Engineer Brendan “Bren” Ferry has been right by Cordae’s side through the making of his first two albums, home recording sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and moments that have changed their lives.

“[Cordae] came out [of the booth] to listen to what he recorded, and he was on his phone, and that’s when he saw [that Nipsey Hussle passed away]. We didn’t do s**t after that,” Ferry told REVOLT.

In this installment of “Studio Sessions,” the Grammy-nominated engineer discussed how the “Two Tens” artist and Shy Glizzy are similar, unreleased Anderson .Paak and Cordae records, and what he and Cordae are cooking up this year. Read the exclusive interview below.

What was the most significant change in making Cordae’s From a Birds Eye View compared to his debut, The Lost Boy?

While making The Lost Boy, we were experiencing everything for the first time as far as the Grammys and going through the motions. That’s why it took around three years for the second one to come together. For The Lost Boy, we had an objective, and we went in with the foundation. For the second one, we had to figure out a new foundation. Many of those songs were recorded while we were on tour for The Lost Boy. That ties back to how it was hard to build the foundation because we were on tour. The [“Today”] joint with Gunna, “Champagne Glasses,” and probably a bunch more were recorded on tour. We recorded the Gunna joint in the locker room of the Portland Trail Blazers’ arena. Cordae recorded his part in the arena and then linked up with Gunna at some festival in Australia. They recorded that in Australia. He sent the vocals back to me, and I mixed them in.

The most surprising collaboration on that album is undoubtedly Stevie Wonder playing harmonica on “Champagne Glasses.”

That’s funny because we were in the studio doing the last touches on the album, and Cordae told me, “Yo, I’m about to drop you this file,” and he was talking about getting Stevie Wonder on the song. I didn’t know what he meant by that because that could be anyone on the harmonica. It sounded beautiful, so I asked him who was playing it, and he said, “Oh, Stevie Wonder.” Also, the original song had Freddie Gibbs and Nas on it. Something occurred where both of them couldn’t be on the song, so he had to pick which one to keep. I told him I liked Freddie’s verse better, but it’s f***ing Nas. You have to put Nas on the song. But he went with what he went with.

When Naomi Osaka is in a session with him, is she giving tips and insight on records?

When they first started dating, she wasn’t really at the studio a lot, but then she started coming and would listen to music. She’s introverted, so she doesn’t speak too much. She’s just there vibing.

You and Cordae always seem to be cooking up music. Were you two in the studio together for any big life moments?

One session I’ll never forget is when we were in the home studio together with Arin Ray in North Hollywood when Nipsey [Hussle] died. That was crazy. He came out [of the booth] to listen to what he recorded, and he was on his phone, and that’s when he saw [that Nipsey Hussle passed away]. We didn’t do s**t after that.

You also worked with Shy Glizzy. What is his recording process like compared to Cordae’s?

Glizzy was around before I opened the studio because I worked with his brother, 3 Glizzy. I’ve always recorded Shy spontaneously because of that connection. When I built the studio, Shy started coming around more normally. Glizzy will go bar-by-bar, the same as Cordae. They’ll sometimes do two bars, punch-in, bar, punch-in, bar, punch-in. Glizzy will do the verse, come out, listen, take his time, vibe out, and smoke again. Sessions are long, but we only knock out one to two or three songs. But those are undeniably decent songs.

Have you and Cordae been cooking up a new project?

Not as of this moment, but it’s coming to that very soon. He is going to drop something with Anderson .Paak. I’ll let you know if that is certain.

How’d they put it together?

Anderson has his own studio warehouse thing. It looks like a house, but it’s a studio compound. It was very nice. That’s where he and his band do all the recording. I’ve been there a couple of times and recorded Cordae there. Cordae would go there all the time when they recorded a rough draft of a song called “Summer Drop,” another song I can’t remember the name of, and the song “Two Tens” three years ago around the time of “RNP.” It was about six months to a year after “RNP.” I remember he played those records for me, and they were amazing. They still got the upbeat feel of “RNP,” but also that drop-top driving down Malibu vibe with it.

What do you have coming up for the rest of 2023?

It’s a year of new ideas. I try to balance how hard I go in the studio because I know Cordae could call me any moment, and we’ll be going there for two months to record. We got a new studio, a new house, and new vibes. I got the new studio, trying to figure out ways to level it up; I got my Bamboo Recording Studios. I’m open to business in the DMV area.