Haig V. is a veteran music producer, composer and sonic architect with over 36 years of experience. Known for genre-blending and musical versatility, he is a founding force behind Montréal’s hip-hop movement and a driving influence in the creation of the city’s distinctive “mont-real sound”. His extensive portfolio spans hip-hop, electro, house, Afrobeat, reggae, R&B and film scoring.
Credits
Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame
“Drinking in L.A.” by Bran Van 3000, producer and composer
Juno Award, Alternative Album of the Year
Glee, producer, composer
Félix Award, Hip-Hop Album of the Year
Muzion, Mentalité Moune Morne, producer, composer
SOCAN Cultural Impact Award
Muzion, “La vi ti nèg”, producer, composer
SOCAN Classic Award
“Drinking in L.A.” by Bran Van 3000, composer
300+ sync placements
HBO, Showtime, MTV, Disney, Syfy, Xbox, Warner Bros.
Listen
Selected work, sorted by mood.
Choose a track
Nostalgic
Tense
Uplifting
Urban
Cinematic
About
Haig V. (Haig Vartzbedian) has spent more than three decades shaping Montréal records from the inside. In 1996 he founded Zoobone Records. He produced Bran Van 3000’s Glee, winner of the 1998 Juno for Alternative Album of the Year, and co-wrote and co-produced its breakout single “Drinking in L.A.”, inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2023. He then produced Muzion’s Mentalité Moune Morne, which won the 2000 Félix for Hip-Hop Album of the Year and became a reference point for Québec hip-hop. Along the way he mixed and remixed for Voivod, GrimSkunk, Dubmatique, Sans Pression, Corneille and Zaho, amongst many others.
Read moreShow less
The 2000s widened the circle: A-Trak, Dave 1 of Chromeo, Patrick Watson, Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, Guru of Gang Starr, Bless, co-production with Poetic of Gravediggaz (Wu-Tang) and Rahiem of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. He co-produced Neema’s “Unforgiven”, a song co-written by Leonard Cohen, and produced six tracks on Bad News Brown’s Born 2 Sin (2009). Meanwhile his music kept landing on screens, with more than 300 placements across HBO, Showtime, MTV, Disney, Syfy and Xbox through Third Side Music.
The recognition has caught up. Muzion’s “La vi ti nèg”, which Haig co-wrote, received the SOCAN Cultural Impact Award in 2025, and in 2026 Canada Post honoured Muzion with a Black History Month stamp. He is not revisiting old work. SPRLUA, his project with Samito, played MUTEK Montréal and was featured in Bandcamp Daily’s best electronic music of March 2022. He is producing Fad’M’s debut album, Charbonne, from his studio, Zoodio One.
Selected credits
| Year | Artist | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bran Van 3000 | Glee | Producer | |
| Muzion | Mentalité Moune Morne | Producer | |
| Bad News Brown | Born 2 Sin | Producer, six tracks | |
| SPRLUA with Samito | Magnum Dopus | Producer | |
| Forthcoming | Fad’M | Charbonne | Producer |
| Various | Voivod, GrimSkunk, Dubmatique, Sans Pression, Corneille, Zaho | Mixes and remixes | Mixer, remixer |
Sync and licensing
More than 300 placements across film, television, games and brand work, including HBO, Showtime, MTV, Disney, Syfy, Xbox, Warner Bros. and Ford, plus music for the World Economic Forum.
One producer for every brief: hip-hop, electronic, alternative, chanson, world. Catalogue tracks and custom work available, from composition and production to recording, mixing and mastering.
- Aftersun “Drinking in L.A.”
- Stretch “Don’t Play”
- Entropy “Drinking in L.A.”
- Playing by Heart “Drinking in L.A.”, “Exactly Like Me”
- Practical Magic “Everywhere”
- Gap Ad campaign, “Drinking in L.A.”
- Production, sync, licensing and press
- info@haigv.com
Press
“This is a wonderful demonstration of the breadth of modern African-diasporic electronic rhythm from Montreal-based, Mozambique-born singer-producer Samito and veteran studio-wrangler Haig V (Bran Van 3000).”
Bandcamp Daily
“Glorious and deliciously creative.”
Billboard
Chuck Taylor’s review of the single, January 1999, which credits the production to Haig
“consistently head-nodding production courtesy of Haig V.”
Exclaim!
Del F. Cowie on Muzion’s Mentalité Moune Morne, September 1999
“The ultimate existential slacker anthem.”
Vice
Emma Garland on “Drinking in LA” at twenty, January 2017
“Haig nous donnait des beats de dingue, uniques dans le genre. Un son sale, sombre, cru, mais composé avec une technique originale et incomparable.”
In English: “Haig gave us crazy beats, one of a kind. A dirty, dark, raw sound, but composed with an original, incomparable technique.”
J.Kyll of Muzion
To Voir, twenty years after Mentalité Moune Morne, July 2019
“producer Haig Vartzbedian hands in an abounding production à la Beck”
AllMusic
“slinky, deep-blue club thumpers, many of which are produced by Zoobone’s capable Haig V.”
Montreal Mirror
Disc of the week, Bad News Brown’s Born 2 Sin, 8.5/10, Rupert Bottenberg, August 2009
“Haig is one of the main producers on the album, with six tracks. He’s a long-time friend who has worked with the likes of Bran Van 3000 and Muzion. I used to listen to and watch him in his studio back in the day, and I used a lot of his instrumental tracks on this album.”
Bad News Brown (1977 to 2011)
Official press release for Born 2 Sin, July 2009
Word of mouth
“Montréal’s best-kept secret.”
Yvon DesRochers
General manager, BMG Québec
“It’s one of my favourite songs from the late 90s. Love the guitar and the vocals, the subject matter is kind of left field. Everything else they’ve done totally sucks in my opinion.”
Anonymous Reddit user
On ‘Drinking in L.A.’, r/ToddintheShadow, February 2023
Contact
- Production, sync, licensing and press
- Studio
- Zoodio One, Montréal
