DJ and Producer stops PepprJvck stops by the Mason Paine Show to speak about his unique path in the EDM industry and how his classical music training influenced his sound.
For the latest on PepperJvck’s musical projects visit: Instagram.com/pepperjvckmusic
Mason Paine and PepperJvck Transcription
Announcer 00:00: Mason Vera Paine.
Mason Paine 00:01: Jack Sheldy is a DJ and producer based out of San Diego, California, that goes by the name of Pepper Jack. Let’s find out why he has caught the attention of many industry professionals and fans alike since his 2022 debut. Thanks for joining me, Pepper Jack.
PepperJvck 00:15: Thanks for having me on, Mason.
Mason Paine 00:17: You know, I read that you were classically trained. At what age did you start your training?
PepperJvck 00:22: So, I actually started learning classical music around the age of ten. I started playing the piano from a next-door neighbor that I had actually, and then I transitioned that into being a cellist. And I was the first chair in our orchestra in junior high and high school for a while. And I ended up playing the cello for about eight years. Learned a lot of sheet music, how to read music, how to play in a quartet, how to play in an orchestra. I was in a symphony for a while. So, yeah, it’s been a lot of different classical training before I got into electronic music later on in my life.
Mason Paine 00:56: That’s an impressive resume. How did you go from classically trained to gravitating towards dance music?
PepperJvck 1:02: Yeah, so that’s a great question, actually, because I’ve had a really diverse background in music. I started in symphonies and quartets and orchestras and that sort of thing, and then I actually got into rock music after that. So I was in a garage band, in my friend’s garage. We would get together after school. We went to the same high school and just jam out. I was on the guitar. We had a keyboardist, we had a singer. We play anything from blues to jazz to rock music, and that was a lot of fun.
PepperJvck 1:30: So I think that transition for me, from the orchestra setting into a rock band and then finally into electronic music, was just kind of natural for me because I was going from an instrument that wasn’t that high tech, it wasn’t amplified at all to something that was amplified, and I could create distortion on the amp I had with my guitar. And then eventually buying software and getting even more high tech by getting into house music and electronic music production. So for me, I think it was just that transition of getting more and more electronic, more and more amplified, and exploring all the capabilities I had at my disposal, especially. I felt like it was pretty unique having that classical background and just knowing what I know about music theory, chord progressions, minor skills, major skills, all of that knowledge I had, because I feel like a lot of people in Ableton kind of get into it from the dj side, like they dj venues and that sort of thing. And they get into it from a social aspect, and then they buy Ableton and get into production. But for me, it was really about using and channeling the skills I had with symphony aspects, with knowing my skills, my chord progressions and music theory, and coming into electronic music from that background. So I felt like that was kind of unique for my skill set and something that I always wanted to pursue.
Mason Paine 2:50: Eventually, the more djs that I talked to, the more I realized how they start their career in one place and they’ll end up in a totally different genre. Did that happen to you? Did you start out in, like, trance or dubstep and you found out that. No, man, I really like house.
PepperJvck 3:07: Yeah. So I love all types of electronic music. I love dubstep. I grew up listening to Skrillex. I love house music, trance, I love trap music. I listen to all of those. And when I first started producing music, I told myself I’d write one track in each of those genres. So I pretty much wrote one track in each genre and then decided on one that felt the most natural to me and where the most opportunities and possibilities were for me.
PepperJvck 3:33: So I feel like house, for me, gives me that hope that I can maybe cross over into other genres, which is really exciting for me. Like, if I look at bigger artists like Peggy Goo, I see her collaborating with Lenny Kravitz. So that’s kind of combining the house space with the rock space. You see John Summit collaborating with subtronics, so that’s a crossover from house to dubstep. And then you have so many different genres within house. You have deep house, progressive house, melodic house, tech house, pop house. So there’s just so many opportunities and possibilities within house. And that’s really what drew me to focus on one genre.
