Music Production Podcast for DIY Music Producers and Artists | Inside The Mix
If you're searching for answers on topics such as: what is mixing in music, how I can learn to mix music, how to start music production, how can I get better at music production, what is music production, or maybe how to get into the music industry or even just how to release music. Either way, you’re my kind of person and there's something in this podcast for you!
I'm Marc Matthews and I host the Inside The Mix Podcast. It's the ultimate serial podcast for music production and mixing enthusiasts. Say goodbye to generic interviews and tutorials, because I'm taking things to the next level. Join me as I feature listeners in round table music critiques and offer exclusive one-to-one coaching sessions to kickstart your music production and mixing journey. Get ready for cutting-edge music production tutorials and insightful interviews with Grammy Award-winning audio professionals like Dom Morley (Adele) and Mike Exeter (Black Sabbath). If you're passionate about music production and mixing like me, Inside The Mix is the podcast you can't afford to miss!
Start with this audience-favourite episode: #175: What's the Secret to Mixing Without Muddiness? Achieving Clarity and Dynamics in a Mix
Thanks for listening!
Music Production Podcast for DIY Music Producers and Artists | Inside The Mix
#96: Music Production & Songwriting Tips | PRODUCER'S PUB
Hey there, music enthusiasts! Welcome back to another exciting episode of Inside The Mix podcast, where we dive headfirst into the captivating realm of music production and songwriting. Get ready for a mind-blowing experience as we gather an exceptional lineup of rising stars in the industry. Join us at the legendary Producer's Pub as we introduce you to Aisle9, Pashang, Sub Neon, Neon Highway, and Totta.
In this episode, we embark on a sonic adventure, exploring and critiquing the musical creations of each artist. Brace yourself for some awe-inspiring tracks, as our panel of experts provides valuable feedback and game-changing tips to help these talented individuals take their productions to soaring heights. Whether you're a seasoned beatmaker or just starting your musical journey, prepare to glean some golden nuggets of wisdom that can transform your own musical endeavors.
So sit back, relax, and grab your favorite beverage as we embark on this unforgettable evening of music and insights. Trust us, you don't want to miss out on the electrifying atmosphere of the Producer's Pub. Make sure to hit that "like" button and smash that subscribe icon to stay tuned for more incredible episodes like this one. Join the conversation and be part of our vibrant community of music lovers. Let's make some magic happen together!
CLICK HERE, to follow Aisle9: https://linktr.ee/aisle9
CLICK HERE, to follow Sub Neon: https://www.subneon.net/
CLICK HERE, to follow Neon Highway: https://linktr.ee/neonhighway
CLICK HERE, to follow Totta: https://www.instagram.com/tottasvoice/
CLICK HERE, to follow Pashang: https://pashang.bandcamp.com/
Book your FREE 20 Minute Discovery Call
Follow Marc Matthews' Socials:
Instagram | YouTube | Synth Music Mastering
Thanks for listening!!
Hello folks and welcome back to the Inside the Mix podcast. If you are a returning listener, a big welcome back, and if you are a new listener or viewer on YouTube, don't forget to hit subscribe And also that notification bell so you get notified whenever we go live. This is an episode of the legendary producers pub, which is proving extremely popular since its inception earlier in the year, and it is live on YouTube and it should also be live in the Facebook group as well. It is now live because I've had to say yes, facebook, you actually have to tell it to go live, which is a pain. Anyway, i digress.
Speaker 1:So today we have I think everybody's been on before, which is brilliant. So we've got Pashang, we've got Subneon, we've got Tota, we've got R9. And we have Neon Highway, who is sporting a new mug And it is a Inside the Mix podcast mug which he won in this second giveaway. So if you do follow the podcast on YouTube, you should do that on Instagram. You'll see that I frequently run competitions whereby you can win shit, and he's won a mug. The next one's going to be a t-shirt, so keep an eye out for that. So if you've never listened to the podcast before or this particular format. This is an episode of the producers pub whereby each artist has submitted music 30 seconds. We listen to it and then offer feedback on it, and that is the sort of process of this episode. So the first one is Neon Highway.
Speaker 2:So if you can give us a little bit of background about this track that we're about to listen to, So the background to this track is that we've all done Sintwave has done all the classics, it's done the Breakfast Club, it's done Knight Rider, it's done all those guys. And one of the forgotten heroes of the 80s is Street Hawk and Jesse Mac, and he's motorbike in what? 1983, 1984. So I loved Street Hawk when I was a kid. I loved it, absolutely loved it. So I wanted to do something that was absolutely retro, something that's just like harking back to that before even the mid 80s, you know, and just capturing that Street Hawk ethic. So this is pretty much the start of a demo for what I'm going to call Street Hawk.
