at the Sound Factory Bar which Louie played every time I was there. By 1997, it was signed to Nervous' Ricanstruction label and renamed ‘When Worlds Collide’ EP. Over the next few years, I toiled with other producers over tracks and attempt to get signed by a miscellany of labels. After resulting in more frustration than product, I decided to go completely solo with my Me, Myself and I EP on my own FTL Music label. I felt if I was going to produce music I would do it FTL (for the love) only. My wife & Myself funded the first test pressing and sold it on consignment. Karma could only provide me with a highly acclaimed follow up. In 2001, renowned NYC house producer Jovonn discovered my Key's of Life track and signed it to his Next Moov label on the Next Session EP. The track has made huge noise in 2002 with weekly play by Timmy Regisford at the legendary Shelter and heard daily at the 2002 Winter Music Conference. So, thats my early history with more bangers to come...
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What’s your music background?
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My music background is very diverse. In the house music industry I have always been influenced by Todd Terry, Kenny Dope, and Tommy Musto Their sound always moved me. More 70’s influence came from Stevie Wonder, Cerrone & Quincy Jones. Their sound was ground breaking & ahead of their time. In the Latin music industry Tito Puente and Willy Colon were my influence; their musical arraignments were an inspiration to me.
[about playing instruments]
The two instruments that I always play even on my own tracks are the keyboards and the timbales.
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You have your own independent record label – FTL (For The Love), but lately we only see your records on labels like Waako, Jellybean Soul and Next Moov. Any special reason for that?
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Well, to be perfectly honest, running your own label is very time consuming and since I do music “FOR THE LOVE” I have to keep a career and a full time job to support my family. It is in this area that I rely on other record labels to keep putting out my records. It is very difficult to shop your own music when the distrubuters will not even give it a chance and with P&D deals I find it is much better and more convenient. For that, last year I have been looking for a record label to do a P&D deal with but I have not been sucessful in this area because the labels say my name is not big enough, so that leaves me selling my tracks outright. Either way im doing what I love and the music is getting out there. If there are any labels out there that are willing so am I - they can contact me at jerry@ftlrecordings.com
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Frequently, we see your records divided in parts (I, II and III, usually). They are parts of the some concept, some idea?
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Well, this area is a bit fuzzy… Sometimes it is an idea or concept that makes me do the record in parts, for instance “The Latin All Star” series was suppose to be all house music with a Latin feel. In some circumstances I have nothing to do with it because when I sell the tracks the record label will name the record in part II or III depending on the sales of the previous record.
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Which producing equipment are you using?
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Technology has bent my arm… I was one of the first ones to say that I would never use virtual instruments butt nowadays you just can’t get away from it. I do use software; basically my studio has a Pentium 4 3gig custom built PC. I have Cubase sx2, Reason 3.0, sample tank 2.0, lounge lizard, vst grand piano, trilogy, recycle, wave lab 4 and that it for software. For outboard gear I use motif 6, jv 1080, proteus 2000, akai s5000, Yamaha 02r w/ 3 a dat cards which connects through light pipe to my moto 2408. For monitor I use a pair of ns10s and krk 6000.
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What records are you currently spinning every time you play?
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I don’t know – Im old school, I like to play old tracks and I try not to play anything that anyone else is playing and I always play my own releases and demos.
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PART II
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Nowadays, we see Electro and 80’s sound influencing many House productions. Do you think that, in order to move on in house music, producers have to always look back?
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Yes, because most producers nowadays are just djs with a good ear and they don’t know how to compose the music. Most producers have to hire outside people to come up with their arraignments and play instruments for them. I believe we should always look back at what was successful and how the music moved the crowd. It is from looking back that we can move forward after all the classics are still party pleasers.
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The number of files illegally shared on the Internet don’t stop to grow. As a producer, how is this affecting you? What could be the solution?
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As I said before, technology is has got the one up on us here. Illegally shared files definitely affect me as well as everyone else in the music industry; it lowers record and cd sales. More and more djs are using cds instead of vinyl and although people like to complain about downloads everyone is doing it. I don’t see any solution in site.
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What do you think of the deep/soulful house world scene at the moment and how do you think it will be in the future?
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There really isn’t a deep/soulful house scene at the moment and unless the house music industry sticks together instead of everyone being out for themselves it is not going to make it much longer.
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If you had the power to change anything in the music industry, what would be your first action?
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I would make radio program directors understand that there are more than 8 records out there in the world. All the radio stations play the same thing non stop and there is really good music out there to be heard and people would appreciate it.
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What can we expect to hear more from you in the near future?
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As I previously stated, I’m still looking for a P&D deal because I'm sitting on 100 or more demos. But my up and coming projects will be records with more vocals.
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Listen here some of the Jerry's records:
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