Name: Nicolas Bougaïeff
Nationality: Canadian
Occupation: Producer, composer
Current Release: Nicolas Bougaïeff's Sunday Summer EP is out via Mute.

If you enjoyed these thoughts by Nicolas Bougaïeff and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit him on Instagram, Soundcloud, Facebook, and bandcamp.

For a deeper dive, read our earlier Nicolas Bougaïeff interview with an earlier iteration of this questionnaire.
 


Debates around production tend to focus on gear. What, though, were some of the things you learned by talking to colleagues or through performing and/or recording with other musicians? What role does community play for your interest in production and getting better as a producer?

Community is very important! Sometimes I learn about specific bits of gear.

For example, many colleagues have a Cirklon and seeing their workflow definitely inspired me to get one too.

And then sometimes we just talk about concepts and creative process.

Would you describe yourself as a very “technical” person with a natural affinity for technology, gadgets, electronic circuits, software, etc …? What is your relationship with technology in- and outside of music?

Technology is necessary to bring my musical ideas to life.

I am really interested in mechanical rhythms. Once you start getting into polyrhythms of prime numbers, what I like to call prime rhythm, it seems really well suited to electronic music.

The word “production” as a separate item from “composition” suggests a creative processes with different stages. Do you see it that way – or are all the steps towards a piece of music always integrated and connected for you?

The word “producer” and “composer” can be seen as interchangeable in electronic music.

Do you want technology and production to mainly “serve musical ideas” – or do you like to bring them to the fore and play with them?

Yes. I am mostly interested in knowing if a new piece of gear can support my ideas about tuning and rhythm.

In how far, would you say, was your evolution as an artist connected to the evolution of your music set-up? Were there shared stepping stones?

As a producer, I’ve been able to explore all my ideas with a computer. Max MSP, or any other audio programming language, can let you do anything if it isn’t already there in a more conventional DAW.

But as a performer, technology was definitely lagging behind and is now catching up, especially with regards to polytemporality and tuplets.

There are artists who can realise their ideas best with a traditional – or modified – piano interface, others with a keyboard and a mouse, yet others by turning knobs or touching screens. What's your preferred and most intuitive/natural way of making music and why?

I prefer to shape a stream of data. I like to program patterns and perform the synthesis and effects in real-time.

Tell me about one or two of your early pieces that you're still proud of (or satisfied with) in terms of production – and why you're content with them.

My first electronic music production, composed when I was 14 years old, uses a different tempo on each pattern. I like to believe that was not a coincidence.

Tell me about the space of your current studio/workplace and how you've set it up to optimise creativity.

I have different zones, each accessible from central position. I can sit or stand and comfortably reach everything.

The main desk is motorized and can go as high or low as I need. One zone is a rack of synths to produce studio material. Another zone is a compact live performance setup with a modular and Octatrack. There is a DJ zone.

And then there is a eurorack workshop where I can test new modules and firmwares from manufacturers that I collaborate with.

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?

Art thrives through constraint.

For you personally, where does composition end and production start (or vice versa)?

They are one in the same. In a classical metaphor, think of production as orchestration plus conducting.

I most often produce my tracks as I compose them. When I am done with the arrangement I’m also done with mixing and mastering. Sometimes if I run into a mixdown down issue then I have to take decisions about the composition and change it around.

It’s a back-and-forth process until it’s done.

From the earliest sketches to the finished piece, tell me about the production process for your current release, please.

All that being said, Sunday Morning At Panorama Bar When Things go Sideways was a tricky one.

I had a clear plan and rhythmic concept, I’ve developed formulas and charts that give me all possible metric modulation patterns. A bit like Reger’s “Modulation” book, but here’s it’s a collection of temporal modulation rather than harmonic.

The rhythmic structures were easy enough to figure out, they’re my favourite thing to work on. Engineering the track was interesting, sidechain compression and clever EQ tricks really help to integrate the quintuplets seamlessly into the 4/4 groove.

Tell me about your aesthetic preferences for picking effects like reverb, delay, compression, chorus etc … - what was the role of these effects in the production of your current release?

Effects are baked into most sounds. I’ll bounce tracks and re-edit them many times, so that final stems are chunks of audio with minimal mixdown effects.

I don’t use sends and returns at all.

Do you see a benefit in getting an external producer on board for your studio work? Do you see a benefit in recording or refining at least parts of your music in an external studio?

No, not really.

Have you used AI or generative music tools for your own productions? If so, in which way and what did they add?

No.

We can watch videos on production, take producer courses, and exchange deep insights on gear forums. Amidst these options to improve one's chops/skills, how do you keep things playful?

Try to do something you haven’t heard before. Produce a lot and listen a lot!