What is your name?
Hey, I’m Annie Elise! Thanks so much for having me!
What is your genre of music?
I’m a producer/artist specializing in electronic pop and beats. As a producer, I do all sorts of genres –
indie, rock, alternative, RnB, and I’ve interned with studios specializing in country and metal! But my
favorite music to make is pop, especially for my own artist project.
Give us a little bio about you.
I was born and raised in Central PA, right near Hershey, and my parents were both pretty musical.
One thing I am grateful for is that everything I did in music was on my own terms, starting with
begging my parents to let me pick up the violin around age 8. I fell in love instantly! When my dad,
who is a music educator, was gifted an iMac lab for his classroom he asked ten-year-old Annie to test
out the curriculum. I think I enjoyed learning GarageBand a little too much, and I would sneak up to
my parents’ room to make covers on the software when they weren’t home. That was my first taste
of what music production was, but I didn’t realize it was something I could do as a career until much
later. My freshman year of high school, I found out I had synesthesia, which is a rare neurological
condition that causes me to physically see sound and hear colors. I started making some music based
on that, which led me to release a short album in 2016 inspired by the condition! It ended up getting
the attention of the executive director of TEDxLancaster, and in 2017 I gave my TEDx talk “Seeing
Sound: How Synesthesia Can Change Our Thinking” which has since been watched over 120k times
and has become the most-watched video on synesthesia in TEDx history. Now I work as a producer
for Dawn Patrol in LA, I do a lot of freelance production/mixing/mastering in addition to my own
artist project, and I’m currently working with companies like Kilohearts and Baby Audio to produce
some content banks and tutorial videos for users.
What made you go into music?
When I first went to music school, I thought that I was going to study violin performance. Halfway
through my first semester, I woke up and one of my fingers was stuck in a 90-degree angle. It took a
few months and a team of doctors, but eventually I was diagnosed with a neurological condition
called focal dystonia. That really shook me and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to play violin as my
career. So almost out of necessity, I started getting back into music production, since it was
something that I didn’t need all of my fingers to do. I found my classical training gave me a good ear
for recognizing detail in sound, and I just fell in love with the electronic side of production just as I
had when I was playing around with GarageBand when I was much younger.
Who are your influences?
There’s a huge lack of female producers in the industry. Growing up, I didn’t really see any visible
female music producers – the only ones were, like, Imogen Heap and Grimes, which are both better
known for their artist projects. As I’ve continued making music, I have found lots of fellow female
producers to look up to and work with, including people like Bad Snacks, Rachel K Collier, Dresage,
Dolltrick, and Bryn Bliska. Those women inspire me daily
Are you signed?
Nope, independent for now! Some of the people I work with are signed to a record label, and I am
signed to a publishing company. Grateful every day for the support of those around me!
You released your single ‘We Can Pretend’, tell us more about the single.
Yeah! So, the single started off with a single idea – the phenomenon called a false awakening where
you wake up inside your dream. It was the producer’s idea to do that! When he sent me the track
with that idea for lyrics I was initially like “huh, that’s a little odd” but I grew to love it very quickly.
What is the meaning behind the single?
‘We Can Pretend’ is a song about the space between dreams and reality. We wrote it to be about a
false awakening, you know, when you wake up in your dream but you’re still asleep – but the song
turned into so much more than that. It’s interesting to explore the concept of wishing you could get
away from reality, especially during the past year. I think it’s something we all wish for at some point
in time, and although we know it’s something we know we can never get; it is nice to pretend for a
little bit.
What was the writing and recording process like?
It was so easy! Josiah had a sketch of the track ready to go, and so I just kind of wrote and recorded
over it. I anticipated having to change some things, but we ended up using the initial takes in the
final version! The song just came together so easily and seamlessly. It was perfect.
Describe the track in two words.
Hopeful and dreamy.
Who did you work with on the single?
A lot of people helped with the song, and none of us have ever met in person! Josiah Soren was the
executive producer on the track, and Craig Reeves of VIP Sound Circle did an awesome job on the
mix. Piper Payne of Infrasonic sound got us a lovely master as well. Instrumentalists include J.
Hurlock on the synth layers, JB Boyer on the guitar layers, and Anthony Shay on the violin layers.
Josiah also laid down some killer bass.
Will we see a Music Video for the single and if so what can we expect
No plans right now for a music video for this song, but there are some awesome visuals we put
together with the help of Madison Jonap and Alanah Genovese!
Will we see an EP or Album and if so what can we expect?
Oh, yes! I’m working on an EP for myself right now and I’m REALLY excited about it! You can expect
to see a lot of vocal heavy stuff and a lot of beats. “We Can Pretend” is a great starting point –
expect more songs like that!
What else can we expect in 2021?
I’m hoping to play some shows live, and I’m so excited for some projects I worked on recently to
come out. You can also expect another merch drop and another release for sure!
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
In 5 years, who knows? I like to think that I’ll be living in a cute little studio apartment in NYC,
making music I love with people I love and not having to deal with industry sexism. If we’re talking
goals big or small, it would be a dream come true to someday be nominated for GRAMMY producer
of the year. 6 female producers have been nominated but none have ever won it. Ultimately, I just
want to love what I do and to be able to inspire young girls to go after production. That is something
that I am very passionate about
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
This isn’t exactly a quote or a saying, but growing up instead of asking how my day was they would
ask me how I failed today. I think a lot of people in the music industry would have a lot of trouble
with that question, but failure became normalized for me as something to embrace rather than
something to be afraid of. Just today I purchased a plugin that I ended up hating after a few minutes,
and I can’t get a refund. That was a fail! But it’s really okay. At the end of the day, those things don’t
matter. So – how did you fail today? How is it shaping you into the person you want to be?
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Clothespins. Always. I use them for EVERYTHING. Holding up music, putting up lights, holding
business cards, a paperweight… infinite uses. I keep so many in my gig bag! Also, you can always find
me with a dark chocolate bar before something big. In high school I developed a habit where I eat
half of the bar beforehand and half of the bar after the big thing is over. I think most of it is placebo,
but it calms me down and gives me something to look forward to regardless. Water is another big
one! I also don’t go anywhere without my laptop, it’s really important to my live sets. Likewise, I
travel with my SP404sx. It’s an awesome piece of gear that hasn’t failed me yet
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
I sure do! I’m very active on social media and I’d love to connect!
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
