I started producing when I was about 13 or 14. I was obsessed with hip-hop instrumentals, especially early Dre and Kanye records. They just had this vibe I wanted to emulate more than anything. I used to get all these old soul songs by artists like Al Green and Smokey Robinson, pitch them up and try to make a Kanye style beat in GarageBand! It’s safe to say, they weren’t my best, but I did remake one of the beats recently, just because I love that particular Patti Labelle sample.
Dance music came a few years later for me. As I got older I started discovering more underground dance tracks, and it really resonated. The last four years have been a turning point for me, creatively speaking. I feel like I’ve found the kind of sound that inspires me and it's taken my production to another place.
I’m an Ableton man through and through. I spent about seven years on Logic until I had a session with a buddy of mine who was an Ableton wiz. Within the first few minutes, I could see how intuitive it was, particularly for dance music. The ease of which you can manipulate audio in Ableton is incredible. Haven’t looked back since, although the new Logic update is starting to tempt me!
I’d have to say my Maschine MK3. I build all my drums through Maschine. I love the swing settings and how easy it is to switch out samples and mess around with the envelopes. I’m slowly building more hardware into my setup, so Maschine feels like a nice halfway point between that digital and analogue world. I literally just upgraded from the MK2 and the difference in the interface is incredible! Once the samples are loaded in, there are times where I can just build a whole track straight through it, without touching my computer.
In terms of synths, I'm obsessed with the Arturia collection. I use their Mini, Arp2600 and Prophet emulators religiously. I just really like that almost analogue sound they produce. It puts me in a more creative zone I guess. All of their synths are automatically mapped to my Arturia keylab, 49 keys, so it’s easy to shape the envelopes and filters without even looking at my screen. Analog lab is pretty amazing too because it combines all of their plugins into one library, so I can quickly load a preset from any of their synths and then tweak it after I’ve laid down a melody.
In regards to mixing and sonic manipulation, I use a lot of Soundtoys plugins - Decapitator being my most overused one - I just love distorting layers of sounds with that thing. It’s a beast. I go through a lot of the Izotope plugins too. Their stereo imager is awesome for creating room within your mix! Rbass by Waves and the Vallhala plugin are pretty dope too.
As cliché as it sounds, I just go with the flow. I make a variety of music so I tend to approach every track differently. Sometimes I start with a sample and either manipulate it into something fresh or I’ll just build a track around it. Other times I’ll open a Rhodes emulator like Stage-73, lay down some keys and see where that takes me.
The main thing is being able to groove the f**k out to your own music. If I'm writing a dance record and I don’t feel a sense of movement, I will either make major changes or delete the project and move on to something fresh. I’ve really been getting into the habit of deciding whether projects should take up space on my hard drive or not.
In all honesty, my best resource has always been other producers in my circle of friends. I’m very fortunate to have a circle of friends that are extremely knowledgable in their craft. I’ll often spend hours on the phone with my musician friends, talking about how tracks we like were recorded and mixed, or a new production trick we’ve discovered. It’s a constant learning curve.
Lately, I’ve been experimenting with Skillshare tutorials for the piano. It’s a great way to learn a fresh set of chords and scales to play around with. I rarely end up finishing the tutorials though because I’ll find one really cool chord that I decide to lay down in Ableton quickly, and before I know it I’m playing with a whole new progression around that! So yeah, I’m really bad at finishing tutorials, so aside from piano ones, I tend not to watch them.
I’m always looking for the next gig to go to. There’s nothing more inspiring to me than hearing the music I love being played out and as a part of that I’ll often read up on artists whose craft I admire. I went to the Floating Points show at Printworks and I read a great interview with him beforehand on Resident Advisor that I would one hundred per cent recommend to anybody who’s into synthesis! He walks you through his insane setup, but honestly, I don’t think I’d ever want to get to that level of equipment with those huge racks and tonnes of cables. That kind of stuff confuses the s*** out of me, but it’s still great to see and understand how someone gets to that scale of setup.
