Rumors I heard are true, Will Yip emits an invigoratingly contagious energy while also managing to be one of the most-chill people you could encounter. Engineer, Producer, Musician, and Advocate: Will Yip gave me the blessing of his time to gain knowledge over the phone for a productive morning. Will Yip strives to work with strictly top-tier artists, featuring a variety of on-going works such as; Anthony Green, Arctic Monkeys, Title Fight, The Fray, Turnstile, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Turnover, and SO many other past and future classics.
Will began his early start in music by beginning playing the drums at age 12. Aside from the feeling of a bit of isolation and rejection due to “not looking like other people who played music”, Will implemented his optimistic mindset and surpassed his way into a studio. Once Will fell in love with the ambiance, he immediately made it a goal to never leave the studio. Will Yip put all of his consistent effort into making his way into the legendary home of recordings of artists such as Ms. Lauryn Hill, Cypress Hill, the Fugees, Billy Joel, Aerosmith and many more; Studio 4 (Founded by Phil & Joe Nicolo). After all adversity, Will’s drive would not let him settle for less than following his dreams. Growing up with hard-working parents in the process of creating a new life after a harsh route immigrating from China in the 70’s, Will and his siblings were shown intense work ethic, which carried into his drive to pursue music. Myself and others have asked Will how he keeps up his social battery, how he puts 14 hours of time into being in a studio and he simply “just does”. Will Yip happily “just does”, because he lives-and-breathes his craft, and seems to find human intimacy in working with others in music.
Generally creating anything, the tasks come with a lot of self-teaching. Even Will Yip made early mistakes in self-teaching, telling me of a story that included (accidentally) breaking a Studio 4 speaker at age 20. How could he? Phil Nicolo trusted him! Will scrambled for a solution, researching for how the hell he was going to replace a speaker that was no longer on the market. Will’s only option included a $7,000 replacement! Nonetheless, Will desperately did everything above-and-beyond he could do to fix the scenario. At the end of the day, the fix ended up being under $2 and he was rewarded by Phil for his respect for the studio. From this, Will expressed respecting the art is what can encourage people to keep creative and succeed, and to combine that respect with consistent hard work. “Be a sponge!”, he said in expression of how much people can learn from others around them by pure observation and intention. After only a decade of music, it is safe to say a huge part of Will’s youthful success is fueled by genuine hard work, respect for the art, and gratitude in being able to live what you love.
Will Yip also has an impactful intent-of-quality that needs to be appreciated and acknowledged – he’s not just helping drop some of the best albums ever, he’s also trying to build community and strives to give artists a voice. With his label; Memory Music, Will hopes to keep giving artists their voice, because there are too many carbon-copy producers out there that lack to see artists’ talent and potential.
Will Yip can be inspiring to us all due to his intention of diversity and representation he wants to embrace in the music industry through collaboration. There have agreeably been a lot of “old white dudes” producing music since the beginning of time. He expressed the important/strategic need for more people who are fresh, more women producers, more people who are the opposite of old white dudes! Will Yip is essentially contributing to creating the future of music culture. It is amazing to think of someone in his position implementing things into the music industry that we will be needing for this reviving world of art. If anyone is to tell us who should be making music right now, it’s Will Yip.
Narrowing it down into simplicity, Will Yip is a mutual large fan of music and wants to be friends with amazing artists of all ages and backgrounds, but the man is still so much more. My chat with Will Yip provided me with more lasting knowledge than I’ve gained in a very long time, and I could not be more grateful to share it. The advice he gives us can be put toward our attitude in life in general; put in the work if you really want something, see through discouragement, be authentic, stay feeling young, stay busy, and have gratitude when you have the opportunity to love what you are doing – big or small.
Behind The Midwest Scene 
Leave a Reply