It seems like music is in your blood. Growing up with a world renowned gospel singer for a mother, can you tell us music how affected your childhood and shaped your sensibility as an artist?

Being raised in a musical family helped shape my career and ability to produce and write great music. I learned very early about pitch and timing and I also saw a lot in the studio with my family. How to sing, breathe, and also create good feeling music from the heart.

Just one week after graduating from high school you had already produced an entire album for a local gospel artist. At what point did you decide to focus on the technical side of music?

I started as a drummer and at 15 my mom bought a lot of equipment for me (sequencers, drum machines, and keyboards!) I listened a lot to other producers like David Foster, Teddy Riley, and Quincy Jones. Once I started making my own tracks I knew for sure I wanted to produce.

Your resume reads like a Grammy nomination list: Mary J. Blige, Lil’ Kim, Whitney Houston, R. Kelly, Jennifer Lopez, Brian McKnight, The Notorious B.I.G., P. Diddy, etc. What projects do you feel you have gotten the most out of?

Well, I feel that I got a lot from mostly all of them because of the experience and extra training it gave me having to work with different artists and different types of voices.

You worked with Diddy on many projects like “I Need a Girl (Part 2)” before becoming a Bad Boy artist. Tell us a little bit about your journey from known producer to R&B singer?

I really love producing more but I was singing the hooks to the songs I wrote for other people and my voice struck a couple of ears! People started talking me into doing an album so I did a few songs and got a deal at Motown records with Andre Harrell.

That relationship with Bad Boy saw the release of your 2004 album Hurt No More which went platinum. It had the huge hit “I Don’t Wanna Know” for you as singer. Being that the single came from your own album, did this feel differently for you?

The single felt great. It was different because I was the voice on it, but it still felt great.

The album was also nominated for a Grammy. What was it like to be nominated in the same category as Janet Jackson for Best R&B Contemporary Album?

I was and still am honored to be among great people. It is a blessing from GOD to do what I do.

How do you think iZotope’s products could fit to your studio production process?

iZotope’s products fit in my studio production process pretty easy. First of all, my engineer Stefan Johnson is a big fan of the products and uses them for most of my records. I'm all about putting effects on my sounds -- not just leaving them dry -- so I use a lot of delays, distortions, and other things on most of my tracks. I use Trash very often on my synth basses and different kinds of gritty sounding patches. I mix my own records with my engineer so I have to use iZotope mixing tools like Alloy and Ozone everyday.

What are some of your favorite features?

I have a few different favorites. There is this distortion preset in Trash that is amazing. I tweak it a little bit to get my own sound. Also, I love putting Ozone on the master fader of my mixes and playing with the different settings. It brings the mix to a whole new level.

What is next for you?

I am currently building my multi-media company, Rio World, and working on developing artist. I am also working on my third solo album which is gonna make history! Watch for its release date!

To learn more about Mario Winans visit Mario's Official Artist Page.