Producer, DJ, Singer, Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist, Wine connoisseur and all round musical genius, Chris Arnott has all the important boxes checked.
For those of you well acquainted with the Australian dance music scene, you’d know Chris Arnott for his consistent ability to produce &/or write an ARIA Club charting hit.
For those uninitiated, please read on and meet the newest addition to our Studios 301 producer roster.
Chris is one of Australia’s most formidable electronic producers and songwriters, recently returning from LA where he was working on new music with Tommy Trash. He joins the Studios 301 team with a wealth of knowledge and experience, and a multitude of electronic releases under his belt both in Australia and internationally.
Working with labels including Ministry Of Sound, EMI, Sony, Universal Music, Armada, Spinnin’ Records, Dim Mak, Ultra Music, One Love, Vicious, and Toolroom, Chris’ work has gained a monumental 2 x Aria Club #1’s, 24 x Aria Club top 10’s and 14 x Aria Club top 20’s in the last few years.
On top of this he played a featuring role in the success of our 2016 ‘Is It A Banger’ Electronic Music Competition, working with winners Polarheart who were signed to Sony shortly after.
To celebrate Chris joining the 301 team, we caught up with him between sessions, to get his thoughts on what’s ahead in 2017.
How does it feel to be part of the Studios 301 team?
It’s an honor! To be able to realise my creative visions in world class facilities surrounded by such a formidable team is amazing; it’s quite a privilege.
How was being a part of last year’s electronic music comp?
It was a great experience. There was so much amazing talent it was really hard to narrow the field down.
What was it like working with the winners?
I think the fact that the Polarheart guys got signed to Sony was wonderful news! The guys are super talented and have a great career ahead of them.
What have you been working on recently?
I’ve been working on several of my own musical projects on top of my freelancing production and songwriting work. I’ve also been involved in developing 2 particularly exciting young acts that I can’t really go into too much detail about just yet, but it’s very exciting stuff. I’ve also been exploring some great opportunities abroad in the US and the UK.
What are you looking forward to this year?
Apart from continuing the above, I’m really looking forward to sinking my teeth into work with 301, and helping to develop a mentorship program. I’m also launching my label and artist collective called No Winter.
No sleep for you this year! What’s your approach when working with new artists?
That’s a tough question. It all depends on the individual artist(s). I always go into any new project with a totally open mind and just see where the music takes us.
How does working with artists differ from working on your own music?
I LOVE working with artists. It’s so nice to be able to have other creative minds to bounce ideas off and create some magic. Sometimes working alone for too long can end up like a scene from The Shining.
What do you have coming out this year you’ve been working on?
There’s about 7 cuts lined up for release at the moment including my own 2 projects.
You can find Chris’ full profile on our website here:
Chris Arnott is our in-house recording engineer at Studios 301
For all recording enquiries please call 02 9698 5888 contact Abbey@studios301.com
After listening to each and every single song uploaded, we’re excited to reveal the winner of our Is It A Banger? Electronic Music Competition.
Let us tell you, it was a very difficult call. The overwhelming number of entrants and the consistently strong production was mind-blowing. We had every type of banger you can think of including Trap, Deep House, G-House, Big Room, Nu-disco, Jungle, Electro-pop, Tribal, Future, and everything in between.
We’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who entered, and we’re looking forward to working with you in the future. There were so many standouts but after dwindling down the shortlist, we are very proud to be able to announce our winner.
Without further ado, congratulations to Sydney electronic duo POLARHEART, who took out the competition with their track Dystopia.
Polarheart now receive 2 days studio time at Studios 301, mastering by 301 engineer Ben Feggans, an exclusive introduction to 120 Publishing (Ministry of sound Australia), and a studio collaboration session with hitmaker Chris Arnott.
Here’s what Chris Arnott had this to say of the winners, “I was really taken by Polarheart’s songwriting, tasteful production and beautiful vocal delivery. Really looking forward to spending some time in the studio with them.”