PepperJvck 4:13: I do think it’s really important to just focus and hone in on one genre so you’re not spreading yourself too thin and just kind of you’re focusing your creativity on one aspect and one kind of bpm or speed that you’re going after, and it lets your fans kind of understand who you are and what your brand is from an artist’s perspective. So that’s kind of my background with choosing house over other genres, but it was a tough decision for me.
Mason Paine 4:37: Since you came from a really unique background, what challenges have you faced when it comes to breaking into the music industry?
PepperJvck 4:43: That’s a good one. So I’d say challenges wise, breaking into the industry. I don’t come from within the industry. I obviously come from outside of it with my background being in more of a classical music theory sheet music type of background and then rock music. My background isn’t really coming from it, from a social side or a DJ side where I’m already in the industry and I have those connections built. That being said, that is something that I’m focusing on now with myself coming from that background of music theory and then getting into software with the Ableton system and writing music within software programs. Now I need to bring that more full scale into festivals and networking and going to clubs and meeting people. So I would say challenges wise, that’s probably what it is for me, is just I’m not really inside the industry quite yet.
PepperJvck 5:33: That’s something I’m trying to work on is like getting to those events and making those connections in person. But since I didn’t come to music from a dj background, it was more of a classical rock background. I don’t really have all of those social networking and booking connections that other artists may have coming to it from a DJ side first.
Mason Paine 5:54: So tell me about the inspiration behind your latest release, believe.
PepperJvck 5:58: So the inspiration for believe was really around the vocal. So everything that I did in that track was really around not covering up the vocal. I thought the vocal was so beautiful, the vocal that was recorded for that track. And it’s funny, the vocal was actually there before the instrumental. In this case, I know probably most times the instrumental is written first and then there’s a vocalist that sings over it. But in this case, I heard the vocal and I wrote the track around the vocal just because I thought the vocal was so beautiful and the delivery was so nice. The singer really reminded me of Rüfüs Du Sol, who’s one of my biggest inspirations. They’re really big in San Diego.
PepperJvck 6:37: They have a huge following there. I met their lead singer in Oakland at a show one time and was really inspired by Rufus du Soul. So that’s what that vocal reminded me of. And I just wanted to write a track that really brought in the uniqueness behind my natural sound in Pepper jag, like my signature sound plus a rufus du sole vibe, and then see what that got me. I think it turned out true to my sound, while also true to that vocal. And all of the instrumental was focused around not covering up the vocal, not distracting from the vocal. So that’s why you hear sustained notes and not like super rhythmic notes or crazy drums here and there. It’s all around creating a bed for that vocal to sit on, not covering it up and distracting from it.
PepperJvck 7:22: Just because I was so drawn to that vocal, I thought it was amazing. The hook is memorable, and the delivery is really spot on. And then I would also just point out that the atmospheres that are in that track really provide that rufus vibe. That’s what I was going for, is kind of an emotional vibe. Lots of synths in the background, reverb on the vocal. A lot of different techniques I use to give it that emotional feel. So, yeah, really happy with how that came together with the vocal, plus all the synths I layered on and the drums, and how it all came together in the end.
Mason Paine 13:08: With having such a musically diverse background, I have to know, what are your musical inspirations?
PepperJvck 13:14: For me, my inspirations would be, I’ll name three here. So I would say, first, Nora En Pure. That was the first house show I ever went to at the Yuma Tent at Coachella, 2017. And that was the first festival that I ever went to. So that was really special for me, and that’s something that really connected me with house music and the crowd and just the energy in the Yuma Tent at Coachella. My friends actually dragged me out there and convinced me to go to my first festival. I wasn’t really into electronic music at all before that, so it’s been kind of a recent know, last six years that I got into festivals. I wasn’t going to festivals before that.
