Part 2
Late producer SOPHIE said: “You have the possibility with electronic music to generate any texture, and any sound. So why would any musician want to limit themselves?” What's your take on that and the relevance of limitations in your set-up and process?
When I first started making electronic music, I was immediately drawn to using percussion sounds, because that's what I was familiar with - it was a sound world I always loved when I was playing those instruments. I quickly realised that combining those sounds with electronic music gave me quite a distinctive sound, so that is the only real limitation I have put on myself.
After a year or two, I started exploring outside of traditional acoustic percussion sounds and looking at synthesised versions, so I could create percussion sounds that don't really exist (for example the lead melody on "Burnout" which is a glassy, bell-like Ableton instrument), which gave an interesting expansion to my palette.
As someone with classical music training, I have also had to work quite hard to let go of some of the rules and limitations set by the classical tradition and try to experiment more. I think some kind of limitation can be really valuable creatively though, because you do have the option to generate any sound in the world and that can be paralysing. If you can do anything, where do you start?
I teach a beginners music production course for Saffron and students often comment on how they waste hours just flicking through sounds in the DAW early on. I feel like there should be a name for when you spend so long searching that you forget what you were looking for!
From the earliest sketches to the finished piece, what does your current production workflow/process look like?
During 2021 I had some mentoring with Mali Baden Powell (a.k.a. Z Lovecraft) through Rhythm Section Intl, and he set me a challenge to only spend an hour on a new idea, and create a 32 bar arrangement by the end of the hour. He identified quite quickly that I often have too many ideas, so setting that time limit really helps me to limit myself rather than throwing too many things into a track.
At the time I was also experimenting with using composing and producing as a way to deal with challenges or difficult situations I was facing, so rather than reaching for my phone when I was feeling sad, stressed, tired or bored, I would open up Ableton and write something. Combining those two things has been really powerful for me, and as a result I have a library of little sketches saved on my computer.
Sometimes I will write that initial 32 bars and not come back to it for over a year. But that distance gives me the chance to work out whether it's good or not, and then I will sit down and spend two or three hours trying to develop it into a full track. Often those ideas begin with a percussion loop which I jam with until the idea comes into shape.
I still find arranging the hardest part of the process, and I think that's partly why my tracks end up having these evolving structures where the song is completely different at the end to what it was at the beginning. (That might also be because I get bored easily, and have listened to a lot of classical music which tends evolve too.)
Rhythm, sound design, melody/harmony, something else – when do the different elements of a piece come into play for you?
Being a drummer, I am unsurprisingly very rhythm-led. So that is usually the starting point for my tracks, a percussion loop and then some drum programming. I will often create a very simple chord progression and then come back to it later to make it more interesting, and then add a bassline.
I am always trying to work quickly to get an idea out of my head Ableton, so I often don't spend very long on sound design initially and then will come back to it later to try and refine things. All the time, I am checking and listening to see whether what I've made is exciting me, to problem-solve what needs to be added or what isn’t working, and whether it still has the emotion that I’m trying to hold from the original idea.
I think that last part is what leads to the most impactful tracks for me. There's a little feeling of excitement I get, like a fizzy feeling, that tells me when it's good, or sometimes if it's making making my head nod then I know I’m on the right track.
In relation to sound, one often reads words like “material”, “sculpting”, and “design”. How does your own way of working with sound look like? Do you find using presets lazy?
When I first started learning to produce, I found the term sound design quite intimidating. Maybe because no one ever really told me what it was … Through experience, I've learned that it's really just about shaping the sound that you want.
Actually, I find presets very helpful, particularly when I'm trying to work quickly and not get too bogged down while sketching ideas. So I will often use a preset and then come back to it and tweak it later, or replace it with something else if it feels too vanilla.
I am naturally a bit lazy so I prefer to start with something that's already slightly sculpted and refine it, rather than chiselling into a metaphorical block of granite. I often make my own presets and use coloured tags so that I have a quick access to the sounds that I like.
What, to you, are the respective benefits of solo work and collaborations and do you often feel lonely in the studio? Can machines act as collaborators to you?
Machines are great collaborators in a lot of ways. I am always in the studio on my own, and it feels like my safe haven to be honest, so I prefer it that way. It’s a home studio which I share with my partner so he is sometimes in there too, but that can be more of a distraction!
All my collaborations to date have been remote which is convenient but does have its challenges in terms of communication feeling quite one-way, and delays to the process. Feedback is a vital part of the process for me though, so although I’m usually working on my own, I have a few trusted people I ask for feedback on works in progress.
Aside from remixing someone else’s work, I’ve not yet fully collaborated with another producer on a track. I’m open to it for all the creative possibilities it brings, but also cautious about finding the right fit in terms of what both parties bring to the table.
If you could make a wish for the future directly to a product developer at a Hard- or Software company – what are developments in tools/instruments you would like to see and hear?
This is an incredibly niche request, but there is a known bug in Ableton which is an issue when you are using the record quantize function.
Often if you are not playing in time while recording, it will play the note you have just recorded as well as the corrected quantized note. This causes problems in live performances, particularly when you are playing the drums, because you start hearing lots of notes twice if you get even slightly out of time.
I’ve tried using an arpeggiator as a workaround but that restricts what you can play rhythmically and doesn’t always work in my experience. So I’d like them to fix that please!
Beyond that, I’d like to see more seamless and flexible ways to use Ableton in live performance - I’m not sure exactly what that looks like but it feels like it could be more fluid and simple.
