Over the past year I have been given the opportunity to find my own sound within projects I have been involved in. During a time where I thought work would have ground to a halt, I was actually given more time to experiment, listen to how other producers work and practice my skills. While my production style is constantly changing and will always evolve, I am extremely happy that over recent months I have been able to find an identity that I am happy with within production.
At the start of this year, I had really started to figure out electronic production. I would enter remix competitions just to get my hands on stems and experiment with different styles and sounds. I had no real technical influences. I would listen to artists that I liked such as Grey (duo made up of Michael and Kyle Trewartha) and I would try and make music that sounded similar.
Only in the last few months have I really started to think about what techniques make up the music I was trying to make. For example, in the making of the ‘One Day’ remix (read about it here), I had taken inspiration from Anomalie and I used his song ‘Velours’ to shape my production. By listening I was able to figure out that filling up empty space with little ambient fillers goes a long way to keep the track interesting and moving forward. I also incorporated a J Dilla (James Dewitt Yancey) style beat for it.
This project also helped my sound design as I tried to emulate sounds from older songs that I love, like ‘Technicolor’ by Madeon. I would take sounds that I like and then adapt them for my own projects.
(Top row left to right - Madeon, Grey)
(Bottom row left to right - Anomalie, J Dilla)
I thought that due to social distancing and lockdown I would be unable to do any acoustic recording, however, I was able to produce more live band stuff this year than before. I spent a lot more time looking into different techniques to use and listening to different albums produced by people like Bruce Rintoul (Fatherson, Twin Atlantic, etc.), Claudius Mittendorfer (Panic! At the disco, Weezer, The Feeling, etc.) and Jeff Saltzman (The Killers, Blondie, etc.)
After listening to these amazing producers, I started to incorporate some of their techniques such as the use of synths in rock songs that Jeff Saltzman is well known for, the amazing use of space from Claudius Mittendorfer that you can read about in my “Sum of All Your Parts” album analysis here, and the meshing of clean and dirty guitars from Bruce Rintoul.
(Left to right - Bruce Rintoul, Claudius Mittendorfer, Jeff Saltzman)
I have started to think more about the use of frequencies and the stereo field when producing now. Instead of just panning and EQing things out, I am thinking about the movement of the placement of instruments and the movement of filters which can really spice up my mixes. I am very much aware that too much of these effects can overpower a mix, so I have had to practice caution when experimenting.
Instead of just mixing to ear (which I believe is a good way to mix), I have been thinking about the main elements of the mix as set out by Bobby Owsinski. This has stopped me from going into autopilot and has helped me micro focus on each element. I will start with the balance, and then the panning, move onto the EQ, I will then think about dynamics (compression and gating), then dimension (through reverb and delay), and finally I will add interest, whether that is through automation, strange effects such as reverse reverb guitar harmonics (which is one of my favourite effects at the moment). Owsinski lays out dynamics after dimension, however I always focus on compression and gating directly after EQ.
(Bobby Owsinski)
Whilst my production has changed, it has also fused the two styles that I work in together. I am in the middle of projects that involve the coming together of electronic music with a live band.
The culmination of this progress will be heard very soon with upcoming material from Chameleon Lady.
Watch this space.
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