A big thanks once again to all of the amazing electronic music makers who entered. The future is looking very bright.
Meet Chris Arnott. producer, DJ, singer-songwriter, multi-Instrumentalist, wine connoisseur, musical genius, and all round top guy. In the last 3 years alone Chris has had 17 Aria Club Chart Top 10's, and even more releases locally and worldwide. In addition to this, Chris releases as a producer, a topline vocalist, and features on various releases under different aliases including deep house cool, Friendless. Chris often lends his production and songwriting expertise to other DJ’s and artists, he’s just that in demand.
Currently, Chris is featuring as part of our Electronic music competition, Is it a banger?, whereby you get a chance to win a one-on-one collaboration session with Chris here at Studios 301, and make some badass music together.
To give you a chance to get better acquainted, we sat down with Chris and talked music, among other things.
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Studios 301: Doing our research, we found you were in a rock band when you were 15 signed to Festival/Mushroom Records. How did you get into dance music?
Chris Arnott: I was drunk and fell into it. Like a well.
You’ve had a fair amount of Top ten ARIA Singles. What’s your favourite?
Chris Arnott: It'd have to be my first one because I felt like I had really really achieved something, it was a pivotal point in my career and a great motivator.
Studios 301: What’s the best thing about being a producer?
Chris Arnott: Being able to create something so complex and beautiful from scratch.
Studios 301: What are you working on right now?
Chris Arnott: SO MANY THINGS!! My 2 main project plus tonnes of work with other artists. The last thing I bounced out was a G-House banger.
Studios 301: How do you know if you’ve made a hit/banger?
Chris Arnott: You always get a good gut feeling when everything falls into place musically. In all honesty, one rarely knows when something will resonate with a large audience, you just have to create the art that you want to make and hope that people enjoy it.
Studios 301: What’s your favourite thing about collaborating?
Chris Arnott: I try and collaborate as much as possible, working with other artists is so inspiring and one of the most enjoyable things about making music!!
Studios 301: Who are your favourite collaborators?
Anyone with great ideas and a true love for music.
Studios 301: Are you looking forward to collaborating with the winner of “Is it a banger?”
Hell yeah!!
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For your chance to work with Chris enter the Is It a Banger?
For more info on Chris Arnott & Friendless, check out the below links:
BOOKINGS : pat.ward@ministryofsound.com.au
Although I don't look it, I'm actually extremely happy this place is amazing. https://t.co/eu683DOmgA
Studios 301 in conjunction with 120 Publishing recently rolled out a competition, ‘Is It A Banger?’, specifically targeting electronic music makers and writers. As part of the prize you win a chance to record at Studios 301, partake in a collaboration session with electronic hitmaker Chris Arnott, and receive an exclusive introduction to Ministry of Sound Australia’s 120 Publishing.
120 currently represent some of Australia’s biggest electronic artists including Savage, Sam La More, Tom Piper, Chris Arnott, Joel Fletcher, Chardy, SCNDL, Angger Dimas, Seany B, Bass Kleph, as well as looking after the publishing for Vicious Vinyl, Central Station, Toolroom, Sirup and others. As a publisher they create and facilitate writing collaborations and features, as well as find opportunities for placements in film, gaming, TV and more.
To find out more we recently caught up with 120 Publishing General Manager, Karen Hamilton for a quick chat about ‘Is it a banger?’, their catalogue, and what they look for in a songwriter.
Studios 301: Are you excited about the Is it a banger comp with 301?
Karen Hamilton (120 Publishing): Definitely! We spend a ridiculous amount of time searching for new talent who can bring something different to the table and there are some insanely talented unsigned artists out there who just need that first break. Hopefully for a lucky few this will be the break they need. The chance to work with someone as talented as Chris Arnott is a pretty big deal – I don’t think people realise just how in demand he is as both a producer and topliner/vocalist around the world. I can’t wait to hear what comes out of the collaboration. There are also many female producers out there who seem put off by what looks like a male dominated scene so I really hope some of those girls who are reading this submit something for the competition and show us their amazing talent.
