In The Studio

In the studio with Slow Shudder

This week, we catch up with Seattle-based writer and producer Slow Shudder!

Jaz from the RepostExchange Team

How long have you been producing music and how did you learn?

I’ve been producing music for about 12 years now, which is wild to think about! I didn’t get serious about it until about eight years ago but my early experiences with production definitely continue to influence my sound.

I first started out manipulating audio recordings of my voice in GarageBand because I’d had to go on mandatory vocal rest. I’d just begun my undergraduate degree in Vocal Performance at NYU and developed terrible acid reflux issues. Classical training techniques that I was previously unfamiliar with plus the stress of doing a full-time university programme while simultaneously working in nightlife caused me to have pre-nodules on my vocal cords. My doctor ordered me to not speak or sing for a full month, and fortunately, the pre-nodules went away on their own after a few months.

I felt creatively stifled while I wasn’t able to use my voice, as I’d almost always written music by singing out ideas. I began messing around with audio files I had of my voice on my laptop, recorded in the practice rooms when I was writing songs and when I was in voice lessons and classes. I would often get lost in GarageBand and enjoyed it so much that I enrolled in a production class as my elective the next semester. It was called Software Music Production and covered all the basics, and gave me a great foundation to work from. Shout out to James Sizemore for being an awesome teacher.

Over the next few years, I mostly made glitch music and experimental stuff in Logic Express, using recordings I’d made and songs I liked. One thing I loved to do was take songs and bring them up to 180-200 bpm or slow them down to like 50-60bpm (basically was just making nightcore, vaporwave, and chopped & screwed edits).

I got really into dance music in the early 2010s - especially dubstep, electro house, progressive house, and moombahton. That’s when I switched to Ableton and started getting serious about learning to produce in a more extensive way. I taught myself through experimenting with the software I had, watching Youtube Tutorials, going to free workshops in NYC hosted by Ableton, Shocklee, Dubspot, and Scratch DJ Academy, and reading through forums. I was working full-time by this point and then started DJing regularly on top of that, and any money I had leftover after living expenses and student loan payments went towards software and hardware for my home studio.

By 2014, I felt I’d hit a plateau skill-wise and wanted to take things to the next level so I applied to do a Master of Music degree at Goldsmiths, University of London, and fortunately got accepted. The guidance I received from professors and my friends there, along with the space and time to fully focus on my creative practice for the first time in my adult life, was crucial in helping me get to the point I’m at now with production.

What DAW(s) do you use and why?

I use Ableton 10 Suite. I started using Ableton because I liked that it was just as powerful for production as it was for live performance, and I continue using it because of this.

What are your favourite pieces of gear and why?

My favorite piece of gear is definitely my laptop. I use it for everything - recording, production, planning my DJ sets, broadcasting my radio show. If we’re talking music-specific, I’d say that’s a tie between my Akai MPK Mini and Blue Raspberry mic. With those two things plus my laptop, I can write and record no matter where I am. I love my Roland JD-Xi synth, it’s a beast.

I also love my Yamaha HS5 monitors - super balanced, I trust that I’m getting an accurate reflection of the sound. If I’m away from home, I use Sennheiser HD 558 headphones, which are open back and lightweight so I can use them for hours without getting a headache, or my DJ headphones which are Sennheiser HD 25.

What are your favourite software plugins and why?

So tough to choose! For synths, my all-time favorite is probably Massive. I’ve used it for so long that it’s my go-to if I’m sound designing something from scratch since I know where everything is and I can make something really quickly with it.

In recent years, I’ve started using Serum more often, it’s incredibly powerful. I also use Sylenth and Ableton’s Simpler & Sampler all the time.

For vocal effects, hands down my favorite is iZotope Vocalsynth for vocal work. Love it more than I can put in words. Antares Auto-Tune Pro is incredible, I love that it sounds so natural now - definitely worth the investment, in my opinion. I use various Waves plugins for mixing and vocal effects too - Waves Vitamin and DeEsser are almost always on my lead vocal. For mastering, I recently started using iZotope Ozone 8, and I like it a lot so far.

For synth effects, I especially love Ableton’s Amp, Overdrive, and Beat Repeat.

How would you summarise your approach/workflow when creating a track?

The way it usually goes is I’ll get a song idea while I’m not thinking about music at all. It’s often when I’m doing dishes, running errands, at the gym, sleeping or falling asleep, walking the dogs that I dogsit, taking public transportation, or reading.

I’ll use Voice Memos on my phone to get the bare-bones of the idea down if I’m not home or I don’t have my laptop and write down any lyric ideas in Notes. Once I’m able to get to my laptop, I’ll record the chords and then simultaneously write and/or record as much of the topline as possible (at least a verse and chorus, but often the whole thing) and then I’ll develop the production around it.

When I’m producing an instrumental track, I usually start with chords or a lead synth line or bassline. Once the melodic ideas are down, the drum ideas start to come for me. Drum programming is what I find most challenging, so when I have something melodic to work from, it helps a lot.

Occasionally, I’ll be producing without any vocal ideas and then a song will come out of a track I originally thought would be instrumental. Those songs are usually weirder and more interesting since I’m writing from a slightly different headspace.

What resources do you use to improve your craft?

Do my friends count?! I feel like I’ve learned the most by collaborating. Whenever I do a session with someone, I walk away with some new techniques. I’m really grateful to be friends with so many talented artists.

I definitely used Youtube in the past though, and forums like FutureProducers, Gearslutz, and DubstepForum helped me tons when I was getting started. I only lurked though, never posted. Especially not in DubstepForum, people could be really harsh and I didn’t want to embarrass myself!

