Name: Ramsey Neville
Nationality: American
Occupation: Producer, DJ, videographer
Current release: Ramsey Neville's The Polygon EP is out via SCI + TEC.
Gear Recommendations: For studio headphones that are comfortable and sound great, I will always recommend the Sennheiser HD 600s.
The other piece of software I’d recommend for Ableton users is the mk16 185 Max for Live’ sequencer in Ableton which I use in almost every single project.
If you enjoyed this Ramsey Neville interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud.
What was your first studio like?
My first studio was my dorm room back in college at George Mason University which proudly featured a 2011 MacBook Pro, Sony MDR-7506 Headphones, M-Audio BX5 monitors, and an old half-broken Korg NanoKEY.
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 evolved quite a bit over the years due to the natural upgrading cycle, and random gear accumulation. But the fundamentals have remained the same.
Most of the time when I produce I stick to my MacBook Pro and Axiom25 MIDI keyboard, and then switch between my Adam T7V monitors and Sennheiser HD 600 headphones. Those core pieces of equipment are the most important bits of gear for me, the rest are just nice tools to have at my disposal when looking to explore different avenues of creativity in my music.
I have a few pieces of outboard kit (Elektron Model:Cycles, Behringer TD-3, and Korg Monologue) that I’ve acquired over time, but don't get enough use since my studio space is fairly small.
I’m in the process of upgrading my space so I can make sure those pieces are ready to use at the flip of a switch and are fully integrated in my production workflow.
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?
From my perspective, it definitely goes hand-in-hand.
I think it all depends on which instruments and equipment you are most comfortable with, because if an artist is really proficient with a certain tool, they’ll be able to channel their creativity through it. But on the other hand, equipment can be a roadblock to the creative process if you don’t know how to use it appropriately.
For example, a traditional instrument would hinder my creativity because I don’t know how to play it effectively, but a midi keyboard or tactile controller would help fuel my creativity since it’s equipment I know how to use.
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?
Personally, I’d take a laptop and headphones over a fancy, multi-room recording studio any day. Bigger professional studios can be ideal for mixing and mastering, but for the production process I've found that a simple setup with a laptop, headphones, and a MIDI controller works best for me.
When I’m making music, I tend to get lost in my own head and prefer to work in headphones to help me focus so there’s really no need for an elaborate room. I also prefer a smaller space because I’m easily distracted, and having too many options can get in the way of my productivity and creative workflow.
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?
In-terms of controllers and interfaces, I like to keep it pretty simple. My go-to physical interface is an Axiom25 MIDI keyboard with a handful of MIDI knobs and pressure-sensitive pads that I connect with various virtual instruments in Ableton.
I find that having the tactile element in my production process is essential to making tracks feel more human and less robotic. Playing melodies on the keyboard or controlling automation parameters by hand always adds more feeling and emotion to the music rather than just drawing things in with a mouse.
Since I produce a lot of hypnotic techno there’s a built-in element of repetition, so making sure a track holds a listener's attention really comes down to the small details.
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?
When it comes to music, I think that originality and innovation are the most important thing. If you focus on being original and developing new ideas, you may well find timelessness in your music as a byproduct of being innovative.
Perfection is something that’s almost impossible to achieve, and even the most seasoned producers will tell you that no song is ever truly finished. You just have to know when to stop because there's always room to keep tweaking and making adjustments.
I believe that it's way more important to focus on coming up with fresh ideas, than it is to strive for ultimate perfection in your music.
Are you interested in “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?
Personally, I'm more interested in creating “music of the future” rather than “continuing a tradition”.
While it's important to pay homage to the traditions of a sound or style, I believe that innovation is the key to moving forward and making music that stands out. If you just continue the traditions in any genre, but specifically within techno, you’ll end up making music that sounds similar to everyone else.
In my opinion, it's about finding a balance between using traditional elements in new ways, and experimenting with entirely new sounds to push the envelope.
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 think it really depends on how you define an instrument. I believe all of these things should be considered instruments in their own right because they all require years of practice and unique skill sets in order to use them effectively.
Now, some people may have a more traditional view of an instrument as something that produces sound directly like a keyboard or guitar, but I view instruments more broadly as any tool used to create music.
