Saturday, October 16, 2010

Carlos "After Dark" Berrios retires from Freestyle Music

The time has come for me to finally retire from the music that gave me my start in the record business. In the words of SNL's Garrett Morris, Freestyle Music has been very, very good to me.

From the early days editing at Unique Recording Studios to the last record I got to mix on an SSL at Hip Pocket Recording with Butch Jones, it has been a wonderful ride.

Three years ago I came out of semi retirement with the intention of reintroducing the genre to a younger generation with the craft and quality of the productions we toiled over back in the day. In the last three years I have released about 25 new Freestyle records with artists new and old. Some of the songs were better than others but I can say confidently that no one else has been able to match the quality of what we've released at ADM Records over the last three years.

Together with Franc. Reyes' songwriting skills I have had the pleasure of producing some of the genres more memorable titles like Lisette Melendez's "Together Forever" (#36 Billboard's Top 100) and Corina's "Temptation" (#6 Billboard's Top 100). And last year Sammy Zones "Without You" would have absolutely been a Top 40 hit back in the day.

Although I believe that there could a place for this music in today's world the mantle will have to be passed to and carried on by a new generation. Teenagers that find the history of this music inspiring enough to find their voice through it. But my time has come to an end. So although I will now work mostly in film, I do intend to continue to make music when I can, working in other genres like Hip Hop, Rock, and House, and will continue to release these through ADM Records. But I am today officially retiring from producing any more Freestyle records.

There are a few more Freestyle Dance records coming that are either in production or ready to be released like my remake of the Rios Sister's "I Don't Want You Back" that is definitely going to turn some heads. And I will do my best to make these last tracks the best that they can possibly be.

Carlos "After Dark" Berrios

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