Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon “Tall Jonny” Linger.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I started playing music when I was about five years old. I would come back from church and poke out the melodies I heard on the piano. From there, I went on to study classical music, jazz, and funk all through high school and college. I studied jazz on the tenor saxophone under Brian McCarthy at Saint Michael’s College for three years and went on to tour the North East with multiple funk bands for about three years.
When I heard that my younger brother started to sing and play guitar, I knew I had to be a part of it. The beginning was rough, I’m not going to lie. After learning Ableton Live and collaborating from over 200 miles away, I decided to leave my bands (and my girlfriend) in New York and continue mastery of the digital audio workstation (or DAW). I put upwards of eight hours per day into Ableton Live for the past five years straight, no skip days, mixing, mastering, and making beats for the artists in my ever-growing network. My brother and I founded MASTR Productions, and are really starting to make a name for ourselves and the people we work with. Just recently, we worked with hip-hop artist Menend from the West Coast, and engineered the track “Fk n Tlk” which charted #1 on Spotify’s “Bedroom Jams” playlist for weeks.
I recently decided to help others make the same journey as I have and am finishing up my book which will be released in the coming week or so, called “Secrets of the DAW”. It covers everything you need to become an expert producer and mix engineer, from MIDI to recording, to mixing and mastering tips. It’s everything I wish I had five years ago in one convenient package. I’ve spent the past couple months writing and refining, and I’m really excited for the launch.
Please tell us about your art.
Given my diverse musical past, I have diverse musical interests, and therefore am constantly changing my opinions on music as a listen and create. If you asked me this questing five years ago, I would have said I was super passionate about Joshua Redman’s saxophone skills, and I would give anything to share a stage with him. Lately though, my inspiration has been stoked by modern hip-hop, and it reflects in my music.
I’m mainly a composer/producer. My favorite thing in the entire world is making something completely original, and then sharing it with someone who is absolutely blown away by it. Just last week, I was inspired by local Boston artist Maxtallies, and had to hook him up with some fresh Tall Jonny beats. He came over, I produced the track from scratch before his eyes, and he hopped in the booth not 20 minutes later and cut the whole thing. We sent it off to our buddy Chrispy Light for a feature, and then I mixed it the next day, and it’ll be up on all the major streaming platforms by next week. To me, that’s the ultimate in collaboration, and really takes advantage of the age we live in. My mother doesn’t get how I can give up live music for behind-the-scenes type work, but to be truthful, I’ve just moved the stage to the more intimate setting of the studio.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
It’s really hard to pick just one. It’s a tough world for a musician out there! Even the people who love you sometimes find it hard to support you when your stuff doesn’t sound great. I think overcoming the social aspect of music is the biggest challenge. Music is innately a social experience. The first thing you want to do as a musician when you make something cool is to show someone, and have it brought them excitement and wonder. In the beginning, you don’t get that response, and it crushes you over and over again. You need to dedicate hours per day practicing the craft, even more so if you’re a musician transitioning from a live performance environment to a production and mixing lifestyle, and some friends and family just can’t understand that.
It’s understandable. I’ve found myself sitting in the same spot, literally for 14 hours making beat tapes for artists. In my mind, I’m in a different world. I’m locked in. I’m making progress, and I’m happy. But to the outside world, I’m silent, headphones on, distant, staring at a screen. It’s a curse. The hardest part is pushing through the part where you’re not good, until you reach a point where you can start helping others.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I publish most of my creations under MASTR Productions, which is kind of the umbrella network that I work for other artists under and promote my own team with. I have a website where I post my beats for sale, as well as other goodies, like a music production blog and sample kits – www.mastrproductions.com
A lot of my music is used for collaborations with other artists. My brother, aka 3Time (@iam3time), uses exclusive MASTR Productions creations for his tracks, so you can check out his songs on Apple Music and Spotify for some of my own work. “That Kid” Young Piff out of Jersey has an EP in the works, 100% MASTR Produced, as well as JustinTheArtist out of New York, and Jugman Shizzy out of my hometown of Salem, MA. It’s really amazing to watch the music evolve with each artist collaboration. I do plan on releasing an EP for myself, but not until I hook up the people around me that I care about with music they can be proud of.
Tall Jonny is my rap and beat-maker persona. You can find Tall Jonny on Apple Music and Spotify, with a single called “Fantastic” feat TigerBlood, and a feature on 3Time’s track, “Friendly Enemies”. Oh – don’t get confused by the imposter 3Time out there, either, who decided to change his name from Wintertime to 3Time out of the blue.
I also have a SoundCloud, under MASTR Productions. I love the SoundCloud page because it spans SO far back, that you get to see the progression I’ve made as an artist and an engineer. I’ve recently hit the maximum upload time though, so I’m going to have to grudgingly delete some tracks.
You can also catch me cheffing up hip-hop tracks on my Instagram Live @mastr.productions! Come join in the creative process!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.MASTRproductions.com
- Email: MASTRproductions@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/mastr.productions
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/MASTRProductions/
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/mastrprod
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/talljonnymusic
Image Credit:
All images by MASTR Productions.
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