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Name: Lee Austin Bates aka MUST DIE!
Nationality: American
Occupation: Producer, performer, musician, DJ
Current release: The new MUST DIE! album FERAL FANTASY is out now.
Recommendations: I absolutely recommend Valhalla Room for reverb. It’s such a fun and creative little reverb plugin.
Ableton’s Vocoder is also extremely underrated as far as creative versatility goes.

If you enjoyed this interview with MUST DIE! and would like to know more about his work, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud.

MUST DIE! · FERAL FANTASY


What was your first studio like?

My first studio was my bedroom in high school. I had a PC and FL Studio and a pair of computer speakers.

I wrote hundreds of songs using that setup, for multiple years.

How and for what reasons has your set-up evolved over the years and what are currently some of the most important pieces of gear for you?

My setup has generally gone through a single phase and then backwards through that same phase.

Once I switched to a MacBook for production in about 2011, I generally stayed in cheap headphones or laptop speakers until 2014 when I bought monitors etc.

Over time I decided I preferred my headphones and laptop speakers setup and now am back to only that.

Some see instruments and equipment as far less important than actual creativity, others feel they go hand in hand. What's your take on that?

I feel like whatever is going to allow you to quickly and expressively get your ideas from your head to your workstation is what you should use.

For me, that’s just drawing in what’s in my head quickly.

A studio can be as minimal as a laptop with headphones and as expansive as a multi-room recording facility. Which studio situation do you personally prefer – and why?

I definitely prefer something mobile and minimal. Headphones / laptop speakers have always worked for me; I have no issues mixing or recording that way.

I love being able to work whenever I feel inspired.

From traditional keyboards to microtonal ones, from re-configured instruments (like drums or guitars) to customised devices, what are your preferred controllers and interfaces? What role does the tactile element play in your production process?

Personally, I have never found much use for any tactile interface other than a guitar for writing. I do love playing with synthesizers and drum machines; but only ever as something fun.

I love trackers like the M8 or the Polyend Tracker for making other genres of music, like chiptune etc. But as for MUST DIE! I generally just keep it in the box.

In the light of picking your tools, how would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I see a lot of value in taking and mastering what is traditional (typically something pioneering;), then pushing it past it’s original boundaries and using the old to create the future.

Most would regard recording tools like microphones and mixing desks as different in kind from instruments like keyboards, guitars, drums and samplers. Where do you stand on this?

I would agree, actually. I’m sure there are people who could absolutely prove me wrong, and I’d love to see that. I view them as tools, for now.

How would you describe the relationship between technology and creativity for your work? Using a recent piece as an example, how do you work with your production tools to achieve specific artistic results?

I tend to use a lot of sounds and methods that people might view standalone as just noise or error sounds. I use a lot of destructive processing and warping audio.

Basically all of my album Crisis Vision was glitchy mangling of audio.



Within a digital working environment, it is possible to compile huge archives of ideas for later use. Tell me a bit about your strategies of building such an archive and how you put these ideas and sketches to use.


I write every day, not out of some sense of obligation, but out of a desire and compulsive want to write.

The sad truth is that the majority of these ideas are sketches and never see the light of day. I am only interested in the ideas I can’t set down.

How do you retain an element of surprise for your own work – are there technologies which are particularly useful in this regard?

I have always found that clever use of distortion, pitch, and layering can result in the most surprising and interesting sounds in my own music.

Things like Misstortion or Ableton’s built in Saturator are great.