E.N Young thriving as one of reggae music’s most productive producers

Photo courtesy of E.N Young.

Dailyreggae.com caught up with E.N Young to hear about his over decade-long dedication to reggae music, development as an artist, and growth working with musicians in different stages of their careers.

Hey E.N! Your studio, Imperial Sound Recording Studio, is looking awesome! You have the most southwest studio in the U.S., right?

Yeah, I’m definitely claiming it! I have the Pacific Ocean down the street and the border of Mexico. I can see Tijuana, Mexico right from my balcony upstairs. We’re right here at Imperial Beach Boulevard, so it runs towards the beach.

I really enjoy living in San Diego. I grew up in Chula Vista, which is inland from this area, and always grew up coming to the beach here. When it came time to live on my own, I was like I’m going to the beach!

You started out by playing the piano and then you had an injury, which inspired you to play drums as part of your rehab. That set off your musical journey. How did playing drums at a young age drive your passion for music and help you develop as a producer?

I think the drums, percussion, and drum set in general are the foundation of music. For me to have that rhythmic aspect and bring it in made me look at the piano differently. It made me want to play more songs, play with music. It flipped it for me.

I grew up playing classical music and I had rhythm, but once I started playing a drumkit, my passion made the music come alive. The beat is what makes you want to dance and makes you feel it. The foundation got me!

As you started playing with different bands, you gravitated towards producing and building your studio. What was that decision like and what led you into production?

I always had a big interest in it. When I was 16, I started reading music magazines and understood that producing and going to the studio existed. That was the way music was put together. I started looking at an internship, found one and locked it in at 17 in a studio here in San Diego. I was helping clean the floors and the grunt man work. I had one guide that I studied with once a week. That was my pay for a couple of hours.

It was an eye-opening experience. He let me record my music, and I brought in my first little keyboard that I grew up with. That was the basis for me producing my music.

After that, I kept studying hard. I went to a local college and they had a really good audio program. One of the classes was computers and music and this was in the early 2000s. At that point, people didn’t have computers and music. It wasn’t a very common thing. There was ADAT, there was tape, but people weren’t using computers and recording at the same time. I had never used a computer like that.

There was a recording techniques program that I got into. I kept studying and working with my head down. Before I had a computer at home, I had a Motif similar to this one that I play on stage. They were one of the first synthesizers that you could record into. I was recording live audio into it and I wrote all my first tracks there. All the ones from my album, Luck & Chance No More, were recorded on my keyboard as demo tracks. I learned how to dub on that and sequence tracks at a more mature level.

Once I got a computer and pro tools, I started diving in, and then it was on! That was a couple of years later. It’s been quite the journey, but that internship got me going. That was nice.

Here’s a question for all the other producers out there. Is there one piece of gear or one plugin that you think everybody should be using?

A solid vocal mic is essential. They make them so good these days at a cheap price. I have a 414 standard, which I’ve been recording with for many years. They are re-making all the old vintage mics very cheap, and all the equipment has come down in price, so if anyone is going to have one piece of gear that they can do everything with, grab one large condenser microphone that sounds great.

You’re involved in a lot of different music and you’ve made so many songs! Do you tend to have a normal songwriting process like do you come up with a keyline and then the lyrics come? Is it lyrics first, a drum rhythm, or is it all over the board?

More in the digital age, ever since I’ve had voice memos on my phone (laughs), now any time I feel creative in the right or perfect moment I’m going right to voice memos. A lot of times it’s recording Acapella coming from the top of my head and then I usually sit down and write chords to it. It’s usually one melody that leads to chords. And that’s for the songwriting. I can make music all day too.

I love putting on lofi beats and then the lyrics start flowing for me. I’m flowing all day, so I have to be careful because I’m stacking up voice memos and will never be able to release this much music (laughs)!

The creative process is very healing to me, and everyone. It’s important whether we make music like that, whether we do art, or have creative conversations. Whatever it is, we need to express it as humans. It’s really important to our mental health and our overall happiness.

Moving to you as an artist, how would you in your own eyes describe the difference between what and how you write in 2010 versus today? Are there different musical influences that you didn’t have before, or maybe just a different stage in life that hits you creatively? 

Yeah, in my younger years I fell in love with roots reggae music hard. A lot of the spiritual aspect behind it, the foundation of the beat, and the music. The slow hypnotic kind of feeling that came from Jamaica is tied with the lyrics of musicians rising up and a lot of spiritual lyrics. That was my foundation.

In 2010 I was still really wanting to put that kind of energy and art on display for people, and you can hear that in my album, Luck & Chance No More.

Now that I have produced 850 plus songs, it’s wild. (Editor’s note: Check them out here)! I have come out with a bunch of my albums and have been singing for a long time now. I feel like back then I was barely starting to sing and starting to learn about myself musically.

Now that I have so much experience, I love it all. Any beat or genre that comes to me is always still the same kind of subject matter. I love music in general. Not that I’m going away from the roots reggae music, but I want to do it all. I want to check every single box you know. I want to do the reggaeton thing and bring in different elements into my new music. Roots reggae is so powerful and important to me, so I won’t stop that either. These days I’m a lot more open to flipping the script with no hesitation or reservations. 

