Meet byDJBLVD: The artist delves into his journey in dance music, creative tools, and tips for aspiring producers.
In this exclusive interview, we sit down with byDJBLVD, a rising talent in the world of Electronic Dance music. byDJBLVD takes us through the beginnings of his journey into music production, shares insights into their creative process, and offers valuable advice for aspiring producers starting their career. Join us as we delve into the world of beats, melodies, and soundscapes with byDJBLVD.
HI DJBLVD! HOW ARE YOU DOING?Hey! I’m good, thanks for asking. As always, I am grateful to be here and thankful for this opportunity. Let’s get into it!
WHAT INITIALLY SPARKED YOUR INTEREST IN MUSIC PRODUCTION, AND HOW DID YOU EMBARK ON YOUR JOURNEY AS A PRODUCER?
Great first question, thanks for asking - I started my journey into music production in 2021, inspired by my DJ partner, SRRMN (Sir Ramoan), and his last album, The Black Priest Gospel. When listening to it for the first time, I thought it was a masterpiece that still resonates today. I could hear his emotions, moods and feelings poured into every element of each track, from the bass, kicks and melodies to the final mix. I must've listened to the album over 30 times; I was just amazed at how much power and emotional connection a song could have. My curiosity behind producing not just a song, but a short story, drew me to begin learning about music production.
Beginning the journey is always much easier said than done. However, thanks to technological advancements and different software options, I started learning the basics of music production in Serato Studio. Coming from open-format DJing on Serato, the layout and structure of the program was familiar to me. It helped me focus on what matters most in the beginning in my opinion: understanding the fundamentals of the genre you're attempting to produce and how to structure a song. From Serato Studio, I dove into Logic Pro and Ableton, slowly learning and experimenting with both programs to continue honing my craft.
CAN YOU SHARE SOME ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SOMEONE JUST STARTING IN MUSIC PRODUCTION?
The #1 essential component for someone starting in music production is the production software, or Digital Audio Workshop (DAW) itself! When I began my journey, I spent a couple of weeks researching programs alone, learning the pros and cons of each, which one had the easiest learning curve and what type of workflow and setup would support me. Most folks recommended starting with Ableton, but I won't lie; looking at Ableton before touching the program scared me. I feared I would focus too much on the bells and whistles of the program before learning the actual functionality - this is where Serato Studio came in handy. The moral of the story: do your research and begin with the program makes you feel comfortable.
The next most important tool in your arsenal should be a MIDI keyboard, small or large. I started with a Novation Launchkey 49, which has more features to play with than a beginner needs. However, after much background research and for the amount of flavor I wanted to add to my sounds, it was perfect. Notice the trend here? Research, research and more research!
Another necessary piece of equipment is a solid pair of headphones. As you continue to train your ears, you'll notice that the sound of a single instrument, piece of percussion or synth can sound dramatically different across different speakers. While having multiple headphone and speaker options is good, my first and trusty pair of headphones was the Sennheiser HD-25. I still have these today and love them. My second go-to pair would be listening via my Beyerdynamic DT770s.
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3 VST SYNTHESIZERS?Serum, Diva and Arturia Pigments are my top three synthesizers that help me bring my synths and sounds to life. These all have intuitive workflows and an easy learning curve. Whatever you need, they have wavetable synths, analog oscillators, granular and FM synthesis, modulation sources and more for almost any shape you can think of.
For folks looking for a free alternative to these, I love Vital. I poked around with this synthesizer not too long ago, and it is powerful for a free tool. I'd highly recommend learning and starting with free and built-in tools before throwing money at paid plugins. Remember, paid doesn't always mean better.
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3 MIXING PLUGINS?My first recommended and top mixing plugin is Serum. It's a reasonably industry-standard synthesizer plugin that has an easy learning curve.
My second recommended plugin is Serato Sampler. When I started producing, I sampled a lot of tracks, and while I try and stay away from sampling nowadays, nothing beats Serato Sampler. I especially love the software's ability to manipulate track tempos without sound distortion or artifacts, like with Logic Flex Pitch.
Lastly, I will go against the grain a bit and shout out the Logic built-in sound libraries and plugins. While you can maximize your sound capabilities with third-party plugins, Logic has a comprehensive and robust variety of plugins and sounds to support your production capabilities for a good while. I only started getting into third-party plugins less than a year ago - Logic built-in plugins taught me a lot and helped me realize what I wanted from a sound first.
As with any plugin, I recommend learning the most you can from the software before advancing to something else. It helps with building familiarity and learning how to integrate them into your sounds and songs comfortably.
AI IS ALL THE CRAZE AT THE MOMENT, HAVE YOU EXPERIMENTED WITH IT IN YOUR MUSIC PRODUCTION AT ALL?
While I haven't experimented with AI in my music production yet, I am not opposed to it. I don't harbor negative feelings toward AI in music production, but in many cases, people use it and devalue the production aspect itself. Also, many people who utilize it don't even understand the fundamentals of the genre they're producing. I recognize this could be confirmation bias with the examples of AI usage I've seen, but I've yet to see a solid production all around through AI.
In any case, AI music tools will become a more significant part of the music-making process; it's inevitable. There will always be places where artists feel they can replace or augment the human and creative process with AI, similar to how the sample library rose to prominence. In my opinion, it's in our, being music Producers, best interests to learn to work with AI and let it benefit us where necessary rather than combat it. I have yet to fully wrap my head around attempting to utilize AI in my productions - I'll take time to fully understand the scope of how it can influence my tracks soon enough.
TECHNOLOGY IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING; HOW DO YOU STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LATEST PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES AND TRENDS IN THE INDUSTRY?Staying up-to-date with the latest technology advancements in music production, including tips, tricks and trends, takes a lot of work. I'm very much a "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" type of guy. I follow a handful of pages on Instagram that keep me abreast of different techniques that will improve my productions, but I find myself most concerned with trend-tracking automation. If I can produce the same quality of music in less time, I'm all for it. The time I spend building a track and mixing it down is the most tedious part. However, there's a beauty to the amount of time and detail that goes into a song.
I'm usually reading if I need to stay updated with the Instagram pages. I love Reddit - something about first-person reviews and real-time feedback that can't be provided when reading an article helps me a lot. The amount of data and discoveries that surface daily can make keeping up with tech advancements daunting. I have to take it all in small doses, or I will get easily overwhelmed and try to conquer everything simultaneously.
Source: Magnetic Magazine
Original content:
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