Name: Harsh Puri aka Reformed Society

Nationality: Indian
Occupation: Producer, DJ
Current Release: Reformed Society's Basic Moves 19 is out via Basic Moves.
 
If you enjoyed this Reformed Society interview and would like to find out more about his music, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.



For many artists, a solitary phase of creative development precedes collaborative work. What was this like for you: How would you describe your own development as an artist and the transition towards your first collaborations?

I think that’s fairly accurate. For me I spent time learning how to use Reason and Logic to create music that I was into at the time and it took about a year or so before I started collaborating with a vocalist on a few projects.

Earlier on in my development, I learned mostly by trial and error and by asking for advice from other DJs / producers I knew personally; there were no YouTube tutorials at the time. I also read a few books on production, synthesis, mixing and mastering, etc.

Tell me a bit, about your current instruments and tools, please. In which way do they support creative exchange and collaborations with others? Are there obstacles and what are potential solutions towards making collaborations easier?

I mostly work in the box at the moment and use a small midi keyboard. I use Logic as my DAW and software plug ins such as Reaktor, Roland Cloud and Massive X for the most part.

From my experience, the more software you have in common with the person you are collaborating with, the easier it will be as you can just share projects, sounds designed and presets back and forth.

I guess when you don’t share a lot of the same software, you can just work in audio; it is a bit of a limitation but workable most of the time.

What are some of the things you learned from your collaborations over the years?

I learned how personal of an approach everyone has to creating music and there are always some techniques or tricks you can pick up from each other when collaborating. There is almost always some compromise from both parties.

Sometimes walking away from projects is better than trying to force fix it.

With certain projects, someone may be providing more ideas while the other person is putting in more hours executing the idea and putting the track together.

How do you feel your sense of identity influences your collaborations? Do you feel as though you are able to express yourself more fully in solo mode or, conversely, through the interaction with other musicians? Are you “gaining” or “sacrificing” something in a collaboration?

I generally feel I’m able to express myself more in solo mode. However in collaborating you are delivering or getting to a place where you would never be able to reach in solo mode so in that respect you are gaining.

It also depends on the project. Sometimes I may have an idea of what I want to express but I don’t have the tools and that is where another musician or producer is able to help me realise that idea so they’re actually helping me express myself so to speak and vice versa. This is almost always the case if am working with a vocalist or an instrumentalist.

Also I probably am sacrificing a bit of my identity but it is only to accommodate someone else’s identity in order to reach a unique sonic destination incorporating both identities. So I believe it’s an important sacrifice to make.

There are many potential models for collaboration, from live performances and jamming via producing in the same room together up to file sharing. Which of these do you prefer – and why?

Ideally the best would be live jamming as it is probably the most fun way to collaborate plus it increases the chances of happy accidents to occur and ends up being the most efficient way to get projects done faster.

I’m all about efficiency, haha.

What tend to be the best collaborations in your opinion – those with artists you have a lot in common with or those where you have more differences? What happens when another musician take you outside of your comfort zone?

Those with differences, that’s when you tend to learn so much more and come across ideas you would have never come up on your own. I believe this is fundamental in growing as an artist and should be in everyone’s interest. In fact you don’t need to collaborate in order to do this. You just need to be aware enough to take yourself out of your own comfort zone.

For example, during the pandemic, I decided to learn how to create different genres and sub genres of dance music that I loved but hadn’t made before. I developed a system of first hunting loads of records within a specific genre, trying to understand the sound design process of different elements in the tracks, studying the arrangements and nuances, having mixes at home solely with records from that genre, all of this to overwhelm me (in a healthy way) and put me in a headspace to garner the best results and maximise my knowledge of that genre.

After repeating this process over a 2 year period, I noticed I was applying production techniques I learned from one genre to other genres and this created amazing results. Even my latest release on Basic Moves which mostly consists of a four on the floor early tech house vibe, I’ve used subtle elements of randomisation and probability which I learned while creating IDM and Jungle.

So yes, either collaborating with artists you have less in common with or forcing yourself to consistently step out of your comfort zone will definitely allow you to constantly grow as an artist.

Do you need to have a good relationship with your collaborator? Or can there be a benefit to working with someone you may not get along with on a personal level?

Well it depends. If I am working with someone in the same room I think it’s important to vibe well.

If I’m working online, then I don’t think it’s necessary but it will still be a benefit to having a good relationship as it will be easier to communicate ideas and resolve disagreements.

Some artists feel as though the creative process should not be a democratic one. What are your thoughts on the interaction with other musicians, the need for compromise and the decision making process?

I feel it should be a democratic one but there should also be some objectivity towards the use of someone’s knowledge and skillset within a certain project.

For example, if we are going to be creating a deep soulful house tune and the person I’m working with has excellent knowledge of music theory, plays trumpet and rhodes, I will probably want the person to take the lead on the project, listen and learn from their experience and then find my way to provide ideas, use other skills like drum programming and such to contribute to the track so it is still a collaboration.

What's your take on cross-over collaborations between different genres?

I don’t think our industry would move forward if it weren’t for such collaborations. Almost every new genre or sub genre within dance music is a result of the fusion of different genres.

For example, US Garage is Gospel and Soul mixed with House Music. Asian Underground is traditional South Asian Music mixed with electronic music, the list is endless.

I believe we are naturally drawn to create new music out of our influences so it is inevitable that we will try to marry different genres to create new ones.

In a live situation, decisions between creatives often work without words. How does this process work – and how does it change your performance compared to a solo performance?

I have never performed a live set, but have performed many b2bs over the years so can talk about that.

When DJing on my own, sometimes I am able to plan the next 2-3 records in advance. But when playing b2b with someone else, it can be a lot more intense as I have to wait for the DJ to drop the record before deciding what I’m going to play, so I need to act quickly. This keeps me on my toes.

It requires a lot more thought as whatever record I decide to play to sustain a certain groove or to steer the performance in a different direction, the other DJ must also be able to use it as a spring board to do the same. This is exciting and challenging at the same time. Knowing the DJ personally and the kind of music they play will definitely help in these circumstances.

Having an informal mix at home together before would be ideal to get the most out of the performance. I’m always inviting people over for a mix and dinner haha. In fact a lot of my inspiration comes from my friends whom I regularly have mixes with at home.

Collaborating with one's heroes can be a thrill or a cause for panic. Do you have any practical experience with this and what was it like?

I do actually. I put out a record on Mosaic which is a label run by one of my favourite producers Steve O’Sullivan. I had been sending demos to Steve for over 8 years before he finally liked a batch of demos I sent last year. From 3 of those tracks we reworked one together and the result of that was ‘Distant Voices’ which dropped in March this year.

Even though the process was entirely online, I was able to get an insight into how the maestro works. It was definitely more of a thrill than panic and it’s probably because Steve very early on made me feel really comfortable and like an equal asking for feedback each step of the way as we built up the track.

We went back and forth adding / editing each of our own sounds and drums / percussion until we had something solid. Steve managed the arrangement and added his magic touch through his studio outboard gear. At the end Steve’s favourite sound in the track was something I added while my favourite sound was something he added haha. I think that’s what collaborations are about! It was an amazing experience and I’m very grateful to Steve for having a record out on such a legendary label, that too a collaboration with the man himself.

Furthermore, he mentored me on several more productions that I would send him after ‘Distant Voices’ and I always learned something new from the detailed constructive feedback he gave. I feel we are building a relationship now and also just recently met him for a long chat on his most recent trip to Barcelona. Hopefully we will collaborate again on something new soon!