George Pandrea is one of our young producers, currently involved in three own projects, the fresh Saint Bruj – pop dance, George Pandrea – lofi and beats and Mezzin – deep house. It all started with a Hora guitar in the tenth grade and continued with cover bands. He recently also composed the soundtrack for the game Simpler Times, released in July.
“AI, although a new entry in the game, is starting to leave its mark. In order to stay one step ahead of “him” as much as possible, we must not give up working our creative muscle and looking for fresh ideas ourselves , preferably non-existent in any database” says George.
We wanted to find out from him what music will look like in the near future, what the Romanian listener is like in general and how AI will influence music. And of course, what did he like in 2024 and what is the role and place of a producer in today’s industry.
PS You can see George live this Friday with Mezzin, in the Echoes club in Bucharest, starting at 8 o’clock.
Debut in music
It started in the 10th grade, when I got an acoustic guitar, Hora, for Christmas.
I shot him in the high school choir.
Then came the electric guitar and some cover bands to finally discover music production and start composing my own songs.
What is it like to be a music producer in Romania?
An adventure haha!
There are two variables here: the genre or genres in which you write and whether you work for a label or are an independent producer. This will influence to some extent the ease with which you find projects and their number.
Regardless of the area, you have to struggle at first to form your own style, which you can then promote. To answer the question, why would an artist want to work with you and not someone else, similar to you.
If you tick all of these and a few more (see networking), things start to come together.
Where do you feel best, electro, hip hop or soundtracks?
It depends on what I’m working on at the time. I just started a new pop project – Saint Bruj, and that’s what excites me at the moment.
For me, however, the stake as a producer is precisely to be able to work and compose simultaneously in several genres. To feel good and inspired in each of them.
The role of a producer
The role of a producer is to ensure that the original idea of a piece comes to life, in the best possible form.
And that’s where the quality of the instrumental, the vocals, and the hook itself comes in.
What is a good hook
“Give it one more play!”. That’s what a good hook is all about. Your Shazam list – also a collection of good hooks. Essentially an easy humming tune that gets stuck in your head after just a few listens.
For me, the good hook comes quickly and naturally. If I end up pulling it, I better leave the piece for a while and try again later. I also like to play the song when I’m with friends, without saying anything and seeing the reaction. That’s how I can tell if the hook is really good or if I still have work to do on it.
Your musical collaborations
At the moment, I am running three projects: George Pandrea – lofi and beats, Mezzin – deep house and Saint Bruj – pop dance.
As a producer, I spend a lot of time writing alone. That’s why I’m very happy when I have the opportunity to work with someone in a team.
Among the collaborations dear to me are:
On hiphop with Vali Umbra. By the time we met face to face we had already done 4 songs together. This is one of them and perhaps my favorite:
On the soundtrack with Maeve Kroeger. It was the first time I worked with an outside artist.
On deep house with Yarra, with whom I have the Mezzin project. It is the longest collaboration to date. What I loved about Yarra was the melodic instinct she has.
A sucker for melodies myself, I quickly resonated with her ideas and thus our songs were born.
Music for games
It’s really cool to make game music! Working with the image requires you to think a little differently about the structure of a song, the instrumentation and the type of hook.
Simpler Times was born in Brașov at Stone Skip Studio. It’s a cozy, chill game, without big dramas and with a very pleasant narrative arc. Taina, the main character, relives her childhood through the game’s music, before going to university and leaving behind her room with all the good times she had there.
I had my lofi project and had collected some parts by then. Someone recommended me to Dragoș Matkowski (creator of the game), he liked what he heard and it all started from there. In two years we made the soundtrack, and this year on July 7 the game was released. Tracks are available separately and as OSTs on all streaming platforms.
Whether you’re an old gamer, new or not at all, I recommend Simpler Times! It’s easy to play and nostalgic (from the good 90s), so don’t worry!
The music industry in Romania
Two shaping factors of today’s music industry are AI and social media.
For now, social media is more impactful. Today, you don’t need a whole label behind you to be an artist, just a mobile phone. You can form an entire community just using TikTok. And you don’t even have to give concerts. See Nick D.
You end up churning out tracks at a steady (and frequent) pace. That’s the good part, as everything is very affordable and DIY. The “bad” part is that saturation and competition have increased as a result, quite a lot. Couple that with our increasingly short attention spans and it gets complicated.
You have less and less time as an artist to expose your product to an audience already bombarded by hundreds of other products every day. That’s why the pieces that explode online overnight, give hope. They appear as an in-game shortcut, a password that skips you a few levels.
The Influence of Social Media and AI in Music
AI, although newer to the game, is also starting to make its mark. And again it’s “one hot, one cold”. A warm one – because we can use it both as inspiration and to streamline and skip certain creative steps.
A cold one – because the AI can do “it” too, without us in the landscape. This can be seen, for example, in sync music, which is easier to replicate. There are many platforms today that generate background music for content creators. It’s only a matter of time before AI is perfected in other genres as well.
However, in order to stay one step ahead of “him” as much as possible, we must not give up working our creative muscles, and look for fresh ideas ourselves, preferably non-existent, in any database.
Fashionable genres, endangered genres
I see a cyclicality of the old genres and not necessarily a total disappearance of them. For example, look, now in pop music, you can hear drum and bass influences on some songs. Genres interact a lot these days and form increasingly interesting niches.
On a large scale, I think that dance, reggaeton and trap will continue to dominate, at least in the coming years.
3 songs that impressed you this year. And 3 albums.
parts
Tiesto – Drifting
Vanotek – Where the wild things are
Meduza – Bad memories
For recent albums, I can’t pronounce. I haven’t hit one in a while.
But I recommend any Bonobo album, to anyone, anytime.
The music listener from Romania
I think we are at the intersection of geographical (and historical) and outside influences (with globalization). It’s hard to outline a single profile, but as a people, I think we really have a predilection for Balkan and Latin sounds.
Then, other genres that enjoy popularity in our country would be minimal house, hip-hop and indie.
Source: www.iqads.ro
