Bedroom Studios

Make Music Day
Illustration by Daniel Greenfeld of a producer mixing sounds in bed

For the past six years, open-air recording studios have appeared on sidewalks in cities around the world on June 21st to celebrate Make Music Day. In these Street Studio Cities, pioneered by Found Sound Nation and Harman, world-class DJs and producers invited passers-by to contribute to a spontaneous music production session, using only the audio recorded on the spot.

This year, while people around the world are staying safer at home, producers continued this tradition with Bedroom Studios – live-streaming their production process from home, while creating a collaborative track with short audio clips sent in by viewers.

Bedroom Studios offered a window into music production, and the challenge of producing with completely unknown inputs, bringing music makers together from bedroom to bedroom.

Check out the lineup of participating producers below, and links to their final tracks!

Bedroom Studio Producers

Ale Medina (New York City, USA)

With solid roots and strong influences based on Funk, Soul and R&B music, Ale Medina achieves a characteristic sound by mixing these influences with electronic music genres such as Techno, House and the subgenres that emanate from the “New York Clubber” scene like Nu-Disco, Bass Music & Acid. A New Yorker by way of Mexico City, Ale had a 15-year career as a music producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist before taking a turn to electronic dance music which he shares in niche clubs and speakeasies in NYC. Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
Algernon Artworks (Budapest, Hungary)

Judit Vincze (Algernon Artworks) is a Budapest based music producer / singer / songwriter. She is a teacher and manager in imPro Budapest School of Music and Technology. She loves jumping between genres such as pop, techno, cinematic or downtempo. Currently she is working on her new solo project. Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
Beats By Medina (Alex Medina) (Seattle, WA, USA)

Beats By Medina provides both major and independent media companies with originally produced music for their media projects. Beats By Medina has placed close to 100 original beats on MTV/Viacom on such shows as Choose or Lose Home Coming Special (Kanye West), Once Upon A Prom (Taylor Swift), Made, 10 On Top, Yo MTV RAPS, Cribs, True Life, My Super 16, Seven, and more. Search Beats By Medina on Apple Music, Spotify and all digital platforms. Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
Ben ‘Arsenal’ Schneible (Philadelphia, PA, USA)

Ben Arsenal is a producer, DJ, instructor, arranger, band leader, percussionist, and entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of both Worldtown, an international club concept turned seven-piece live house music band, as well as Elevate Sound Studios, an independent recording studio and education company. As a DJ, Ben has played as far south as Florianopolis, Brazil and as far north as Montreal, Canada. His sound is closely tied to his interests and studies in international culture and folkloric music fused with modern electronic sounds. He has played support for Felix da Housecat, Eats Everything, Riva Starr, Amtrac, Bob Moses, and more. As a producer, he has worked with Grammy winning musicians and leads Worldtown Soundsystem to become one of Philadelphia’s favorite up and coming live acts.
 
Eric Leonardson (Chicago, IL, USA)

Eric Leonardson, a Chicago-based audio artist, serves as President of the World Listening Project, founder and President of the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology, and President of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. He is Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Sound at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). As a performer, composer, and sound designer, Leonardson created sound with the Chicago based physical theater company Plasticene (1995-2012). Leonardson performs internationally with the Springboard, a self-built instrument made in 1994 and often presents on acoustic ecology to new audiences. Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
J Dash and Tami LaTrell (Austin, TX, USA)

J Dash is a classically trained piano prodigy, rapper, songwriter, producer, engineer, & multi-instrumentalist who also holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Florida. J. Dash’s pulse-pounding dance sensation, “WOP” recently went double-platinum. In 2011, he founded SlapDash Productions; a boutique firm specializing in artist management and music production/licensing for TV & film. He also created JAX Beat Battle as a way to inspire, and pour into the music community in his hometown of Jacksonville, FL. J. Dash now hopes to spark the next generation of musicians and artists of all kinds to push the arts culture forward.
 
Tami LaTrell is multi-platinum, GRAMMY-nominated songwriter who’s written for artists such as Whitney Houston, Monica, Keyshia Cole, SWV, Rotimi and Country duo Love and Theft to name a few. She inked her first music publishing deal with EMI Music Publishing in 2002 under the leadership of Big Jon Platt, and is now an established writer with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Aside from songwriting, she facilitates music publishing and copyright workshops online as a music and rights protection advocate and also speaks at different universities and music programs in schools. She’s a YouTube partner with over 670k+ views.
 