Speaker 1:Lovely stuff And for the audience listening. You released a song just two or three days ago, If I'm not. If I'm not incorrect, Yeah, it is fantastic, so do go and check that out, follow us with everybody on this podcast. Do you go check that out? Anyway, i digress. Here we go, here we go. Fantastic stuff. I really like that. I think that's a great start. What synths do you use out of interest for that sort of rising high synth melody line? So I think that might be UHE.
Speaker 2:Tyrell OK, I really like that. I think that's nice. Even it's really good that that is a Valkyria synth.
Speaker 2:She put me on to this probably about a year ago and the minute she put me on to it I had a demo on the go and I thought you know what? This is amazing. This is the sound that I need, but it's an amazing synth. It's quite limited, but it's got some great little tunes And if you just play about hitting the notes and see what the sounds produce, yeah, there's some cool stuff in there. I think it's mainly a mix of Diva and UHE Tyrell. I think limitations are good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you mentioned that when you have a synth and there are limitations to it, otherwise you can just get lost In the abundance of patches and various different parameters that you can tweak. Yeah, and sometimes I find limitations, specifically with songwriting. If I'm limited to two or three soundscapes or synths or something along those lines, i can quickly knock out a tune so much quicker, rather than scrolling through And then just finding out I don't actually use anything. That I've just looked at, i don't know, sounds cool, mate, the bass in it. Do you only use synths synthesized bass, right, not actual bass? guitar?
Speaker 2:Yeah, just synths mate all the way.
Speaker 1:So I'd really like to hear your tunes with actual bass guitar. aren't they Like bass pumping in the background there?
Speaker 2:Well, that's really interesting actually, because when I was writing this one, you don't really hear it playing here and it's probably the mix that I've got, But at the end of the phrasing there's this really cool I imagine if it was on a real basis, jumping around the fretboard and sort of rising up again. I need to kind of do more with that, But maybe the solution to that is getting a real bass player.
Speaker 5:As a team bass player. I just got myself a bass player to play bass guitar instead of synthesized bass, which I usually use for my live gigs, And it gives it such a fucking power. I feel like I'm messed up Now when I listen back to my tunes I'm like look at a bit of rock star. Here I am trying to be all synthy. It gives it some cool punch, a little more aggression just because you hear that Real bass.
Speaker 5:Cool. Yeah, I don't know. I really like it, But this was fat as it is. I would say.
Speaker 4:You just need to get a good one, don't you? That's the problem. If you get a good bass player, it can be wonderful for these things.
Speaker 2:You can play guitar phenomenally. I reckon you could give me a bass player. Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I can play bass.
Speaker 2:I'll take a bass part from each of you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'll do the bass part, Scott pump those root notes.
Speaker 4:I play bass a lot on lots of things, but just not particularly on my own tunes, Like because I don't sort of I've never really thought of Synthwave as having sort of real bass on it.
Speaker 2:So I think I would ask something. You want to do the bass for it. but I'm going to get 12 different bass parts back And I don't know what to do with that. The guy's a legend.
Speaker 4:He is the synth bass king, you play bass as well, don't you Sub? Yeah, yeah, yeah, bass and guitar badly, but yeah many slapping.
Speaker 2:He's got 12 hands. He plays 12 basses at once And the bass? That's how the most The most respect for Sub-Neon's basses is. They are incredible.
Speaker 1:I use bass, actual bass, on all my songs. But then again I'm not like Essentially Synthwave. My stuff sort of morphs and goes in other directions. But like Toto was saying, I find as soon as I put actual bass guitar on it, the guy I get to play bass is a really good bassist. He's like Steve Harris, like Doing all that shit, And it just Yeah. It just takes it to another level, I find. But it really depends on the song. Some songs don't need it, you know, But I'd be interested to know Just the bass pumping in the.
Speaker 2:I think that's the way forward. yeah, I think that's the next addition to the track once I start writing properly. Does anyone remember Street Hawk?
Speaker 6:Oh yeah, absolutely Yeah. not as much as I want to, because that wasn't actually a lie when it came out shockingly, but I do remember watching a bit of it.
Speaker 2:I always remember being you had the A-Team air-wulf night rider and I always thought that Street Hawk was the fourth one out of those lot, but it only had one season, so it was clearly crap and I remember it much better than what it actually was.
Speaker 1:You look back with nostalgia and you think it's a lot better than it actually is, purely because it was in the 80s. I think that's what a lot of it is. You think, oh, it's in the 80s, it was great. And if you watch it in the 80s, as you put yourself in that situation, you probably be thinking, actually, this is quite shit.
Speaker 2:I think having stuff like that though Street Hawk, i mean seriously, i think having something like that is the motivation for writing the track. It's like I'm watching loads of Street Hawk trailers and clips from the show and I'm like I feel motivated, i'm like I need to do something, where the motorbike's going really fast and jumping 30 feet in the air and shooting sharks and you know, it's just, it's kind of that energy and that motivation And by the end of it we'll have a track that has absolutely nothing to do with Street Hawk and I'll call it Street Hawk and it will have a motorbike helmet and a cover And a shark, yeah, and it's synthwave. Often, as people look on it and go, i remember that and that's a bit of nostalgia, you know. I just have the sun floating in the background and suddenly I feel all happy and fuzzy and all that kind of stuff. So that's what it's about.
