JUNO Award-Winning Producer Hill Kourkoutis Receives 2024 JUNO Award Nomination
JUNO Award-winning talent Hill Kourkoutis has recently earned a JUNO Award nomination for the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year. This recognition comes for her work on “Ego Death” from the album Watin by Aysanabee, also a 2024 JUNO nominee, and “Whiskey Bar” from When I Met Your Girlfriend by Tafari Anthony.
In 2022, Hill Kourkoutis made history by becoming the first woman nominated and awarded a JUNO Award for Recording Engineer of the Year. Throughout her expansive career, Kourkoutis has left her signature on the music industry as a producer, mixer, and songwriter for a diverse range of artists. Her contributions have adorned singles and albums for notable artists such as Aysanabee, Leela Gilday, and Digging Roots. Not confined to traditional music realms, she has also crafted themes for children’s television, secured sync placements on Cadillac, Tim Horton’s, and Virgin Mobile commercials as well as on popular television shows including Station 19 and Kim’s Convenience.
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Yes, hello! My name is Hill Kourkoutis. I am a producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, recording and mixing engineer (among other things) based in Toronto.
What inspired you to pursue a career in music production, and how did you navigate your path to becoming a renowned producer and engineer in the industry?
It started off with the immersive experiences that records gave me and the mind-blowing fact that mini universes could be created and captured on recordings. I soon discovered that songs and productions manifested in my mind’s ear. The real lightbulb moment, though, came when Andrew Franey from the band Smoother came to my parent’s basement when I was thirteen years old to record my first band’s demo. He brought his PC over, a few mics, and had a software called Cool Edit Pro. Before that moment, I thought you had to be in a multi-million-dollar studio to make records. As time went on, I had the opportunity to work out of bigger studios with experienced producers and engineers on my own projects and other artist’s projects. My experience was a very DIY/trial and error approach mixed with observing and asking my peers questions. As my skills developed, my bedroom studio grew into a home studio. The solely “in box” set-up evolved into an analog/digital hybrid set-up. I also started to work out of many other studios depending on the needs of the project I was working on. My initial not-so-awesome bedroom recordings became good enough that my friends started asking me to record their music. Eventually that grew into producing, engineering, and mixing singles and albums for artists outside of my circle. Now friends or strangers who became dear friends come to me and we get to make awesome music together. There was a lot of dreaming, exploring, and learning my way into this present reality. It has been a very organic trajectory with a lot of hard work along the way.
Can you share some insights into your creative process when working with artists like Aysanabee and Tafari Anthony on projects like “Ego Death” and “Whiskey Bar”? How do you approach collaboration and bringing out the best in an artist’s vision?
I do like to start off with a “dating period” where I get to know the artists I am working with. It gives me an opportunity to get to know them as people and as artists. I learned what their creative goals are. I like to take their commercial goals into consideration as well. Sometimes I do a playlist exercise where I get artists to provide me with descriptions of what they may like and dislike sonically. All these steps help me narrow things down so that I can enter the creative process with an understanding of the artist’s wishes and aesthetics. It also gives me an understanding of their musical language. At that point, we are usually on the same page since there is now a solid foundation in place. Other than that, it comes down to trust and respect for each other. I trust and respect artists implicitly. If they trust me in this process, then I can gently and holistically guide them so they can grow into the space they desire to find themselves in creatively. It is an intuitive process. I never impose my will on them. It is a relationship that is built on honesty and communication. I also think creating a safe space to take risks, push boundaries, and get all ideas out fluidly is integral. There is room for refinement towards the end of the process, but it’s important to let it all flow out at the beginning. The details of how we get there may vary but those are the fundamental common denominators across all the projects I am involved with. At the end of the day, if we share a vision, trust, and respect and have a safe space, we can make boundless music magic.
As the first woman to win a JUNO Award for Recording Engineer of the Year and now nominated for the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year, how do you perceive your role in paving the way for greater diversity and representation within the music industry?
I strongly believe in the power of community building, mentoring, and amplifying all the amazing work that is being done within our community. It is within this awareness that opportunity is created. I would not be where I am today if artists and their teams didn’t see my potential and present me with opportunities. I would also not be where I am today without the examples set by the trailblazers who came before me and the mentors I had along the way. We must continue to foster our community, create more opportunities for projects that translate to greater professional prospects, and celebrate the incredible talent that exists. We must also pay it forward. It is in all our best interests to take an active role in creating a thriving and fair ecosystem for all. I strongly believe this to be true in regards to reaching gender parity in the technical fields and also to cultivate the diversity that exists in our ecosystem as a whole. I see myself as part of this immense and diverse ecosystem that I care very deeply for. I will continue to be dedicated to fostering, mentoring, and amplifying the amazing work being done by my peers.
How do you stay inspired and motivated creatively, especially when working on multiple projects across different genres?
Initially, I try to shut off when I leave the studio (easier said than done when I am hearing things in my head all day and night). Secondly, outside of my work as a songwriter and producer, I think it is very important to exercise my creativity without expectations of end results attached to it. Examples of this include painting, cooking, knitting, crocheting, writing poetry, or even gardening (yes, I find that to be incredibly creative as well). I love to learn new skills. I also love going to art galleries, reading books and poetry, watching films, and listening to music. Life is the ultimate muse for me though. She inspires me every day. The past, present, and potential future, love and longing, and bliss and despair give me a lot to draw from so I try to get out of the basement as much as I can and LIVE MY LIFE!
Lastly, looking ahead, what are you most excited about in your career, and what do you hope to accomplish in the future?
I hope to continue to grow and evolve as a creative being. I hope to continue to choose the projects and artists I love to work with. I hope to continue to manifest creativity in all sorts of ways whether they be through sound and/or vision. I am excited about all the things I have yet to do (and I have a massive to do list! —though, I’m pretty sure that the list of things I am not even aware of is even bigger). I am open to everything ahead of me–Those potentials are all immensely exciting to me.
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