Muhammad Aqib Jamil (Islamabad, Pakistan)

Muhammad Aqib Jamil is a Composer, Producer & Audio Engineer. He transitioned from Electronics Engineering to a world of music. His mentor is J. Anthony Allen, who holds a PhD in Music Composition and he is also an Ableton Live Certified Trainer, co-founder, owner and CEO of Slam Academy, a multimedia educational space in downtown Minneapolis. At present he is working with two organizations Daastan and Varga Core as a Sound Engineer. Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
Ju-lyon (Philadelphia, PA, USA)

Ju-lyon is a producer from Philly who has been in the field for over 10 years. His background is hiphop, Dancehall, EDM and he grew up blasting reggae and beats. He has also been a performer from a very young age. He studied music production at Harvard’s Digital Media Program as well as the University of the Arts. Ju-lyon has written music for fashion shows, videos, musical projects and worked at the Boom Room Studios in Philadelphia. At the moment he works with Nova Talent. Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
Karam Hyat Khan (Wah, Pakistan)

Karam Hyat Khan is a composer, a musician, a singer-songwriter, a music producer and a mix engineer. “I have been into music for about 11 years and trying to revamp myself further in this area. I am an FL Studio Producer Edition expert and also music production & recording technology certified. Presently, as the founder of the audio production house, Varga Core Studios based in Wah, Pakistan. I’m producing for all foster musicians and music-enthusiasts worldwide.” Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
DJ Klem (Lagos, Nigeria)

With a professional career spanning over 15 years, and a list of credits that includes the most well known artists and brands, Clement Kponu AKA “DJ Klem” is one of Nigeria’s most prolific producers. Since first breaking into public consciousness as part of the production duo Beatworx, He has gone on to produce music for some of Nigeria’s most popular artists including Wizkid, Ice Prince, Phenom, Sound Sultan, Mo’Cheddah and many more. A multiple nominee for producer of the year, DJ Klem is one of only two Nigerians to have attended the prestigious Red Bull Music Academy, in London 2010. As a composer and sound designer, he has worked on several award-winning movies and also worked on advertising campaigns for MTN, Konga, UBA, Sterling Bank and many more. Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
Natie (New York City, USA)
Natie is an artist from Reunion island, currently based in Brooklyn. With a looper, violin & vocals, she builds full tracks live, with flavors of Soul, Electronic and World music. Fresh off a world tour with Beyoncé and Jay-Z, she’s now launching her solo career with the release of her debut EP “In the Key of Fall”. Latest performances include live set for Today at Apple in Williamsburg, Soul in The Horn in Chelsea, The Revolution at National Sawdust, Miami Soho House, and Afropunk Battle of the Bands.
 
Rob Smooth (Chicago, IL, USA)

Performer, composer and audio engineer Rob Smooth (of the music duo King Drive) uses sound production as a creative form of expression, helping youth with his MICAPP invention (Made In Chicago Audio Production Program). Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
SpazeCraft (New York City, USA)

SpazeCraft (Aaron Lazansky) is an educator, muralist, visualist, producer, and a native New Yorker. In 1997 he created the 1st ever “in-school” Hip Hop Education program in the U.S. In 2015, he instigated & spearheaded first ever digital music education program at Carnegie Hall. From 2013-2017, he was an artist in residence at the Andrew Freeman Home in the Bronx, where he created LUMA, (level up media arts), a teen media arts program. Since 2014, he has been the resident VJ/Visualist for Top Tier New York. As a DJ he has shared the stage with the legendary DJ Kool Herc, Gil Scott-Heron, StereoLab, DJ Spooky, Steve Roach, Yoko Ono, Thurston Moore, DJ cash money and Otomo Yoshida. Video archive of Bedroom Studio session.
 
Syndrum (Montclair, NJ, USA)

Syndrum, the artistic persona of Josh Rodriguez, blends underground dance music, turntables and drum machines. He has performed at NYC’s Club Albion where he opened for DJ’s “Sinister”, “DALI NYC”, and “Lenny Dee” among others, and held a twice weekly residency at “McGurks” in West Orange, NJ. Syndrum teamed up with DJ 5witch4itter in 2011 and hosted monthly events at “The Pyramid” NYC for over 3 years. Today, Syndrum works with “Disturbance Unit” to bring the harder sounds to NYC and beyond. Offering his intense mixes of all styles of Hard Dance music on CDJ, vinyl or any media he can tweak with his quick fingers.