PepperJvck 13:52: And Nora really showed me the energy of her crowd, the emotion, her connection to the crowd, and what people were doing, dancing and vibing to her music in the Yuma Tent at Coachella. I really love the uniqueness behind her sound. She brings in violins, she brings in percussion elements that really give her a unique sound. Number two, I’d say probably Gorgon City. I really like what they’re doing with their label that they launched again. I think their sound is really unique, too. Their bass lines are super powerful and driving. A lot of audiences connect with them right off the bat.
PepperJvck 14:25: They bring in vocals on the top of those driving bass lines. I just love the energy that they bring as well. And then third, I would say camel fat. I was really drawn to Cola when I heard that track come out first, and they blew up from that track with Elderbrook. I think that track, everybody sung along to that vocal. The hook was amazing, and it was, again, just something that’s kind of unique and not repeated. It’s not like every other artist did something like that track. When it came out, I think it was kind of a trailblazing track in a sense.
PepperJvck 14:57: And then Elderbrook took off from that track as well. So that was really cool to see them do that. Yeah. So those are a few of my top know.
Mason Paine 15:05: I love learning about an artist’s equipment and their setup. Can you tell me any piece of equipment that you use or you consider to be a must have?
PepperJvck 15:13: Honestly, I’m really basic with my setup. My studio is literally just my computer, some headphones, some studio monitors to check in from time to time. I check songs on my car speakers, my monitors, and my headphones. But I don’t have anything fancy. I don’t even use a keyboard. I don’t have hardware synthesizers all around my studio or anything that’s tricked out. I’m very basic with it, and that’s something that I kind of learned from John Summit is like, you don’t need the best equipment to be really good at music or produce good tracks. You just need a computer and headphones, and you can do it from wherever you are, coffee shop, your studio, vacation.
PepperJvck 15:53: So I don’t have anything crazy in my studio or anything that I really need, but I would say I definitely love the Ableton system and just everything I can do in there and playing around with the Ableton stock plugins and just software that I find online. I’m pretty basic with my setup, but I just love digging into and getting really nerdy with the software behind music production.
Mason Paine 16:17: I respect that I get not having a lot of stuff and using the basic of what you have, but I got to know, is there any piece of equipment that you wish you could have in your arsenal?
PepperJvck 16:28: I do wish that I had more hardware gear. So, like keyboard systems and synthesizers that are more analog sounding and hardware synthesizers as opposed to just within the Daw and the software that I use. There’s some really cool videos out there of crazy wires and cables hooked up to analog gear. That’s really expensive up in crazy studios and people like Deadmau5, his studio, and a lot of the guys in trance or progressive house. They have a lot of that equipment that’s pretty nice and expensive out there. I don’t have any hardware gear like that. So that’s something that would be really exciting for me to mess around with. Even if it’s at someone else’s studio or someone I’m collaborating with.
PepperJvck 17:13: That would be really exciting to use some hardware gear, hardware synths. I just think that the sound you get out of those is really unique compared to what you can get in software. So, yeah, I would say that if I could wish for something, an upgrade to my studio, probably just some analog hardware synthesizers.
Mason Paine 17:31: Okay, that’s cool, man. And before I let you go, what are some of your upcoming projects that we can expect from you?
PepperJvck 17:36: So believe really got me motivated with just getting back into the studio consistently and putting a lot of hours into the studio post release. So I’m working on some projects with some exciting singers right now. Yeah, just working with some really cool singers and then targeting some exciting collabs next year. That’s something that I haven’t really invested in too much. I’m pretty early in my career in music, so collaborations are going to be really key and really fun for me to get into. So that’s a little bit about what I’m working on right now. Just hitting the studio really hard, working with singers, targeting some really exciting collaborations coming up.
Mason Paine 18:12: Well, thanks, Pepper Jack, for joining me. I really appreciate you being here. And for everybody that’s listening, head over to his instagram. It’s at PepperJvckmusic. That’s instagram.com. At P-E-P-E-R-J-V-C-K-M-U-S-I-C. You can also head over to Spotify and you can look up Pepper Jack there for the latest on his tracks.
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