I guess I've been writing music since high school, and I'm 27 now. I didn't really start taking it seriously until a few years ago though. And there is still so much to learn.
I started with Fruity Loops back in the day, but moved to Ableton because Skrillex used it. I ended up liking the workflow a lot better and have just stuck to it now! I feel I can organize stuff a lot better in Ableton, and that keeps me productive. As soon as a project becomes a mess, it is pretty much toast.
Gear wise, not much. I don't DJ, so as I finish tracks I begin working on edits and chopping them up for a live performance environment. So I guess I would say my old Akai APC40 and Alesis Sample Pad Pro! You can do a lot of cool stuff with a live set built around launching clips.
Software-wise, too much to list really. A ton of Ableton stock plugins are used in every one of my tracks. Third party-wise though, I'd say Serum (for sound design, resampling), Decapitator (distortion), NI Transient Master (when you need stuff to hit harder, or end quicker), TrackSpacer (mixing and mastering), and like everything iZotope makes (mixing and mastering), plus Splice for samples!
Workflow is all over the place. It kind of depends on the genre I'm working on. But usually, I always start with a bass line and getting a cool bass sound. I build everything around that pretty much every time. Getting the bass and drum layers to agree before anything else helps me choose every other sound that ends up in the song.
Pretty much YouTube, and trial and error. Once you've got the basics down, I think it's important to start experimenting and pushing your own techniques to get from point A to point B. At least, that is what helped me get my own sound when it comes to mastering my own work.
Honestly, the last YouTube tutorial I watched was one of my own, since I had to make it.
Otherwise, I would check out anything tutorial on the Disciple channel (Virtual Riot, Modestep, etc.). They've got some great and quick tutorials on mixing stuff for hyper-compressed, super loud dance music.
That clipping and distortion are okay. This type of music is loud, and it's going to clip. If a synth is too clean, people don't seem to respond well. The trick is finding the right amount of it, and in an acceptably pleasing way. I mean, listen to some of Valentino Khan's stuff. Some guys even let the master clip. I personally don't, but gain staging right is the only way to get stuff this loud.
Honestly, the biggest challenge for me is making music that is actually... musical. It's easy enough to make a cool bass sound or a heavy-hitting couple bar rhythm, but then turning that into an actual song is a lot harder for me. I've met in the middle, and structure my songs kind of weird. Not a usual drum free, melody focused intro, but instead a looping groove, then drop. This translates to my live set better too, where I can keep the beat going almost the entire time
My killer tip would be to resample. A lot of my sounds are from resampling a bunch of times. My 'Gettin it Thicc' tutorial on YouTube shows my process on that!
Other than YouTube or Splice for samples, I don't use any online tools. RepostExchange for the feedback though!
I send my stuff around to friends for their input and make quite a few changes based on that.
I can't really pick. With each track, I try and learn something new, whether it is a mixing, sound design, or music composition technique. Because of that, they are all special to me, since all I hear is that something I learned. Been focusing a lot on that musical composition part lately though!
Re-Ex has helped a lot! It's nice being able to post a tune somewhere and know that other artists will actually listen to it, and I've received many inspiring messages and started a few collabs through it as well!
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This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
