Kevin Antunes: "We have to put the art back in artistry"

Kevin Antunes’ work as a keyboardist, musical director, audio producer and mix engineer has seen him curate live shows for some huge names in the world of music and showbiz, from Shakira and Madonna to Justin Timberlake and Cirque du Soleil. Here he tells Headliner how he’s been staying productive of late, and why he couldn’t do any of it without his JH Audio in-ears...

“It always starts with making the artist feel comfortable; you have to make sure you know who you’re speaking to so that you can eloquently translate their sonic needs,” offers Antunes, who at the moment is gearing up for the reopening of Michael Jackson: One at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay, as the show’s musical director/designer and audio producer.

“Everybody knows Michael’s music, but when you see and hear it in this particular theatre, it’s something else,” he adds. “There’s a set of stereo speakers in every seat by your head, there’s a mono speaker on the back of the seat in front of you, and speakers above and around you. I had 32 different outputs on this custom built matrix that I made in Digital Performer, where I could mix the songs and really do something creative and artistic that hasn’t been done before with an artist of this stature.”

Antunes is incredibly hands on when it comes to supervising in-ear mixes during rehearsals, so naturally he needs gear that he can rely on to a tee. As it turns out, he has been using his JH Audio Roxannes for the past few minutes during this very interview...

“The overall effect that you’re looking for is to make sure the singer can hear what they’re doing to the nth degree, because when an artist can hear like that, they can perform better,” Antunes shares. “Having something like JH, that gives me the highest audio range and fidelity so that I can also hear all the parts that I do, is absolutely game changing.

“Luckily for me, JH Audio is right here in Orlando, so I enjoy going there and looking at how they make everything. It’s quite incredible. Not only do they sound good, they incorporate that true quality, craftsmanship, and attention to detail.”

During lockdown, Antunes has also kept himself busy working on his own music project, which he compiled primarily from the bountiful archive of songs that he’s created for numerous shows over the years. The album was released in February earlier this year, and while quite clearly a labour of love, Feels Good is a thoughtful, seamless blend of pop, R&B, dance and soul that does exactly what it says on the tin.

“The goal was to write something that could stand the test of time, because the way it’s put together is a lot of live feel, some programming, and some - if I do say so myself - catchy hooks,” he reflects. “It’s like if Bruno Mars, Prince, Michael Jackson and David Bowie got together and jumped in a time machine through different decades, and wrote a record.

“It’s art, and as songwriters and creators, if we start treating our music as disposable, because we want it to be the next big TikTok thing, the audience is going to treat that music as disposable too. It starts with us; we have to put the art back in artistry.”

You can listen to the full interview with Kevin Antunes on Headliner Radio below.