Since a young age, I have always been interested in music. I started learning to play trumpet when I was 10 years old and I always loved messing around with GarageBand, but the moment where I really started getting interested in music production was when I got Logic Pro X for Christmas about six years ago. After that, my passion for producing electronic music started to snowball, learning mainly from YouTube videos and lessons from college, when I took up Music Technology as a subject. After that I went on to study Music Technology at the University of Liverpool and now, I am currently doing a Master of Arts in Creative Music Production down in Hertfordshire.
Studying music tech at an academic level for so many years has certainly provided me with a wealth of great knowledge, but it is by no means a necessity for aspiring producers. I would say I have learned just as much valuable information from watching YouTube videos! There’s so much great information out there, particularly practical production techniques that anyone can learn out of their bedroom, without any prior knowledge and I would encourage anyone to do so.
I have always used Logic Pro X, as a natural progression from using Garageband as a kid. Logic was the software we used at high school in the music classes, so I always felt comfortable using it. To this day I still think it’s an excellent DAW for the price. But, I would like to progress onto Ableton someday, as I have heard it’s more intuitive in terms of workflow. However, relearning a completely new DAW sounds like a lot of work and the price tag is another reason I’ve been putting it off. I still have a big love for Logic, but if you get a chance to learn how to use Ableton I would recommend you go for it!
When I produce, I do almost everything straight out of the box, maybe it’s a generational thing but I’ve never been too enthused with hardware gear unless it's completely necessary. I find that for most pieces of hardware, there’s often a plugin which can do just as good of a job for a fraction of the price.
The only real pieces of hardware gear I use of music production is my Zoom H2N portable recorder which I use for ambient field recordings and sound FX, my KRK Rokit 5’s, a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M30x headphones and my Pioneer DDJ-SB3 which I’m just starting to get to grips for mixing with. Rokits are a solid pair of speakers for any beginner, however, I’m looking to upgrade to some Yamaha HS7’s at some point. The ATH-M30x headphones are pretty faultless for the price; great build quality and provide excellent flat response.
I recently just bought the FabFilter Mastering bundle which includes the Compressor, EQ, Limiter and Multiband compressor and it has completely elevated my mixes. I can’t recommend them enough. The price is steep but if you’re a student you get 50% off, which makes them 100% worth it. Compression and EQ are the most essential tools for mixing, so having a good plugin for each is so important, and FabFilter have made the best one on the market that I’ve used. Serum is another absolute must-have for any EDM producers, a really intuitive interface and expansive possibilities.
Other notable mentions are Valhalla VintageVerb, Soundtoys' EchoBoy, Waves' Trans-X transient designer and Nicky Romero’s Kickstart is a very cheap easy to use sidechain plugin.
Some great free plugins I’d recommend are Xfer OTT compressor, Camel Audio Camel Crusher, Tokyo Dawn Labs TDR Nova EQ, Izotope Ozone Imager, and Softube Saturation Knob. I use all of these in almost all of my mixes and they’re completely free so go and download them if you haven’t already!
The initial idea of a track can really come from anywhere, but I’ve noticed that since I’ve started producing Drum and Bass (DnB), all of my tracks start with the drumbeat. I think this is because the drums are such an integral part of DnB so getting them right provides a crucial foundation that I can build the rest of the track around. I also enjoy programming drums and see it as one of my strengths in producing so I’m enticed to start there. After that, I normally move onto the bassline, as it’s the other fundamental element of DnB. A solid beat and bassline can be 80% of what makes a good DnB track, so starting with those elements makes the most sense to me.
As well as the teachings I get from university, my main educational resource is YouTube. The top channels I can recommend for electronic music production are Big Z, Alex Rome, and ImAMusicMogal. The main one who I can’t give enough praise is Big Z. He’s a house/pop producer who gets millions of streams on Spotify and shares all the techniques which make his hit productions so clean. Even though it’s not my preferred style of music, the techniques can be applied to any genre. Some of the tips he gives are ones I’ve never heard elsewhere on YT from other amateur producers and he goes into great detail breaking down all the components of his hit tracks.
I also find Masterclass videos from professional producers extremely helpful, as you can find tips from artists in the genre you want to make. You need to be careful who you take advice from on YouTube as there’s a lot of poor information out there. However, if you’re learning from someone who’s already made it as a producer, you know their advice is going to be reputable. Some channels that provide great masterclasses are Computer Music Magazine, dBs Music, Future Music Magazine and Point Blank Music School.
