PinchYourself Archives

We’re uncovering the biggest pinch-me-moments that the world’s most esteemed producers, engineers and mixers have experienced, from working with childhood heroes to winning awards or landing their first hit record, hear the stories that make you #PinchYourself.

In the latest episode of #PinchYourself we sit down with number-one-selling songwriter, record producer, and co-founder of LYRE Music, Alina Smith (ITZY, Red Velvet, Fall Out Boy) in her LA home studio.

Alina spoke to us about the importance of staying grounded, appreciating where you’re at in your career, and knowing that what once made you #PinchYourself might not do so now. It might just feel earned and even normal.

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TRANSCRIPT

When you’re very young, you think you’re gonna feel a certain way about your successes.

You think, wow, I’m just gonna be so happy if this thing happens for me. But when that thing happens, the thing is you’ve been working toward that moment for so long that it, it isn’t anti-climactic for necessarily.

It just feels very like, Normal. So all of my successes, I’ve never been like, wow, I can’t believe this is happening, cuz I’ve been building toward it and you know, really going through the grind to get to that spot.

So when you’re there you’re like, okay, great, I’m so, I’m so glad I’m here. As long as I’ve been doing this, everything feels kind of calm and nice and honestly I prefer it that point.
Audiomovers are uncovering the biggest pinch-me-moments that the world’s most esteemed producers, engineers and mixers have experienced, from working with childhood heroes to winning Grammy Awards and No.1 Records, discover it all with #PinchYourself.

In the latest episode, we are joined by the multi-platinum Grammy nominated mixing and recording engineer Bainz, as he recounts his trip to Jamaica to record Gunna’s album ‘Slime Language 2’.

Slime Language is the debut collaborative compilation album by American record label YSL Records and American rapper Young Thug, who is the leader of the label.

Watch the full video to discover why these sessions and the collaborators involved made Bainz pinch himself.

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TRANSCRIPT

“There are so many of them man. There’s so many of them.

Working on ‘Slime Language’, working on Gunna’s album in Jamaica.

Sitting in between, we were recording a verse with Thug, Gunna, Future, Travis Scott, Offset – they’re all jumping on the same song and I’m the one person sitting in the middle of the room recording everyone.

All these huge personalities around and everyone’s on a first name basis with me, really cool with me, it’s just I don’t know man it does get surreal and I know a lot of people look at it like wow, that’s that’s cool.

There’s a lot of those and I hope that there will be a lot more.”
Audiomovers are uncovering the biggest pinch-me-moments that the world’s most esteemed producers, engineers and mixers have experienced, from working with childhood heroes to winning Grammy Awards and No.1 Records, discover it all with #PinchYourself.

As part of our #GrammyAwards celebrations, it felt fitting to launch the series with !llmind, who describes that goosebumps moment when he won his first Grammy at the 61st Awards for his work on Jay Z and Beyonce’s The Carters album ‘EVERYTHING IS LOVE’ and everything changed.

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TRANSCRIPT

I was at the Grammys, I think it was 2019. The nomination was for Jay-Z & Beyonce, the Carters album, the first song I did on there.

And the moment that they opened the envelope and said Jay-Z, Beyonce, Carter’s, I just like I flipped, like my heart just like flipped upside down. And I was like, Holy shit, like, after all these years, and after all these moments, you finally are a Grammy winner.

You know, it’s like one thing to like, be nominated, but like to actually have a winning Grammy. It’s a whole other category of where that puts you.

And so yeah, that was just a huge like, pinch me moment because I remember all the years of grinding and people telling me you’ll never make it and like you’re just an Asian kid from Jersey. You can’t do hip-hop beats. You can’t do house beats you can’t do this. And it was just another like feather in the cap.

Just keep focusing and doing what you’re doing because whatever you’re doing is like working and you won to Grammy so like just keep going.