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I have been producing electronic music since 2015. I learned the basics from my buddy Jose who is a member of TWSTD ZOO (much love to them). He helped guide me toward excellent resources such as tutorial videos and presentations held by more established artists. Aside from that, everything I know is self-taught.
I use Ableton Live 10. It’s the only DAW I’ve ever used, so I can’t personally say it’s better or worse than any other DAW out there. But I love it because it’s structured so nicely like a basic Windows program. I did a very brief video on YouTube actually going over some of the main things I like about Ableton such as the file explorer window and stock effects.
My favourite pieces of gear would have to be my Audio-Techinca headphones because they help me hear everything in a very balanced way. None of the frequencies are elevated or enhanced, so I am editing raw audio. I would not be able to produce as well as I do without them. Aside from my mixer and my laptop, I don’t have any other gear.
My favourite software plugins would have to be Xfer’s Serum because it has helped me sound design almost all the sounds I use in my tracks. From creating sounds from scratch or using the effect chain from the plugin, my sounds have definitely reached a higher level because of it.
The other plugin I find very helpful is the Dada Life Sausage Fattener. There is a funny meme out there about the overuse of it by newer producers, but it truly does do a great job at compression and acting as a limiter to give my songs the extra punch and brightness.
My initial approach typically consists of going through samples or midi packs to get an idea flowing. Once I find the simplest pad or melody, I’m pretty much good to go and create the foundation for the track, like the intro, verse, drop, etc. After having the foundation, I then slowly build the actual song components. Once I have additional structure, I then get into sound designing. This consists of creating entirely new sounds or modifying existing ones.
Once I have a sound I am happy with, I then get into making the drop which typically takes the longest time. After I have the first drop, the rest of the track takes about 1-2 hours to complete if I’m not getting too complex with it. If I am deciding to incorporate multiple genres, I basically follow the same steps before I sound design the later elements.
YouTube has definitely been the number one place for me to find straightforward, how-to kind of videos. YouTube videos typically teach me how to use new plugins or make sounds that I have in my mind.
Another valuable resource that I don’t hear many people talk about is the Looperman website. I have found an endless royalty-free soundbank of insane sounds that I highly encourage everyone to check out.
The video that instantly comes to mind when reading this question is Reid Stephan’s video about sidechaining to get clear kicks and snares. I learned to do manual sidechaining, which is basically turning the volume of your non-drum elements up and down every time the kick and snare hit. This gives the purest, cleanest, and honestly, the most accurate sidechain compared to using a sidechain effect. Ever since I learned this, I have always heard that my drums have been crystal clear in my mixdowns.
The advice I wish I heard was something I tell people today, which is “Don’t try and sound design everything.” I say this because I remember when I first started producing, I believed that I had to make every single sound in my tracks, and I had this horrible fear that if I didn’t, people would know where I got my sounds. Now, of course, there is a healthy balance with this, and I explain that you don’t need to go from one extreme to the other. Find a healthy balance of sound designing one to three sounds in a track, and use samples for the rest. You will finish songs much faster and easier which in turn allows you to progress much faster as a producer.
One of the challenges I have recently been facing is being consistent. I have so many ideas for content as a music producer where I constantly bounce from one idea to the next. I recently started a series making songs from video game sound effects, and I immediately decided to also work on an EP since I have a few songs already almost done. I have learned to overcome this by dedicating entire days to whatever I want to work on, rather than trying to split the hours of each day. This allows me to have a steady grind to whatever I set my mind to.
Aside from the manual sidechaining as I talked about earlier, one killer tip is to be very random and experiment. I have found that once you have a grasp of what a majority of plugins and effects can do, by randomly throwing on a bunch of them on certain sounds and channels, you can get some amazing sound design results without having to work nearly as hard.
Another useful technique I have found when trying to make a drop is to open about five audio channels, place five audio loops from completely different sample packs in each channel, and cut them up to give each channel a dedicated section where it plays through the mix. This helps give you crazy complex drops which in all honesty, would take a lot of time and brain-power to come up with.
Most online tools that help with the production process are sample websites like Splice and Looperman, but one site that has absolutely helped at the end of my production is Loudness Penalty. It lets you know if the volume of your track is too high or low for major platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and more.
I absolutely try to get feedback from a variety of people, and some of my favourite places to submit my music are demo submission live streams. Currently, I join Rico and Miela on their weekly Tuesday Night Twitch streams where they listen and provide very thorough feedback.
The track I am most proud of has to be a track I made in my old duo, D3Z & Rill0, as it was my first track where I made every single sound (minus the drums) and it led to us being discovered and releasing a few tracks through Tommy Boy Records.
RepostExchange has helped me tremendously. It has helped me discover so many other artists, some of whom I have had the pleasure of collaborating with. Additionally, it has helped me get discovered by people through the reposting service.
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This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.