The last YouTube video I watched which I would recommend is a video by Alex Rome called ‘Every EDM Artist MUST Know This Sound’. It’s basically a sound design video for Serum for a keys patch. He produces slight variations of the same patch, which creates new instruments that can be recognized from lots of different famous EDM songs. The sounds are all pretty basic, but it shows a great example of how small tweaks to a fundamental sound can create a whole host of useful EDM patches. Alex Rome has a lot of Serum sound design videos similar to this, which I have found very useful.
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed to help my productions recently is organising my project well in order to improve my workflow. Making tracks takes hundreds of hours, so putting aside a few minutes to make sure you’re organised saves literally HOURS in the long run. This consists of:
I’ve linked a great video creating custom templates here:
Doing all of these things speeds up your workflow massively and allows you to spend more time doing what matters - making music, not trawling your DAW searching for one specific track.
A way I’ve found that helps to deal with writer’s block is to be working on multiple projects at once. That way if you can’t get into a track one day, you simply open another project and have a crack at that instead. This allows you to have a break from the track which isn’t inspiring you, but means you can still be productive and make new music. If nothing you’re working on is inspiring you, try starting something new! Sometimes it’s good just to get the creative juices flowing again. Just make sure you end up coming back to the tracks you’ve abandoned once you’re feeling more inspired.
As far as time constraints go, it’s a tricky one because everyone’s got other responsibilities they need to be getting on with. In an ideal world everybody would be able to make music full time and see what they’re really capable of producing, but sadly that not possible for most people. The only thing I would say is if you really want to be successful as a producer, you just have to push yourself to do it even when you can’t be bothered.
When I come home from a long day and all I want to do is get into bed and watch TV, I have to think to myself: the thing that separates the best from everyone else, is that they simply want it more. Therefore, it’s in situations like this that I should get up and do some producing even though I’m tired and don’t really want to. Obviously there are limits to this, everyone needs to have a break every so often, but just try and push yourself that little bit extra when you can’t be bothered and think about why you want this so badly.
One technique I’ve found which really cleans up mixes is sidechaining the reverb to your original signal. This means that when the dry sound is playing, the reverb ducks in volume, giving it space to breathe, while still allowing for a nice ambient reverb tail. You can learn how to set this up here:
Another key thing is to low cut the majority of your sounds. Nine times out of ten you don’t need the sub frequencies of leads/vocals/synths muddying up the mix. That space should be reserved pretty much just for the kick and bass. Try low cutting your sounds just enough so it removes any muddiness, but without losing the warmth and character of the original sound.
One more tip is limiting/compressing drums. Send the output of all your drums to the same bus then apply a compressor or limiter to the bus. This balances all of the drums out to a similar level and makes them sound a lot more cohesive. I do this to my drums every time I produce now.
One resource I use is SoundGym. This is a website that provides ear tests that improve your auditory perception skills for mixing. The tests involve things like recognising how many decibels louder a sound is and spotting whereabouts there’s a boost in the frequency spectrum. Doing these tests daily can really improve your perception of EQ and levels, allowing you to spot problems in a mix much faster!
When I’m working on a track, I typically show my friends and family to get their opinion, but they’re often not the best people to ask due to their bias or lack of knowledge of the genre. I’ve found that the best people to get feedback are other producers, ones who make the same genre as you if possible. As they know how sounds are constructed, they can offer specific technical or musical advice on what to adjust, instead of vague comments you might get from other people.
As far as tracks which I have released, I would have to say 'Liquid Bells', as I think it is one of the best-mixed ones I have done and it has a unique style and theme to it. It received the best response of all my tracks so far, garnering over 700 likes and nearly 10,000 plays in just over a year.
There are currently a few tracks that I haven’t released yet, which I am very excited to get out, as they are definitely some of my best work yet. I’m currently sitting on about five tracks which I just finished as a part of an EP for my masters and for the first time I’ve decided to send them out to labels! I’m currently in talks with a huge DnB label about signing one of my tracks, so the future is looking very exciting! Keep an eye out for releases in the next couple of months!
Having your songs rated out of 10 when a user reposts your track gives a lot of insight into how your music is received by the general public. It is always interesting when songs which you didn’t think were your best end up scoring the highest of all your track! It makes you think about what you did to that track which makes it great, and how you can incorporate the same ideas into your future works. On top of that, RepostExchange is an ingenious platform that does a great job of capitalising on SoundCloud’s social features and supportive community. It has undoubtedly helped me to grow my name further and gives me a great promotional boost whenever I release a new track!
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This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
