Georgia Staumont (GIA) - The Interview

Written by Jessica Brown

February 16th, 2024

Georgia Staumont is a second year student in MBM. She came to Oshawa, Ontario, from France in pursuit of a career in the music industry. She is a music producer and sound engineer for the MBP enterprise Push Play. I had the pleasure of talking to her about her role in Push Play, as well as her goals for after graduation. 

What made you apply to this specific program? 

“There is no music industry in France; all the record labels are owned by Canadian or American record labels. I went on the internet and searched for music business programs, and this was the first one that came up, and I really wanted to go. I was also accepted into the NYU Program, but it was too expensive.” 

What do you do for Push Play?  

“I am a producer and audio engineer, so I will work with artists from the Durham Region. I work with them on the song recording, the beat making, and the mixing and mastering, which is finalizing the song so you can hear it in your headphones or speakers.” 

How did you get started with producing? 

“My cousin, his artist name is Brodinski, used to work with big name artists like 21 Savage and Kanye West. He is super well known in the industry and he is my idol. I saw him every Christmas working on his computer, producing, and I couldn’t understand how he was creating music with a computer, because I was four or five. He is so talented, and he is living off of his passion and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. We have a similar history and share the same feelings about our background. We both have a passion for music and when I saw him take his passion and make a career out of it, I knew I had to do it too.” 

What is your favourite part of producing? 

“Discovering that the more you do crazy things you didn’t want to do or make mistakes, the better your music will be. It happened to me two days ago.  booked a studio session for myself and was going to do basic house music. I was trying different sounds and new instruments I uploaded on my software and then I started doing a Brazilian rhythm and it turned out so good. I try not to prioritize specific genres and just go to the studio and see how it goes.” 

What is your creative process? 

“I wouldn’t say I have a specific creative process, it’s really whenever I’m inspired. I used to play violin, I have my violin diploma, so I have a lot of knowledge in music theory. I will write down the music notes to bring them to the studio to see if it’s working or not and I will do some improvising.” 

Georgia Staumont by Megan Murayama.

How has Push Play helped you develop your skills in producing?  

          “I am so grateful to be in Push Play! My managers are so nice to us in the way that they listen to us, give advice on how we should work, and they give us time management skills. They are present with you when you have a co-write and help us manage the co-write without getting overwhelmed. Being in Push Play also gives me the opportunity to develop my production, and, especially, my audio engineer skills. I just learned how to mix and master songs, which is super difficult to do for some genres.” 

What is the most important thing for a producer to know?  

           “Don’t give up. I know this industry is so competitive, but we also have so many tools, websites, software, and different sub genres. Find your uniqueness, your authenticity, and your own way to write and perform your music. Just don’t give up because even if you only have three followers on SoundCloud, it’s just the beginning and it takes time. Focusing on your branding is important too, you have to promote yourself. The more you keep trying, the stronger you become, and you get closer to reaching your goals.” 

In your opinion what separates a good producer from a great producer? 

           “A good from a great? I think a good producer understands how to create a song, but a great producer is someone who doesn’t care about other people’s opinions, they’re someone who knows how the industry works and how to reach a specific audience. A great producer is someone who is doing it for their passion, not just to make financial rewards from the song.” 

Who/what are some of your biggest inspirations? 

           “Wow, I have so many! I love every genre. I listen to reggaeton, hip-hop, trap, Brazilian music, house music, deep house, and more. I would say my inspiration for creating music would be more based on classical music aspects, such as arpeggios from different countries. Each country has a background in music theory, so for example, you have the arpeggios from Egypt. I try to take inspiration from all the different countries. For artists’ inspirations, I have to say Fred Again. He is a very famous DJ in the UK, and he has a talent. He is so creative; he has a bunch of electronic instruments, and he will do remixes he has never done before live.” 

What do you think makes a great song? 

          “I would say putting your own personality in a song. If you take other people’s styles of creating then there’s no personality in the song, and in my opinion that’s what makes a song original. I think nowadays audiences are looking for more authenticity and originality. The more you are creative in your own way while using other tools and devices, the better it will be. This will especially help with your branding and marketing.” 

What are some of your favourite production tools and techniques?  

          “I like the plug-ins. Plug-ins are tools that you will use to create the shape of your sound such as reverb or create a special atmosphere to your song. It is so interesting; you can do so much with plug-ins. At the beginning, when you make a song, it might not be as interesting but when you use the certain plug-ins with all these options you can add more to the song.”  

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in producing but has never done it before?  

          “Learn at least the basics of music theory; it will help you a lot! Producing and beat making software will be easier to use the more you know about music theory. For example, if I show someone who doesn’t know anything about music theory the software and just put it in front of them, they wouldn't really understand anything. However, if you can at least play an instrument then you know what bars are, bpm, the tempo, that kind of stuff. So, I would suggest learning music theory and then watch YouTube tutorials.” 

What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your role? 

           “Being a woman in this industry, especially in production. I’m not sure if you saw in the lecture hall, but there are only two women in the enterprise. It is even worse in the music industry. There's not enough women. It is very male dominated, and women are creative too. That’s why I want to be a producer more than an artist. I want to be known as a woman producer who has power in the industry, who helps other women to develop themselves in the industry.” 

Do you have any upcoming projects you would like to share?  

          “Push Play: I am going to work with an artist; he just signed to Backrow Records. She is an amazing singer, and she wants to discover where she can go with her voice. We are currently working on an afro beat type of beat, and we will see how that goes. 

          Personal: I am working on an EP. Well, I’m not sure if it will be an EP or an LP now, we will see how that goes. I hope it’s going to go on Spotify and Apple Music. I already dropped a single on SoundCloud. It’s called Struggle and my artist name is GIA.” 

What are your goals after graduating from the program? 

“I see myself as a producer and an artist because I am a DJ. My dream is to work on my branding and marketing strategy to reach a specific audience and specific small venues in Toronto. I would like to use my songs in front of an audience to see how they react to my production to see if people like it or not. If they do like it, then I will start to do more producing and going to independent record labels.”  

Georgia can be found on Instagram @georgiastm or through her production account @giaproducer.

Georgia Staumont by Megan Murayama.