Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Seligson.
Hi Andrew, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Hi there! My name is Andrew, I am a professional music composer, producer, engineer, DJ, and performer from Kansas City! I started off very young playing the guitar and idolizing the likes of Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante, Nick Drake, Bill Evans, among others. However, I found later on that if I wanted to find a deeper level of artistic expression, I needed to learn how to write music for other instruments and compose! So, I ended up going to Oberlin for music composition, where I wrote a symphony and a few operas that I ended up producing off-broadway in New York City as well as broad in the Middle East while working for the United Nations. Once I returned home, I discovered electronic dance music, particularly the UK drum and bass scene, and found myself knee deep in the world of DJing, synthesizers, and writing / producing for the dancefloor! Nowadays I write exclusively drum and bass, but I have a vision and dream of merging my classical interests and my EDM interests together somehow!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh there have been many twists and turns! Music for a while was a very intense obsession, particularly early on. I think I used it as a bit of an escape from normal anxieties of being a young adult, which I ended up paying for later on with my health and well-being. That said, I made a nice discovery once finding that music was not a theoretical exercise to be mastered but a genuine means of communicating with our fellow people.
Another challenge has been learning and re-learning different elements of music. It’s once thing to play guitar, another to compose, and another to get people dancing. They are all challenging in their own right, but serially-specializing in different areas of music has been humbling to say the least!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
So I would say my first big claim to fame was that I wrote a symphony early on in my life. The symphony was a Lord of the Rings ‘tone poem’, or a programmatic piece that narrates a particular story. That was my entryway into the wide world of music and I wrote it when I was around 21 years old. It was a nice way to get started and I sure made a lot of fun and funny mistakes while doing so. I ended up doing a TED talk about the whole experience in fact!
Another claim to fame was I went viral a few years ago on YouTube for a set I did called ‘The Storm’ which, similarly, programmatically narrated a very hard period of my life where I felt very alone and struggled to cope… the piece ends on a very hopeful note, and I am happy to send you the piece if you’re interested 🙂
In terms of what may set me apart; I have a rich understanding of music theory, and am quite inventive when it comes to form, instrumentation, harmony and creative genre-bending. I like to think that artists who rise to the top have a rich understanding of their craft to the point that they can ‘bend’ or ‘break’ the rules because they know what the rules are in the first place!
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
I’d love for folks to reach out to me! I am always looking for new opportunities to perform, collaborate, and put new ideas together. I am available at @qntm.e on instagram, YouTube, Soundcloud, and Spotify! Anyone who reads this should absolutely feel free to reach out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.qntm-productions.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qntm.e/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@qntm.e
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dj-qntm
