In 2015, engineer Ben Hogarth took a leap of faith by leaving his home in South Dakota to head to Los Angeles to chase his dreams of making songs better. Over the last eight years, he’s found himself working with Wale, Hitmaka, and Jason Derulo.

“[Jason Derulo is] a machine. He’s been recording since he was 15. It got to the point where I had to keep up with him. That’s where I got my chops. I worked with him for five years and did 500-600 songs,” Hogarth told REVOLT.

In this installment of “Studio Sessions,” Hogarth explains how working with Hitmaka led to becoming Derulo’s engineer. He also talks Wale’s tenacity and his future work with Latto. Read the exclusive below.

Who was the first major artist you were in the studio with?

It would have to be Wale. I was working at The Boom Boom Room, which Will Smith owned. That was my first internship. I moved out in June 2015. Wale is on top of everything. When he is in the studio, he says, “I know what I want to work on. I’m going to work on this song.” If he’s got to write something, he’ll sit there and write it, and then he’ll go in the booth and do the whole thing himself. He’ll be there for a short amount of time. He’ll be there for three to five hours even though he’ll book a 12-hour session. He’ll just let the people signed to him use the studio when he is gone. He comes in, does his work, and then hops out of the studio. He’s really talented. He doesn’t punch in; he just does the whole thing. He’ll rap the whole verse. He’s a really talented guy.

As that was your first session with a major artist, were there any things you did wrong or had to improve on?

Yeah, it was a horror story (laughs). The session was supposed to start at around 4:00 p.m., but they hit me up. They say, “Hey, can you come in early? There’s this producer that wants to work before Wale comes.” I’ve never told this story to anyone. I didn’t know how to use Chromatic on Autotune. I had no idea, and this producer was recording background vocals for the song, so he was trying to hit this note, and I’m telling him it should be right. I’m telling him it should be in there. But he just got super upset with me. He threw the headphones down in the live room, came into the control room, and actually called a different engineer to work that day. That was my first session but the second day, Wale’s people came to the studio manager and said, “Hey, that producer was tripping out. He was on drugs.” After that, it was smooth with Wale. The engineer that was called in was Teezio. I sat there for 30 minutes while they were working. I just noticed how fast Teezio worked. I said, “Holy crap, this is how engineers should be.”

By August 2017, a couple years later, you said you recorded 30 to 40 songs with Jeremih. How did you two connect?

When I was working at Allure, Hitmaka came in; the main engineer was getting cheaped out by the studio’s manager. He said, “When you do this session, it’s not for a lot.” And the main engineer said, “No, I don’t want to do it.” I was like, “Let me do it. I’m ready.” I was in LA for maybe four or five months. Any opportunity I got, I just said yes. I didn’t even care if I got paid. I don’t even think I got paid for that session either. That night I worked with Hitmaka. He was looking for an engineer. That’s how I got linked up with Hitmaka. When I was working with him, I would go to his house in Chatsworth, and Jeremih would come over to work with him in this basement that was like a movie theater. The ceiling was all carpet. The walls were carpet. One of the songs we did in the first couple of months was “Bounce Back” with Big Sean.

The artist you have the longest working relationship with is Jason Derulo. How did you two connect?

I worked with Hitmaka all of 2016. I started at the top of January 2016, and then we were doing label sessions by August. Then, one night, he said, “Hey, we’re going to go to Jason Derulo’s house and record with him.” I was there early with Jason and his engineer at the time. I was just sitting there watching, and this engineer was really slow. Hitmaka got there, and I started recording Jason. Jason’s the fastest artist I’ve ever worked with. By the end of that session, my hands were literally shaking. I was freaking out, but I made it through. Afterward, Hitmaka and I did another session at a different studio and he said, “Yo, Jason hit me. He wants to work with you as an engineer. But that’s not going to happen. You’re my engineer.” But, when working with Hitmaka, I only got paid if it was a label session. He never really paid out of pocket to me. I did a lot of stuff for free for him. Anytime I went to Jeremih’s house, I never got paid. My gut feeling told me to take the Jason Derulo session. So, I did, and I haven’t spoken to Hitmaka since I left him.

What was it like working with Jason?

He’s a machine. He’s been recording since he was 15. It got to the point where I had to keep up with him. That’s where I got my chops. I worked with him for five years and did 500-600 songs. The more work I did, the better I got. They were also giving me a bunch of opportunities, as well. I was also the studio manager for his house. Within six months of the summer of 2017, they were [asking] if I wanted to come on the road with them because Jason saw he had to go do shows. I was sitting at home and at that time, I was on salary with him, so he was like, “Ben’s just staying at home getting paid. I need him to come out here.” I’m glad he did that because I got the opportunity to go on the road with him, and I got to travel the world, and my first passport is full. That’s how many countries I went to with him. I was his playback engineer for his live shows.

What’s your greatest talent as an engineer?

How fast I work. When people come up to me and say, “I really appreciate you as an engineer; you’re so fast,” that’s probably the biggest thing. In LA, people don’t care how the song sounds at the end of the day. They honestly care if you’re fast and can keep up with them because these artists spend $3,000 daily for a session at Paramount Recording Studio.

What do you have coming for the rest of 2023?

At the top of 2022, I decided to step away from Jason. So, I’m not working with him anymore. I’m freelance, but I’m also a staff engineer at Paramount. I’m also working with Latto. I will go to Atlanta next week and work with her for a few more weeks in June. I’m also working with everyone on Jay Grand’s team at RCA Records. I’m working with Latto, Pressa, and a couple of unsigned artists. I’m working with this artist named Supa Bwe. We locked in early this year, and they have some songs coming out this summer I’m pretty excited about. I’m turning 30 on May 27, so it’s time to do what I want to do and not be controlled by people.