Avery Landau mixes business with pleasure.

The sophomore, who is in the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries, is a DJ who produces primarily hip-hop and R&B music under the stage name BACKPACK.

“There’s definitely a difference between making beats and (being) a producer,” Landau said. “A producer is the one who builds the whole song.”

Landau has had experience with the business side of music production as well, having worked at Atlantic Records for the past two years in the company’s Artist and Repertoire Department.

He said the A&R Department involves finding new artists, developing their talents and “finding songs for artists to record on.” Landau also took an A&R Department class with Red Bull Records last year and is currently the co-director of University Union’s Bandersnatch Concert Series.

“It’s definitely cool to have that creative side and being able to understand what a producer’s thinking or an artist is going through,” Landau said.

Landau found his producer name his sophomore year of high school while taking production classes at Universal Music Production Center in Hackensack, New Jersey when the studio head referred to him as “backpack.”

“I’ve always liked music, and freshman year of high school I started getting into producing music, just making beats on my computer. Then I started getting better software and collaborating with people,” Landau said.

Landau’s music is available on Soundcloud as BACKPACK, where his account has had several thousand plays. He has performed DJ sets on campus and at the Westcott Theater.

As a producer, Landau said he enjoys sampling older songs and collaborating with other producers and artists. He said he often finds inspiration in the music played at the Ernie Davis Dining Center.

“I think the best part is collaborating with other people because it’s really cool having two or three other people’s inputs on a song and seeing where it goes, seeing the creative process,” Landau said.

B.J. Baucom, a freshman computer science major who works on the University Union Board with Landau, said that Landau is both a talented DJ and producer.

“He knows what the crowd wants and can display what the crowd wants through music, so they can have the greatest amount of fun as possible,” Baucom said. “He hears what others don’t and can produce music that’s on another level.”

Landau has collaborated with producers and artists on campus including Jake Jennewein, or Lake Len, Eugene Maima, or Eugene the Dream and Julian Canery. Canery, an undeclared sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said working with Landau is a positive experience because of both his personality and his work ethic. He said that he sees Landau as a friend and partner rather than just a producer.

“Avery is very on top of his work and he’s also very passionate about the music that he makes,” Canery said. “I think the best part about working with Avery would have to be his energy.”

Landau often records in a studio on the fourth floor of Newhouse 3, where Canery said he is usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.

Landau also said he enjoys recording and editing simultaneously, and that collaborating with other producers allows them to play to their individual strengths in order to make the collaboration sound better.

“It’s cool because each kid has a couple things they’re really good at,” Landau said. “All of them are really good producers, but some of them have signature sounds.”

Landau’s latest collaboration, with Lake Len and Eugene the Dream, is one he said he is “most proud of.” Landau has sampled part of Nina Simone’s “I Loves You, Porgy,” and his friend has provided a live piano track, giving Landau’s music a new sound.

“What’s next is to continue making really cool music and finding the next person who’s making really cool music because I want to work with them as well or get them signed and show them to people,” Landau said.

Published on January 13, 2015 at 12:23 am

Contact Isha: idamle@syr.edu