What is the last YouTube tutorial you watched that you would recommend to other Re-Ex Members?

Over the summer, when I upgraded from iZotope Ozone 5 to Ozone 8, this tutorial was helpful at explaining a lot of the features I wasn’t familiar with.

I learned a lot in less than 30 minutes, I would definitely recommend watching it as a starting point if you want to use Ozone 8:

What knowledge or advice do you wish you'd learned earlier?

“Take your time and be kind to yourself.”

I struggle with perfectionism and I’ve always hated being “bad” at something, and my perception of “bad” for my own work/life tends to be anything that’s less than exceptional. This has held me back a lot, in various aspects of life, but definitely with music.

When I decided I wanted to get serious about production, I spent years beating myself up over not being “good” at producing yet. I often missed out on the fun of learning because I was so preoccupied with external goals. I would often get frustrated that I “didn’t have anything out” with my artist project before Slow Shudder, and then I’d release music that was totally undercooked because of impatience and imposter syndrome. I would recognize the songs weren’t where they needed to be but didn’t know how to make them any better.

I wish I’d chilled out. I wish I’d had more fun with it all. I was so desperate to have more time to make music - I wanted to quit my day job and make music my full-time so badly, for so many years. I wish I’d known I didn’t have to be miserable and I wasn’t “running out of time”, as I often told myself. I wish I’d known that the majority of working musicians have a side hustle, a day job, or external financial support, and those things don’t make their work any less valid.

As we’ve all heard before, everyone has to start somewhere. Life is way more fun when you focus on the present. Enjoy the process, there’s no need to rush. If you keep making things and keep learning, it’s not a matter of if you’ll get to where you want to be, but when.

What challenges related to making music do you face and how do you overcome them?

I get writer’s block at least once or twice a year, and if I’m under stress, I’ll get it more often. Sometimes it’s a week, sometimes it’s a month. My mood fluctuates between extremes and sometimes there is a blankness, mentally, where I normally find my ideas.

The way I’ve dealt with this is to stop trying so hard to make music and trust that eventually, the inspiration will return.

I’ve trained myself to see writer’s block not as an obstacle but as an opportunity to absorb. I see absorbing as part of the writing process. Now when I have musical writer’s block, I read more, listen and discover new music, hang out with friends, express myself creatively in different ways like cooking or photography, go on more hikes, play more video games, just chill out and have fun. After many years of being a workaholic always on the edge of burnout, I’ve finally recognized that resting is just as important as working, and resting will make your work better.

Can you share any killer tips or techniques?

One technique I encourage every artist to explore is working with field recordings! You don’t need to drop hundreds to record your own stuff. You can use your phone’s mic, and if you don’t have a phone with solid recording capabilities, you can buy a portable recorder new for less than $100USD, or get one used for even less.

Think about the sounds you hear every day as elements on your musical palette. No matter where you are, there are tons of unique sound possibilities around you. Even just sitting in your room with your day to day stuff, challenge yourself to use more audio that you record yourself. This will add individuality to your work, which is crucial if you want to stand out from the crowd.

I recognize that it’s more convenient to use sample packs - and don’t get me wrong, I love Splice and freesound.org and the many samples I’ve collected from various sources over the years. But what makes me sound like me is incorporating my environment into my production world.

Challenge yourself to explore what’s possible from using your own recordings, and you may find a whole new wellspring of creativity.

Do you use any online tools to assist with the production process?

As mentioned in the previous answer, Splice is an online tool I use often for samples and presets. I like manipulating what I find to make it my own. When I’m trying to work quickly, it can be super helpful in terms of sound design to start from somewhere rather than from scratch.

I do think it’s good to build sounds using an init patch or your own recording whenever you’re so inclined and able, but when you’ve got something at the edge of your brain and don’t want to lose it, working with samples/presets to increase your speed can be key.

Do you try and get feedback or suggestions to improve your music? If so, how?

Absolutely! Every song I’ve released has been shown to at least five friends who also produce and/or write. It’s super helpful for me to get thoughts from my peers. I’m in a virtual songwriting group for female-identifying/non-binary artists, and I get a lot of wonderful feedback from everyone in that group, especially on songs in their earliest stages.

I used to be really scared to share WIPS, again, the perfectionism curse, but once I let that go, I realized my work improved a lot more quickly when I shared with others than it did when I was working in isolation.

Which track are you most proud of and why?

Hard to choose! I suppose I’d have to go with the title song from my EP, “Off The Rails”. Melodically, I feel like it’s both catchy and interesting, which can be surprisingly difficult to achieve. Lyrically, I feel like it’s one of those songs that I’d been trying to write for ages, about a number of emotions and people and experiences in my life. Production-wise, I experimented a lot with it and I feel like it’s a great snapshot of various sonic interests of mine.

I made so many different versions and the project folder has a bunch of files in it like “offtherails_weirddrop”, “offtherails_toomellow”, “offtherails_toopredictable”, so when I got to “offtherails_FINALREAL”, I felt like I’d gotten to the peak of a mountain.

Has RepostExchange affected the way you make music? If so, how?

I’ve found some really cool artists through RepostExchange that I don’t think I would have discovered otherwise. I feel like I’m always affected musically by what I listen to, in a subconscious way more than anything else, so finding new artists that are making original work is definitely inspiring. I’ve always loved platforms that put a spotlight on artists on the come up, and RepostExchange falls into that category for me for sure.

Desert Island Gear (top 5 software or hardware)

If I was actually stuck on a desert island, I’d want a solar powered generator for electricity, my laptop (with all my software & samples on it - is that allowed? Haha), MPK mini keyboard, Blue Raspberry mic, and Sennheiser headphones.