Bruce Waynne (born Waynne Nugent) is half of the Grammy Award Winning Production Duo MIDI Mafia. The music production team established in 2003 is most notable for their production of 50 Cent’s number-one single “21 Questions”, as well as the producer for artists such as Frank Ocean, Justin Bieber, Fantasia, Jennifer Lopez, John Legend, to name a few.
Also working with Brandy and James Fauntleroy II, the MIDI Mafia met and began to collaborate with Frank Ocean, who was then working as a songwriter and collaborated with the duo consistently. While working with MIDI Mafia, Frank Ocean wrote the songs “Quickly” for John Legend, “Bigger” and “Mamma’s Boy” for Justin Bieber. MIDI Mafia spearheaded the creation process for Frank Ocean’s mix tape, Nostalgia Ultra, producing the song Swim Good, and collaborated extensively on Ocean’s debut album, Channel Orange”, producing the lead song “Bad Religion” and garnered their Grammy Award. Other notable accomplishments are MIDI Mafia’s, The MADE Series. MADE is their Premiere Urban Music Library for Television & Film via their partnership with Extreme Music and Sony ATV. They are currently the number one urban music library in the industry and providing opportunities for rising stars. Waynne joins us from Sound Royalties, an innovative company that offers artists, songwriters, and producers non-credit based financing and funding without having to deal with loans from banks or traditional lenders, drawn against future royalty earnings with no credit hassles. Musical professionals retain the rights to their music and receive royalty financing in a structured manner so that income is still received, and not as 100% recoupment as is typical in the industry
Bruce Waynne (Waynne Nugent) from Brooklyn, New York, formed Midi Mafia with Dirty Swift (Kevin Risto) from Ottawa, Ontario. Other then producing their own music, both Waynne and Swift have worked together to produce for artists such as Nelly, Brandy, Jennifer Lopez, Sha Stimuli, Capone-N-Noreaga (“Yes Sir“), Bravehearts, Gemma Fox, Jean Grae, Talib Kweli, Young Buck, Miri Ben-Ari, Lloyd Banks and many more.
Bruce Waynne met Dirty Swift at Makin’ Records Studio in Brooklyn, NY, while working on a project for Bad Seed. Swift was the in-house project engineer and beat maker while Waynne pitched beats and helped compose/perform choruses for Bad Seed. They later formed Midi Mafia and did spec work for various people, including Sylvia Rhone, who was the president of Elektra Records at the time.
In 2002 Dino Devalie, who was preparing to sign 50 Cent to his label, approached Midi Mafia, resulting in the use of Midi Mafia’s produced beats for “21 Questions”, which was featured on Get Rich or Die Tryin. They ended up signing a publishing deal with Sony/ATV and a label and production deal with Elektra Records. 2003. They are most recognized for writing and producing 50 Cent‘s number-one single “21 Questions“.
In 2006, Waynne and Swift created FamilyTies, an imprint label that allows them to sign and develop their own roster of talent. This allowed the two to dive into the Pop/R&B world when they produced “When I See U“, (song originally written for Tori Kelly when she was signed to Geffen Records) the second single from Fantasia Barrino‘s self-titled album Fantasia, which held the number one spot for eight weeks on the U.S. Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.[3] The song was written by Grammy award-winning songwriter Waynne, Jane’t Sewell and Erika Nuri.
In 2007, the duo worked with Jennifer Lopez on her track “Hold It Don’t Drop It”, contributing as both writers and producers. Not too long after, the duo collaborated with American Idol contestant David Archuleta, contributing a track on his self-titled debut album that was released in November 2008.
While working with Brandy and James Fauntleroy II, Waynne and Swift started working with Frank Ocean, While he was with Midi Mafia, the three of them wrote the songs “Quickly”[6] for John Legend, “Bigger” and “Mamma’s Boy” for Justin Bieber. In 2010, Midi Mafia recorded Frank Ocean’s mix tape, Nostalgia Ultra, in which Midi Mafia produced the song “Swim Good”.
In 2010, Bruce Waynne and Dirty Swift worked together to release their own album, Vegas Lights, via FamilyTies. The songs “PHamous”, “Last Call” and “2 Piece” were included on the album and were featured on Season 3 of MTV’s hit show, Jersey Shore. The song “Lucky Tonight” was featured on Jersey Shore vs American Reunion, an MTV video used to cross-promote the new season of Jersey Shore and the release of the movie, American Reunion.
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Are you ready to learn more about Visual Effects? This externship from the Visual Effects Society will take teachers through a series of workshops and panels that address different aspects and facets of VFX. You will explore how VFX is integrated in live action and animated films: from prep, physical production and post. Discover the different roles of VFX personnel (design, on-set, technical, and creative) and discuss the future of VFX and virtual production. During the externship teachers will be working in Adobe After Effects. Teachers who do not currently have access to this software will be provided with a free 90 day trial from our AME Institute Sponsor Adobe.
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