In The Studio

In the studio with EMPIRE OF LIGHTS 🚀

This week, we catch up with Welsh rock band, EMPIRE OF LIGHTS 🚀!

Jaz from the RepostExchange Team

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

We've all been doing it for many years. I (John) started nearly 15 years ago as a young child. Our bassist, Simon, studied music tech at university. Our drummer Eifion is only 17 years old and has been playing for most of his life now!

What DAW(s) do you use and why?

I use Logic and so does Simon. I started with it, and it's what I know best. I just know how to get the sound I want, because I've been experimenting and playing with it for so many years.

What are your favourite software plugins and why?

Well, one plugin I use on every track is Waves L3 Ultramaximizer because that's what I use for mastering. I'm a big fan of Native Instruments' Guitar Rig for guitar and bass sounds. I love Alchemy for synthesizer sounds. I love the whole Arturia Analog Collection for synths too.

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

With our band usually, Simon or I will do the basic production for the track, so it will have MIDI drums and bass, and then we'll add Eifion's drums and real bass, and then vocals. We all record separately in our studios and send stuff back and forth. We have a lot of songs we have written or developed together in rehearsals that we are still in the process of recording. We send demos to each other via Dropbox.

What resources do you use to improve your craft?

Honestly, for me, it's mainly just experimenting and trying to get the sound that is in my head. When I was younger I used to read Music Tech magazine and Sound On Sound, but nothing beats learning for yourself by experimenting.

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

Practice makes perfect. And also learn about marketing and how to use social media to reach out to people and build a following. Also, don't be afraid to experiment with and learn about video. Video is key to getting an audience, and it's not some dark art nowadays, it's something anyone can learn with enough practice.

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

Well, aside from the pandemic we live in the middle of nowhere so there aren't many gigs around here. And I personally have been dealing with chronic illness (I have a connective tissue disorder) so I can't travel and rehearse and perform as much as I would like to. So a lot of our work is going to be studio-based. Learning to use social media and make videos is key.

Can you share any killer tips or techniques?

Practice with a metronome. That's one. Sit in front of the TV with a guitar just noodling. That's how to get better at guitar, or how I do at least. Listen to music you love and try and emulate it.

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

There are so many. Apple's Notes app is great because it lets you write lyrics on your phone. We use Dropbox to share song parts with each other. Pexels is good for finding stock footage for putting together music videos. We use Messenger to stay in contact with each other.

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

We have a pretty good idea of the sound we want and how to achieve it, but we're always open to suggestions. RepostExchange, YouTube comments, Twitter comments. We love to hear feedback. Although not all feedback is useful, because a lot of it is just people's differing tastes. I write a lot of songs about science fiction and outer space because that's what I personally enjoy writing about, and if someone thinks that is stupid and pretentious and they tell me that, then that's not going to change my mind about it. I think it's super important for artists to be themselves and be unique, and sometimes feedback can just lead to you copying other people's tastes.

Which track are you most proud of and why?

Chasing Stardust is probably the one we're most proud of because it was the first one we finished together as a band. I had been doing songs for the last four or five years as a solo artist, and it was such a great improvement in terms of the quality of the drumming to get a real drummer instead of using software drums, as well as working with Simon who is a great producer and bassist.

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

It hasn't changed how I make music but it definitely focuses my brain in some ways. Like, Chasing Stardust has a minute-long ambient intro, which may put people off. I'm not sure how long people listen for before they repost or reject, but a 60-second ambient intro probably puts a lot of people off. But as a band, we're very much about making the kind of music we want to make, and not worrying about popular trends or people's expectations so much. Our new single Across The Sky came out last year, and that doesn't have an intro like that, so I expect that it will do better on RepostExchange because of that.