Glassic's Eclectic Production Travels the Sound Waves
Photos by Julian Carr
Producer Mitch Glass, better known as Glassic, is becoming one of Chicago’s most promising young producers. His name says it all, as he spins towards the truth of classic production while also giving his own unique flip to each specific beat. Glassic employs clever sample placements, unique bass usage and other ingredients to pull the listener. Beatmaking “kind of snuck up on me,” recalls Glassic. In middle school he came across a random program on the internet and tried their 30-day trial. “I just played around with it and made a random beats. Then after a year I made about 200 beats and never stopped after that.”
This new passion lead Glassic into high school where he found an inner circle of other artists sharpening his production skills. Glassic began sharing his music on YouTube and Soundcloud for the public to hear. It didn’t take long for artists to start reaching out to him in search of collaboration. First, there were the duo New Kingz who reached out, using a beat they saw online to create ”New Roof”. A couple days later, they met up in the studio to work on more songs together. Glassic wanted to work with even more artists, so he reversed roles and began contacting artists he enjoyed. The first was Roosevelt the Titan, who is now a frequent collaborator with notable songs “Oh Gah” and “Desire”.
Glassic continued working on music in college. After a period juggling both, he released his first project in 2016. “My Glassic EP was my first release. I thought it was cool but I kind of brought it all together last minute.” His Motions EP was released shortly after, with a clearer vision. Receiving great feedback, the impressive project was a key that opened doors locally. Glassic began connecting with people in Chicago, building relationships around the city. “Chicago is a huge web, and there are so many people involved, and everybody is doing so many cool things you’re bound to meet so many people.” From Kahrion, IsaiahG, to Brittney Carter, with each collaboration the web great larger. His work spoke for itself.
Glassic’s diverse sound stems from the variety of music he enjoys. “There are so many different genres where I find inspiration and can learn a lot from. That’s why my style can be so inconsistent, I’m drawn to so many different sounds, like Harry Fraud’s boom bap to new age sounds like Monte booker and many others. There are so many people out there making beats, stretching music, and fusing all sorts of genres”. The internet enabled his own “virtual digging” through samples from multiple genres. This exposure to a large catalog makes Glassic’s process unique. “I go on long spans when making beats. I usually don’t start with drums. I start with musical phrase, or music idea, and go from there.” Glassic continues to reinvent the way he makes beats. “I used to sit down and start by going thru YouTube and finding samples, but lately I’ve been trying to get away from samples and getting into more synths.” Today many producers often know whom they want on a song before making the beat. Glassic sees both sides of thinking. “ It goes both ways, a lot of times it changes. I’ve been in the studio with artists before, but usually I send people random stuff, they pick out from there and we make the track.”
As Glassic entered 2017 these experiences led him to his latest release, Safe Travels. Safe Travels had three phases, laying the groundwork for the project (making the beats), was finding the right artists to bring the instrumentals to life, then determining the right studio for the final mix. Glassic found an affordable spot at “Soundspace” in Chicago and spent the summer perfecting his project. Conveniently located near the center of the city, local artists could easily come through to collab. “It was nice [to have the space] because I was able to meet tons of artists, and we were able to be flexible and mess around with a lot of ideas.” This momentum continued as many artists such as CJ Run, Marko $tats and Kahrion started collaborating with him and the project began to finalize. The sonic energy of Safe Travels is what sets it apart. Each beat contains its own feeling and vibe, with different themes and artists from Qari to Isaiah G. There is something for everyone. “Safe travels was a great opportunity to show what people are doing locally. Everybody was bringing so many cool ideas to the table and I felt like this project was a great opportunity to showcase that”.
Now Glassic is looking to the future. “I’m excited for my next project. I’ve been making a lot of music recently and I have a huge vault right now. But I’m trying to the step back and take my time to make sure the quality of every song is higher and everything is up on a new level.” Focusing on progression and putting himself in the right position to execute has been key to Glassic’s career. “A lot of stuff is going on in Chicago and I want to make the most of it. I want to help a lot of people out with their own projects and do cool things. A lot of artists have already blown up in Chicago and we are about to hit another wave and I want to be there when it happens.” All signs point up, make sure to have Glassic on your radar this time.
