Presto: Making A Name For Himself In The Music Industry
Michael Stanley Preston, known professionally as Presto, is an American record producer, audio engineer, and multi-instrumentalist from Washington, D.C. Michael was born in Northern Virginia and spent much of his life there until his teenage years. Presto started producing for fun at the age of 12 and developed an intense passion for music. His parents recognized this and later put him in music lessons. By the age of 15 Presto could proficiently play the bass, guitar, piano, and he had also garnered a comprehensive education in music theory and jazz music. During that time Presto joined a variety of local bands around the D.C. area and began playing at shows. Presto would often help the bands he was in record demos, produce and even engineer the recordings so they were suitable to send off to show promoters. In 2016, through one of the bands he was in, Presto got connected with a local recording studio called M80 Recording Studio (now Pete Durand Music for Everyone Organization). Presto’s talents were quickly recognized and he was granted their internship scholarship. Presto leveled up fast & began to run the studio as chief engineer and studio manager before its eventual closing in late 2018. After leaving M80, Presto decided instead of pursuing a college degree he would continue to focus on music full time and attend The Omega Studios’ School of Applied Recording Arts & Sciences in Rockville, Maryland. Today Presto is still grinding as hard as ever working on songs with major artists from the United States and beyond such as lilbubblegum, TheHxliday, and BankrollBlockaye. We got to connect with Presto and ask him a few questions about his come up so far!
How did you get started with music?
“Some of my earliest memories of music are of my parents playing records in the house or my dad trying to teach me guitar back when the instrument was twice the size of me. They eventually put me in music lessons around the age of 13, but before that at the age of 11 or so I discovered Dubstep and EDM and I’d say that’s really what sparked my interest in music and how it could be made. I was pretty good with computers for my age so I was able to get my hands on a cracked copy of FL Studio and I would spend hours just trying to recreate my favorite songs and sounds. I stayed focused on producing throughout middle school but after a few years of music lessons I started recording myself and local bands I had joined and that’s where my love of engineering really started.”
Describe the moment you knew producing and engineering was going to be permanent for you!
“I quickly realized it during my first studio internship while I was in High School. I was 16 at the time and got hooked up with the job through a local band I was playing with. At that point I hadn’t worked on musical projects with many people outside of the bands I was in so getting in the studio and working on a wide variety of genres with lots of different people was a whole new experience for me. I fell in love with the process of taking an artist’s ideas and helping them bring it to life in a whole new way they didn’t think was even possible and that’s still what I love about my job.”
If you were to talk to some upcoming producers & engineers what is the best tip you could give them?
“I tell a lot of people to make sure they love what they’re doing and they’re doing it for the right reasons. Music and the music industry is a lot different than it was 20 or 30 years ago and it can be easy to get caught up in the glitz and glamour of everything. Good music is good music regardless of follower counts, streaming numbers, and monthly listeners. As long as you keep that in perspective you can do anything.”
Tell us how it was working with major artists like “Smokepurpp” & “Logic”!
“Funny enough, both were really unexpected. Logic was my first major label placement I got hooked up with back in 2019 for the song “These Days’’. I co-produced the song with PSTMN and I’ll never forget the day I first heard the verse Logic laid down on the beat — I lost my mind! It was a long time until the song cleared and came out and that side of things was all new to someone like me who was coming from an independent/DIY background. I got the chance to work with Smokepurpp through an engineering client I had recorded a whole tape with him in 2021. When I was younger I was a huge Smokepurpp fan so I woke up one morning to my email filled with files titled “Smokepurpp vocal stems” and I thought someone was pranking me. Sure enough though it was legit and I went on to mix about 8 songs for them which was a lot of fun. That was actually my first time working directly with a major artist’s management to coordinate the release which was super insightful.
Tell us some upcoming things you want to accomplish before the year is over!
“I’ve been a shut-in during all of 2020 and 2021 focusing on my mixing and mastering skills while working with clients remotely but I’m excited to get back in the studio to record and work with artists in person again this year. There’s also quite a few full length records I’ve worked on this year that should be released before the year’s and so keep an eye out for those! I’m also always working towards a RIAA Gold or Platinum record.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUpu7618KrM
https://instagram.com/producedbypresto?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=