Mixing desks and microphones, while not producing original sounds themselves, play a crucial role in capturing and shaping sound, and are a critical part of any musical composition.
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?
The relationship between the two is essential in my work, especially when it comes to making techno because the genre is heavily influenced by advances in technology. For me, they go hand in hand.
The better you know the tech, the more creative you can be with it, and the more you can push the envelope of your sound. The reality of making electronic music these days is that you could be the most creative person in the world, but your ideas might never come to life if you don’t know how to use the tools.
An example of my recent work is a track called "Münze" off of my latest EP. I actually produced this track in a hotel room in Berlin after getting inspired by the music being played at a party I was at earlier in the night. All I had was a MIDI keyboard, my laptop, and headphones, but I was able to capture the energy of that night and turn it into a track that I'm really proud of.
The main elements I used in the production were a couple virtual synths from Arturia's V Collection, some drum samples and vocal chops, vinyl textures, and a Max for Live MK16-185 Sequencer. Oftentimes, simpler is better!
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.
When you're making music in a digital environment, you definitely end up with a lot of half-baked ideas and partially finished tracks. And as much as I want to finish every track I start, the reality is there will always be a bunch of projects floating out in the ether.
My strategy (in theory) is to try and be as organized as possible with my project files and track-ideas, but in reality, I'm pretty disorganized lol. The key to staying on top of everything is to have a consistent naming convention for your project files and exported tracks, that way you’ll be able to locate what you’re looking for at a moment's notice.
Another piece of advice I have is to never delete anything! You never know when you'll want to go back and grab an old drum loop or a random piece of an old song. I'll often go back and revisit old projects if I need a break from what I'm currently working on, and sometimes an old idea will inspire something new.
So, it's always good to keep old files and have an organized backlog of ideas and unfinished tracks to draw from.
How do you retain an element of surprise for your own work – are there technologies which are particularly useful in this regard?
Going out and recording your own sounds, especially sounds that people may be familiar with in their everyday life but don’t expect to hear in a piece of music is a way I like to retain an element of surprise in my work. This could be anything from recording NYC street noises, sounds recorded while taking the subway, etc.
My main piece of technology is a Zoom H5 handheld recorder, which I carry around with me from time to time. But if I don’t have that on me I’ll record interesting sounds in the voice notes app on my iPhone. I’ll then take the sounds I record and process them in Ableton, and then try to fit them into my tracks.
Production tools can already suggest compositional ideas on their own. How much of your music is based on concepts and ideas you had before entering the studio, how much of it is triggered by equipment, software and apps?
The places I draw inspiration and gather ideas from are fairly inconsistent. When I get in the studio most of the time I don’t have a predetermined concept or idea in mind, a lot of my ideas are triggered by software and equipment.
I'll typically start tracks by creating drum grooves and bass lines in Ableton and then start adding other elements on top of that foundation, and letting the track flow from there. If I'm not finding inspiration in the drums I’ve created, I'll switch to writing melodies on my MIDI keyboard, or experimenting with creating new synth patches, or even flipping through my sample library to get the ideas flowing.
To some, the advent of AI and intelligent composing tools offers potential for machines to contribute to the creative process. Do you feel as though technology can develop a form of creativity itself? Is there possibly a sense of co-authorship between yourself and your tools?
The rapid emergence of AI in our daily life is a really complex issue that people feel very strongly about, not just from a creative standpoint. Personally I think AI tools, whether that be in music or otherwise, are very useful for idea-generation and kickstarting the creative process. There is definitely a place for intelligent composing AI tools in music production, but I would lean on them as an inspiration-driver rather than a full-on collaborator.
Since many AI tools formulate their outputs by pulling bits and pieces of information from creations that already exist in the world, I think there's a limited capacity for those tools to form a fully original, creative idea.
As for a sense of co-authorship with an AI or intelligent composing tool, I think it would depend on how much you relied on its contribution in your finished track. If you used a tool purely for creating some new sounds, or a melody that you significantly manipulate in the final product, then co-authorship would be a stretch. But on the other hand, if you prompted AI to write a very specific melody, and then used it throughout your entire track, that feels like more of a collaborator than just a tool in the production process.
With this kind of technology still being in its infancy it's hard to give a definitive answer, but I have no doubt this debate will only get more intense in the coming years.