I’d say the habit that has most improved my work over the years though, has to be just listening to all sorts of music. When I say listening, I mean really picking apart the songs, figuring out how the progressions work or how that kick you like is punching through in that particular way. I’ve learnt so much about what I want to hear in my own music and what kind of producer I want to be by just enjoying that process.
I don't really watch a lot of YouTube tutorials anymore unless I get a new piece of gear and need help trying to set it up. Although, a friend of mine sent me a great link the other day from a channel called You Suck At Producing. I thought it was just taking the piss in the first minute. It starts off like its all a joke and I was cracking up. Turns out it was extremely informative and actually the fact it’s comical makes it really easy to watch. I still have to check out his other videos, but if they’re as good as his ‘You Suck At Mixing’ video, I would definitely suggest subscribing!
Don’t be afraid to release your best track. It’s so easy to hold on to music because you want to wait for the right label or because a part of you feels like that track is meant to be your ‘breakout record’. The reality is, nobody will discover your music if it stays on your computer. If you allow yourself to grow as an artist, you will always make better tracks and your taste and sound will always evolve. Let people see and hear that!
I used to suffer really badly from writer's block to the point where I’d get anxiety over not writing anything as good as my last ‘best track’. For me, I find experimenting and educating yourself on new techniques and even just listening to a bunch of records that you’ve never heard before are all great ways to overcome it.
Setting deadlines and sticking to them can help too, but don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Set realistic targets. Some people can smash out twenty tracks in a couple of months. I’m not one of those people, so I let my flow dictate my release slate. I recently gave myself a list of release dates and made public announcements about them so that I’d have no choice but to finish those tracks and have them released in time. A big part of that is because you can end up being a perfectionist and always thinking there’s something else you can add or tweak. Working with schedules like that can really help you nail down a good work ethic.
It’s really important to let your track breathe. I used to have a real problem with overcomplicating my music (which I still sometimes do). I wanted to have all these melodic elements and complex drum patterns going on all at the same time, but it just becomes a lot to take in at once.
Killing a section, or even an entire project can save you so much time and energy. If it’s not going anywhere, either put it aside and come back to it or kill it and move on.
I actually try to keep my Wi-Fi off on my computer when I’m working on music, I get so easily distracted that it’s just ridiculous at this point. I end up searching up my dream house, or stuff that is way out of my price range. So no online tools for me!
Always! Sometimes you need a fresh pair of ears to catch something that you might have missed in the mix or even those small ideas that can get you out of a mental box. There’s always an element where you want to stick by your original vision, but a small suggestion can lead to a whole new idea that wouldn’t have come around had you not reached out for an opinion. Don’t be scared of criticism or people not liking something in your track. You can stand by your ideas but allow them to grow as well.
It’s funny, I become way more critical of my work when I know somebody is about to hear it. Those 15 minutes before I bounce a project to send off for feedback, are often when I’ll come up with a fresh load of inspiration. The amount of times I’ve emailed tracks over to my mates and immediately sent another email with a list of changes that I’m about to make is almost comical.
I’m going to make this easier for myself and only decide between my released tracks. I’ll have to go with ‘Drop In The Woods’ from my ‘Lost Frequencies’ EP. I wrote that track purely for the dance floor, so I’ve kept a lot of repetition in the main structure of the song with a few teases of changes coming in throughout, which is something that I’ve always struggled with - the whole ‘less is more’ approach. I also think it’s my best mixdown to date.
I’m actually working on a video with my close friend, Alex Corona, who will be directing it. I’m really excited about the ideas so far and can’t wait to see it come to life. I think I’ll get a new wave of excitement for the track once that’s ready!
Not particularly in the way that I make music. I came to the realisation a little while ago that the only thing that should affect the music that I write is either my mood or what is inspiring me at the time.
It has definitely changed the way I promote my music though! It feels like a very organic promotional tool. I managed to get quite a lot of streams on my remix of 'Casio' by Jungle. It’s still growing in streams almost a year after I last used RepostExchange for that particular track, so it’s definitely something that I’ve recommended to people. I’ve also connected with quite a few artists through Re-Ex too.
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This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