I bet that’s also all the artists coming through your studio. I imagine they all kind of rub off on you in a certain way.

Yeah, definitely. There’s some really good influence. Recently, KBong was in here. He’s such a good songwriter these days. This album he’s doing is amazing. Catchy, simple melodies and I think that’s what we need. Exactly that. He’s really good at that. I got a lot of influence from him and am always soaking it all in.

You put out a lot of great work last year. I was a huge fan of the Sensi Trails album. That must have been fun to make!

Yeah, that was a great one. The whole story of Kyle Rising, the lead singer and frontman of Sensi Trails, is amazing. We were touring with Tribal a long time ago, were in his hometown on the East Coast and happened to see him on the beach. We were at a random place. It wasn’t associated with the venue we were playing at. I just saw a guy jamming on the beach.

I rolled by and said what’s up. He was like, “Oh, I saw you guys last night! I was at the show!” That was the first interaction we had and then after that, we came across each other a few times. He was telling me it was his dream to record with me in the studio at Imperial Sound and to produce his first album here. So, he packed everything in his van, and drove from the East Coast Outer Banks area to San Diego to move to the West Coast.

We started working on the record here and then he was kind of floating around in his van for a while. He lived in his van for a little while and just crushed it. This guy came in with super positive vibes and happened to run into KBong on the street. He asked if he wanted to jam that night and they linked up and the stars just aligned. KBong jumped on the track Just Livin’ and it was a straight hit. I have my record label and a lot of music coming out of it from different artists and that was a hit. You could see the spike right away.

He is such a talented kid and I’m so happy that he’s found a lot of success with this. He’s coming back into the studio and we’re starting some new music. I’m very grateful to link up with Kyle Rising and Sensi Trails.

Is there something you kind of look for in different artists that you work with? Is it energy, or a sound you gravitate towards?

I like helping artists. I’ve had the pleasure of helping a lot of artists that haven’t recorded too many times or need a little push. I’ve found a real love teaching and helping artists with recording, delivery, songwriting, and production.

When I choose an artist, I love helping artists that are starting. I want to get my music out to the most people I can. I want to touch people and get it out there. Working with some of the bigger artists recently like KBong, Iya Terra and Pepper has been wonderful. I’m seeing like 60,000 plays in one day. That’s what I want. We are putting so much into it, and I want the best for this music. To see it really get out to people and touch the masses thrills me.

When did you start Roots Musician Records? We saw that you have been working with Iya Terra on their new album. Tell us about working with Iya.

The origin of Roots Musician Records was at the time of my first record, Luck & Chance No More, in 2010. I launched the label with that album. I didn’t know I would be doing distribution for a lot of artists at first. At that time, there wasn’t a bunch of distribution companies and you couldn’t find everything on YouTube. I happened to have a couple of connections and I was helping artists connect the dots. I continued to do that, and it grew bigger and bigger. It’s been quite the blessing.

Iya Terra! Wow! I vibe with them on such an amazing level. We are very similar artists and people, with a common frequency and vibration. I’ve connected with them more than any other artist that I’ve worked with and bands that have been in. I’m not sure how the stars aligned with that one, but I felt like I was the other band member when we were here. It’s a blessing.

Before someone says it, I’m already thinking it, or vice versa. We’re tuned in. It’s a pleasure to link up with them. The first record that I mixed with them I kind of got that, but once I was with them in the studio in-person for many days in a row it made me feel such a strong connection. It’s special to be linked with someone like this where you feel like you’re on the same frequency and vibration. I have a lot of love for Iya Terra.

Tell us about your recently released music. Also, can you highlight any new music that you’re working on?

Yeah, in 2020, I released the song Queendom. I enjoyed mixing that. It came off of another producer from Jamaica that had a bunch of Jamaican artists on it, so you can find that riddim with some artists like Lutan Fyah, Chezidek, Duane Stephenson, and Inna Vision. I asked him if I could release it and he said go ahead! So, I released it before that actual riddim came out and it was quite a success.

I also released Wicked Man with Michael Palmer. Michael Palmer is a legend from Jamaica, who released a lot of music mostly in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. He’s one of those classic reggae artists still doing it. I happened to come across him. He was touring San Diego and recorded with me in the studio in 2011 or 2012. I’d been holding the track ever since then. I released a version that I mixed right before I released it in 2020. It was cool to go into the archives and to get back into that mix that I did for Luck & Chance No More. It was a great experience to re-mix and re-master the original song.

Also, I did a version of Sublime’s Pawn Shop for The House That Bradley Built compilation album. It was a please doing that song. It took me like three hours in one night because they told me the deadline was the next day. I told my wife, “I’m just going to hit the studio and see what happens.” I’ve loved that song for a long time since I was a kid playing drums to that song on repeat. Big up Sublime, Bradley, and the whole crew. It usually doesn’t work out that way. I’m proud of how that one came out.

I also just released a song called No Complaint (Extended Mix). It’s a Half Pint cover. I did an original version of it and an extended dub mix. It’s a six-minute track with brand new production. I’ve been sitting on it for a little while but recently added some more vocals.

I plan to release a lot more music. I’m feeling the flow now. I’ve been feeling really positive, creative and want to get music out to connect with people.

You’ll probably hear a lot more of me than you’ve ever heard before coming out!