Meet Konstantin Ladurner | Music Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Konstantin Ladurner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Konstantin, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor behind my success is that I’m always striving to create something that listeners haven’t heard in that exact form before and that sets me apart from other music producers. When I produced “sardines” for Audrey Nuna and Deb Never, my intention was to create something that my 14-year-old self would have loved to create, without worrying too much about the industry or what other people would think. Those kind of beats, ironically, are always the most successful ones because they’re the purest, the ones that sound the most like me. You can hear in “sardines” the influence of my teenage Nu Metal phase (Korn, Limp Bizkit) mixed with my passion for hip hop music. That’s why the song is successful, because hip hop heads as well as rock lovers can both connect with the song. That’s also why it was the perfect beat for the amazing artists Audrey Nuna and Deb Never since it was a beautiful blend of their worlds, which again is rock and hip hop. The song was also placed in the world famous online video game Fortnite, which, for those who don’t know, became a cultural phenomenon in 2018, drawing in celebrities such as Drake and Travis Scott to be playing it and averaging hundreds of millions of players each year. In the game, you have to eliminate your opponents to be the last person standing on a shrinking map. You can also find cars on the map which you can drive and then the car radio will play different songs, one of them being “sardines”. To know that one of my songs can be heard in one of the biggest video games in the world was mind-boggling to me and I’m very grateful for it.
Whenever I play beats for my team, it’s always the ones that are most unique that stick out, and that ultimately get placed. Because in today’s world music industry people have to probably listen to 100 beats a day so you gotta think to yourself: How can my beat stick out?

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets me apart from others is what I’ve mentioned before as the reason for my success: That I don’t want to sound like any other producer and that I don’t want to bore the listener. I also constantly want to learn new things and not just stick to one genre. I’m most proud of having produced the song “sardines” by Audrey Nuna and Deb Never and I’m most excited about 2 future releases that I have coming up for the amazing artists Danny Polo and Akshara. That is because those two releases really show my range as a music producer since one song (Danny Polo’s) is a Latin party smash sung in Spanish, whereas the other one (Akshara) is a cover of an Indian song but produced with a Drum & Bass sound. So both songs couldn’t be more different not just from each other but also from what I normally make and were amazing learning experiences for me. Both artists are bringing their roots into the modern music world and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of these songs. It proves to me that I can do anything as a producer as long as I put my mind to it and put in the work. Danny Polo and I, for example, have been collaborating together for almost two years and I really had to dive into Latin music to understand the sounds and their rhythm. With Akshara, I was again exposed to a music culture I didn’t know too much about but then dove in and was able to produce something that she absolutely loved. Both songs allowed me to learn so much and that’s what really makes me happy. I’m very excited for people to hear them. To get to where I am today was obviously far from easy. Just the fact that I had to move across the world (from Northern Italy) and leave my family and friends behind just to be able to be in LA, shows the first major obstacle. Even after that, I didn’t know anyone in LA or in the American music industry and had to figure out a way to succeed. I overcame these challenges by asking people for help, advice and any information I could get on how I can move here, etc. I also went to UCLA Extension to study music production, which helped me a lot in meeting other musicians and supportive professors who were well connected. Another obstacle was that all of that happened exactly as Covid started but I stayed optimistic and made the most out of it. During Zoom classes, I tried to engage with professors and classmates as much as I could and, aside from getting good grades, really wanted to connect with everyone. Once Covid became less serious, I was able to put myself out there by going to networking events and meeting as many musicians as I could.
Then when it comes to music, a big challenge for producers in general is getting heard by the right artists. As a music producer, you really have to have your hands on ten things at once. You send beat packs to these people, you have sessions with these artists, you do research on up-and-coming-artists and industry people and then reach out to those people, etc. All of these things are so important and it’s not just about making beats.
The lessons I’ve learned along the way is that you can’t wait on anyone to do something for you, you have to be proactive. Instead of complaining that one person doesn’t get back to you, why don’t you reach out to ten more people instead? I’ve also realized that I can learn something from everyone I meet and that’s very exciting.
I want the world to know that my story can be an inspiration for anyone else’s story. That if you are willing to make sacrifices you can get anywhere and you’ll figure it out. If you have to move to a different country and leave all your family and friends behind for it then that’s what you’ll have to do but it will be worth it. Musically, I also want the world to know that any music that you were exposed to as a child and/or teenager can later be your secret power and make you stand out. For me, not every hip hop producer grew up on Nu Metal as a teenager but I did, so by fusing it now with Hip Hop it makes me stand out from all other producers and that’s what got me my placement with Audrey Nuna and Deb Never. So whatever you were exposed to that others weren’t, that’s amazing. Use that. Mix it with something else you like and you’ll have your own sound.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Aside from doing the main touristic attractions, I would take em to rent bikes in Santa Monica and driving them down along the beach to Marina Del Rey. Preferably in the early evening so that we’ll ride during golden hour. When we’re in Venice Beach I would also show them the canals. That’s also around the time when they’re doing roller blading at Venice beach which I think is a lotta fun to see. When we’re returning to Santa Monica I would take em to KazuNori for dinner, where you can get super fresh Hand Rolls. I love KazuNori because you can’t get any more fresh fish than there since the chefs are basically your waiters and they prepare the Hand Rolls right in front of you. If my guests like vegan food I would take em to Gracias Madre in WeHo to enjoy some delicious vegan Mexican food and drink margaritas.
For breakfast/lunch I would go to Joan’s on Third, as they have a lot to choose from and it’s cozy to sit outside in the LA sun.
Another early evening program would be to do a little Runyon Canyon hike, which takes only 1 hour and you get a beautiful view over the city. After that I would take them to a concert at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, because it’s never too crowded and you discover some really great artists there.
The best thing in LA is going to underground music events because you can meet super cool people and the level of musicians is very high, which is one thing I love about LA.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I wanna shoutout the legendary music producer John “PNut” Harrison, whom I was working with during my time in Berlin (2018, 2019). He is best known for having produced “He Can Only Hold Her” off of Amy Winehouse’s Grammy-award-winning album “Back to Black” and was a great mentor to me during that time. We worked together on the releases “Subject of Discussion”, “Kiss Kiss Mama”, and “Your Eyes” by the artist Maxiz. He showed me what it meant to be a music producer and that being a kind person is actually more important than your music skills. Even though he’s had so much success in the past he showed me that you can still be a great human and not let that get to your head. That really inspired me and I keep that same mentality.

Aside from PNut, I wanna shoutout my closest hometown friends who realized quickly that music was my talent and that if I did anything else I’d be wasting my time and they wouldn’t have that. So they really pushed me to fully focus on music.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onlykontent/

Image Credits
Ethan Johnson-May