Let’s face it. We all love music. It’s cliché, but music truly is the soundtrack of our lives. Meet this week’s Campus Celebrity, Brendan Sawyer. Brendan spends his free time creating ‘beats’ for rapper and close friend, Ryan McClatchy (A.K.A Calvin Coolidge, yes like the president).
Name: Brendan Sawyer
Year: Freshman
Nickname: Sawyer Beats
Her Campus Virginia Tech: How did you become interested in making beats?
Brendan Sawyer: I first started making beats when I was 16, during the summer before my junior year in high school. I always liked listening to music but it wasn’t until my sophomore year that I really started listening to rap/hip-hop. I went to a Lil Wayne concert that summer and I was so inspired by the energy and atmosphere of his performance that I decided I wanted to get involved in music-making. I didn’t have any previous music composition skills but I knew of a computer program called FL Studio that didn’t require composition skills so I spent a lot of time learning how to use that.
HCVT: How did you and Ryan decide to work together?
BS: Ryan and a few other rappers had recorded verses on a few of my beats just for fun during my junior year, but it wasn’t until winter of our senior year that we really started working together and taking music seriously. I knew Ryan had potential since he always had the best lyrics and everyone at school wanted him to make more songs, but he didn’t really go anywhere to record. I asked him if he’d want to pitch-in for a new microphone and studio equipment and he agreed, so ever since then he has been doing his recording in my basement studio. I used to send my beats to a lot of different artists and try to sell them online, but now I produce almost exclusively for Calvin Coolidge.
HCVT: What is your favorite aspect of making beats?
BS: Being such a big music fan, I always have melodies and rhythms stuck in my head, so I love being able to turn those ideas into real-life songs that everyone else gets to hear. A lot of times, I’ll just be sitting in class or driving around and I’ll put together some musical notes in my head that I think sound catchy. The first thing I’ll do when I get home is go straight to my computer, find the perfect instrument/sound, then play the melody on my keyboard and see if I still like it. If I do, I’ll continue building the rest of the beat up with drums, instruments, sound effects, heavy bass (which is my favorite, by the way), etc.
HCVT: Where do you draw your inspiration?
BS: A lot of my inspiration comes from listening to artists like Lil Wayne, Drake, Wiz Khalifa and all of their producers, but my main motivation comes from the fans’ feedback to our music. Before I started working with Calvin, there were a few times when I pretty much gave up producing since it didn’t seem like I was getting anywhere, but ever since we released our two mixtapes I’ve been consistently working on new beats. I love seeing everyone’s’ praise of our music via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and it’s amazing to know how many people are hearing about us/how quickly our names are spreading around online.
HCVT: What’s in the future for Calvin Coolidge?
BS: We released our first two mixtapes this past year (“State Of The Union” in June and “Now That’s What I Call Swag: Vol. 1” in August). We are currently working on our third mixtape. The buzz generated from our music has led to a lot of interest from high-profile managers – two of whom have sent Calvin contract offers – and we may even be getting flown down to Miami to record in a professional studio sometime soon. As for our third mixtape, we have around six songs in the making so far and I will continue to send Calvin new beats to choose from (we also have a few well-known rappers potentially lined up to include features). Since he is going to ODU, it’s been hard to meet in NOVA and get in the studio together but our plan is to have the mixtape finished and released by winter break. Hopefully from there, we can continue to spread around the internet and start doing local concerts to build up the fan base.
Look forward to hearing more from Calvin Coolidge and Sawyer Beats! For now, download some of your favorites and ‘Like’ them on Facebook.
“Now That’s What I Call Swag: Vol. 1” mixtape: http://www.datpiff.com/Calvin-Coolidge-Now-Thats-What-I-Call-Swag-Vol-1-mixtape.262248.html
“State Of The Union” mixtape:http://www.datpiff.com/Calvin-Coolidge-State-Of-The-Union-mixtape.241004.html
Twitter Accounts: @SawyerBeats, @CalvinCoolidge7
YouTube Account: http://www.youtube.com/user/whiteguyfreestyles
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Virginia Tech chapter.