Studios 301: What’s the biggest tune that you have in the catalogue?
Karen Hamilton (120 Publishing): It’s hard to say what the biggest tune is because this can change in the blink of an eye with the next chart! Our most recognisable [tune] is probably DON’T HOLD BACK by The Potbelleez which was not only a huge hit but has been used in the Jeep TV campaign for the last couple of years. CHANGES by Faul & Wad vs Pnau (which samples the song Baby by Pnau) was a massive hit in Europe and was used in the Mercedes C-Class TV campaign Worldwide. BIGGIE BOUNCE by Diplo feat Angger Dimas and Travis Porter has so far been our biggest hit in the US – it has also featured in a couple of movies and was used in a TV campaign for Fiat across the US. Our biggest local hits have probably been FREAKS feat. SAVAGE BY Timmy Trumpet & Savage which went 5 x Platinum, and SWING by Joel Fletcher featuring Savage which went 4 x Platinum and won the APRA Award in 2015 for Dance Work Of The Year.
Studios 301: What’s the song/artist that you are most proud to have in the catalogue.
Karen Hamilton (120 Publishing): We are proud of all of our writers and their complete dedication to bettering their craft. Their enthusiasm, no bullshit attitude and talent floors me and I do realise how blessed I am every day to represent such an awesome bunch of people. However we are also really fortunate to represent 2 of the biggest classic dance songs of all time – WHERE LOVE LIVES by Alison Limerick which was written and produced by Lars ‘Lati’ Kronlund, and 1998 by Binary Finary which was written and produced by Matt Laws. So if I have to choose it would definitely be one of those 2 amazing tracks. Both are instantly recognisable around the world and have earned their place as classics that people will still be listening to for years to come. Watching the Armin Only Live clip of 1998 from back in 2008 (10 years after the original was released!) still makes me smile like nothing else can – an amazing song will always defy all barriers of time and genre.
Studios 301: Is dance music the main focus?
Karen Hamilton (120 Publishing): From the outside it probably looks that way but really our writers are all talented across multiple genres – it just so happens that they are also really great at writing or producing dance music. You might be surprised to know that some of our biggest dance writers also write a mean country song and have had success around the world with Pop, RnB, rap and even JPop and KPop. Most of our vocal tracks and toplines start out as an acapella with just piano or guitar so they can actually be interpreted into any genre. A lot of our writers and producers are also multi-instrumentalists and have come from a band background so I still get new rock songs delivered from time to time that I pitch out to other artists.
Studios 301: What do you look for in a potential signing?
Karen Hamilton (120 Publishing): We are always looking for what we call career songwriters – the ones that show talent across multiple genres and who want this to be their ‘day job’ for the rest of their lives, long after the path of their artist career has changed. Some of our writers want to eventually score films, some want to write straight up pop songs, some want to ghost produce. Because this industry can be competitive and sometimes quite brutal it’s really important that a writer can focus on the future and the long haul as overnight success only happens for a small amount of people. What we hope is that everyone we work with will still be with us in 20 years time even if it is working in a completely different genre to where they started.
When we do sign someone we all have to agree that we love the music and feel that we can bring something positive to their career as it is a really hard slog and we have to be as dedicated to it as you are. It is also really important that we all LIKE each other as it’s a bit like a marriage – there are going to be some shitty times and some arguments along the way along with some amazing times and hopefully a heap of success, and liking and respecting each other is the key to a strong team being there for the long haul. However sometimes we aren’t the right people for a particular writer to work with and that’s OK. This is a very personal business so just because we don’t get your music the way you feel we should doesn’t mean you aren’t talented and there isn’t another publisher out there who would do anything for the chance to work with you.
To enter the Is It a Banger? Electronic Music Competition click below
