Sonia Schmidt is Working Both Sides of the Music Artist Experience
Every great artist has an element of mystery to them. It’s the role of a music producer to pull that out of the artist. Sonia Schmidt happens to be both, meaning that she is constantly discovering herself as the public does the same. Born in Lausanne and raised in Grandvaux (a French speaking part of Switzerland), Schmidt mostly kept her musical aspirations to herself even though she was convinced she’d someday leave the picturesque location in pursuit of art. She concedes, “It’s incredibly beautiful but I always knew that I couldn’t live there forever. I love my homeland but the comfort and quality of life there lulls people into forgetting what's really important. People live their whole lives without asking themselves who they truly are, because they don't have to. Only when confronted to an infinity of possibilities did I have to actually choose what it was that I really wanted. That's just my personal experience. I get very passionate about how impossible it is to be creative in Switzerland but that's obviously not true for everyone.” Since coming to this realization, Sonia has found success as both an artist and a producer in parts much further beyond. Working with other European artists and acclaimed professionals of the US music scene, Sonia Schmidt is realizing that her childhood premonitions were well founded.
Ohsergio, Schmidt’s first international release, features organic heartfelt minimalist songs in a style which has been referred to as “glitchfolk.” Recorded at Bedrock LA in Echo Park with famed engineer and producer Adam Moseley (Tina Turner, The Cure, and U2), Ohsergio features vocals, instrumentation, and samples for the most part exclusively created and performed by Sonia. The honest and often vulnerable nature of the lyrics often belies the confidence of the artist’s ability to create almost every single sound on the record by herself. While “Hunter” features contributions by European artist/producer Otm Shank, “FIDITL” and “Dream” display Schmidt’s ability to invent her own samples and play guitar or even xylophone to manifest the ideal emotional counterpart to her beautiful and enchanting vocals.
The other personality of Sonia’s musical identity is that of music producer. It’s a drastic contrast to her role as an artist, as evident in her work with the aforementioned Otm Shank on his Bollywood Tech Funk hit “Ravish.” Her background as an artist herself allows her to discern what another artist needs to reach his/her personal vision. She explains, “Production is just another form of creating music. Sometimes as artists, we tend to get too close to the project we work on and lose perspective. A good producer is someone who makes the artist feel like they are moving in the right direction. Sometimes we are so close to making something incredible but cannot see that for ourselves. That's when having a co-producer comes in handy. On a more technical level, it translates into making decisions on the track that need to be made and sticking to them. When the artist is not able to move forward, the song develops eternally and it never turns into a finished product. That was definitely my key role with Otm. I would say for both the artist and the producer to be open and respectful. There are no bad ideas. When an artist comes to you with a vision, put your ego in your pocket. Ego is never a good ingredient in the studio. When both the artist and the producer understand that, that's when things get interesting.” Sonia Schmidt’s work in both these roles proves that she will be the conduit for her music and that of other artists for quite some time.
(Source – Sonia Schmidt)
Written by Kelly King
