Monday, July 27, 2020

I love making music sound great, signed Vinny Mac

I love making music sound great, signed Vinny Mac

๐Ÿ“ท  Levels Ready Ent

Written By Anwar Curtis

Having the ability to create your own unique sound that the world falls in love with comes with its very own issues. This includes an abundance of hard-drive malfunctions, countless arguments with other musicians, and more than a fair share of sleepless nights. But, on the bright side, it also comes with a lot of laughing. Sixteen years ago, Harrisburg, PA’s Vinny “Mac Sauce” Mac took a chance with music when he put the basketball down. A choice influenced by one of his high school coaches that would snowball into a beautiful and fruitful musical experiment.


I had the opportunity to speak with Vinny Mac in a special COVID-19 style interview via Facebook Messenger video chat. He started off by saying, “Back in the day I was still figuring out a lot of stuff.” The “stuff” Vinny was referring to was Playstation’s “Music Generator”, a beat making program that allowed him to explore his ability to connect with local singers and emcees by way of storytelling, sample chopping, and chord progressions. “Music Generator was Fruity Loops before Fruity Loops!” he explained. Back in the early 2000’s technology was changing. Inspired beat makers no longer needed to rely solely on MPC’s, Korg Keyboards, or studio time to create their sound. As a matter of fact, thanks to Music Generator, a beat maker didn’t even have to really know music theory to maneuver around the program.


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Although there are many attributes that help to mold a good talent into a great one, Vinny Mac shares a special one with many we’d consider some of the best in his field. His very musical upbringing. Many could consider this aspect to be a direct contribution to his creative learning edge. His father Vincent Waters Sr, is a phenomenal drummer. His grandfather, Ronald Waters, plays the hell out of the piano and trumpet. Then there’s his close relative, Kim Waters, the astounding saxophonist. Vinny spent much of his childhood traveling with them; soaking up all the melodic magic he could. These experiences offered lessons to him. So, as he grew up he found that creating a decent sounding beat wasn’t very challenging for him at all. He recollects playing beats off of a Nextel phone to his high school friends and fellow producers Keyz Da Don and Mohamed Diallo. After noticing his upward progression in beat making, Muhammad convinced him to step away from Music Generator to try out the now industry-based software program, Fruity Loops. “Muhammad showed me the basics and after that, I ran with it!”


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Do you remember Lil Flip’s 2004 hit “Game Over”? Vinny says that’s the first track he can remember flipping into a fire, head-bopping hit for his own arsenal. After hearing beats off his phone, people would ask him to import them onto a cd so they could record over them. He vividly remembers rappers trying to convince him to let them “do something on the beat.” That feeling assured him that he was onto something big. That “something” would lead him to working with the Harrisburg based independent group REAL ENTERTAINMENT. “I would go to Music Man and buy mixtapes,” Vinny recalls. “I remember buying this DJ Odini jawn, not knowing he was from ‘The Burg’ a the time. There was a song by Nat King (who now goes by Nascar Nat) on the cd. One day I’m in HACC’s (Harrisburg Area Community College) computer lab, and there was this dude passing out flyers. As I’m reading it I see Nat King’s name which made me immediately say to him, hold up bruh you’re Nat King!” That moment would be all that Vinny needed to take off as a music producer.


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Fast forward fifteen years later, Vinny Mac is certainly a force to be reckoned with on both the local and mainstream spectrum. Vinny Mac is now a father, has music industry placements with Relle Bey, Vado, Dex Lauper, Leaf Ward, and Frenchie from Brick Squad, just to name a few. He is also a full-time recording engineer at Pro Sound Studios in Harrisburg, PA, and owner of his own professional mobile recording studio, “Mac Sauce 2 Go”. I know Vinny as both an engineer and a music producer. So I asked him which one he’d choose if he had to. “I love engineering and making beats, but if I had to choose one as my all-time favorite then making beats would have to be my go-to.” He attributed his reasoning to the creativity he feels while creating. He told me, “You can get creative with engineering too, but it’s different. You can’t play around too much and mess up somebody else’s sound.”





Relationships are something Vinny “Mac Sauce” Mac is adamant about as well. He says that being at Pro Sound for four years has really taught him to “understand and appreciate not always listening to outside noise.” Mac Sauce expressed his love for working alongside childhood friend, Kash on the Beat and his mentor Supa Dupaa Sultan. “Sultan is a dope dude who doesn’t give handouts out. But he does provide opportunities for those who are really working.” He would know this first hand. One of those opportunities was Sultan reaching out to him on New Year’s Eve to conduct a mixing session for Master P. Moments like those are why you must dream dreams that inspire you enough to actually pursue them.


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Beside every dope music producer, you can generally find an equally dope singer or songwriter accompany them. In 2019, Vinny Mac found a breath of fresh air in musical talent Daisy Mayze. He was full of joy when he shared the story of how the two of them met. While patronizing a hip-hip show for locally sourced talent at HMAC called “Hidden Treasures”, he made it his business to introduce himself to Daisy Mayze. He says it was her “work ethic and energy” that drew him to her. “The type of person that she is, is very cautious because she knows she’s dope and knows what she is bringing to the table.” She was the exact recipe Vinny Mac had long desired at the time. After a few months, Daisy and Vinny decided to work together and before they know it her entire “5ive” EP was recorded and produced by Mr. Mac Sauce himself.



I consider beat making a hobby, talent, and occupation that many people take for granted. The unique thing about having a hobby that turns into an occupation is the privilege to see your dreams manifest firsthand. I appreciate individuals like Vinny Mac for appreciating this privilege, always showing love and investing in others using his craft. I can only imagine what “Mack Sauce 2 Go” will be cooking up for Vinny Mac within the next fifteen plus years.



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