Speaker 5:I didn't know Street Hawk, but no bullshit. When I was listening to the song I felt the motorcycle so I was like yes, this is a motorcycle tune, it's definitely for just long roads, So you definitely caught a vibe that somehow translated to Well, Street Hawk was the ultimate high-tech crime fighter.
Speaker 6:I remember that part.
Speaker 4:Need to write one for Chips. Do you remember that? It was about two guys who just sat around light on a motorcycle all the time, but it wasn't very dynamic. But you know, Chips?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I believe the Street Hawk motorcycle was supposed to go at 300 miles an hour and it was just like nope. Maybe that's why it only lasted one season. They were like pfft, the guy just went too fast. He outrun all these seasons in one go.
Speaker 1:Cool, neil Highway. Thank you very much, i think, in the interest of time. I love these nostalgia trips. It's great. I often find the podcast. It never usually sticks to its script, and I always do that with interviews. So, moving on to the next one. So we have Tota. What have we got?
Speaker 5:I just I love how spicily you're pronouncing my name Tota. I know I've been upgraded to Tota, but I like it, i'll go with it. So this is a piece of my latest single it's just a couple of weeks old right now, i think And I basically wanted to create something with a lot more drive and more punch. and I'm coming out of having made a very vaporwave-esque cinematic type album and started doing more live shows and I wanted to create something where I was like this is gonna make people fucking dance, this is something that's gonna bring a lot of energy on stage. so a higher BPM, more drive and then not being afraid to mix influences, kind of.
Speaker 1:Cool, excellent stuff. Let's give it a go. Here we go.
Speaker 5:Then you can go Just to get a taste of you. I'm hungry like a wolf. you got me losing my mind. You got me mesmerized. I'm hooking. Stop feeling of your love.
Speaker 1:I need your love. That's really cool. There's a vocal hook in there and it reminds me of a song that I cannot think of.
Speaker 3:That reminds me That is the one. Yes, that's it. You've been on for a while.
Speaker 1:Oh God That might help something off completely. No, no, it's good because, yeah, exactly, multiple influences. But that's what I could hear And I was picking up on that. I was like, oh man, i'm loving this, i can hear how bass guitar would sound good on this as well, like actual bass. Yeah, oh, it does. Like I really thought of that sound. Yeah.
Speaker 5:It really. It lifts it, in my opinion. I wanted, like that little disco choir coming in with that cheesy The line. that was apparently from something else that you recognised. It was specifically me wanting to be like oh, how can I make it sound a little more disco? It's like super high falsetto, little cheesy one-liner.
Speaker 1:It can't stop the feeling of your love. I think it sounds great. I love that. I picked up on it straight away.
Speaker 2:But it was a kind of gated effect on the vocal. That was amazing.
Speaker 5:Yeah, i really have to give that to the audio engineer, because after having recorded it, we'd mixed it and gotten it to a point where it was kind of done. I was like it's not feeling electronic enough, it's not feeling clubby enough with just this really long belty I need your love chorus that I was singing out. I was like, can you just kind of chop it somehow? And we literally just Twisted the dial one step and it ended up in the pattern of Yes, it's immediately the kind of retro, but I wanted.
Speaker 6:It was a lot of fun It is. It has a bit of like an early mid 90s dance, like Techno vibe to it, right Like I was definitely wanting to do this a little bit. Yeah, listening to it.
Speaker 5:For sure, was trying to pull it a bit out of the 80s but then keep that kind of typical synth wave, just a pulsating bass To kind of anchor it in the synth wavey vibe.
Speaker 4:I like that 80s 90s, 80s, 90s crossover thing though and that that club energy. But like you know, i think you've definitely hit that dance floor thing, but it's it's got. It's still got good songwriting underneath it. I can tell you know there was a bit of a hungry like the wolf Comment in the lyrics there. We were all like comment in the lyrics there which might have been somewhat gerandesque, but you know, yeah.
Speaker 5:I think I changed it hungry like a wolf. Yes, there you go, No copyright infringement. I was specifically like oh, is this two clues? Nah, i'll be good.
Speaker 4:I don't know why wolves are so hungry, but that's the question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they hunt it in packs, don't they? So you think that?
Speaker 4:There we go. It's just a. You think that they'd have a hunting in packs? Be quite successful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, they'd be successful in their hunts. Not when you don't get the lone wolf. I think that's a myth. The secret meal.
Speaker 4:Well, yeah, you don't get them around here and watch it? I just don't think we get wolves. We don't get wolves in this country. do we Correct me if I'm wrong? No, we don't get wolves. No, we don't get wolves.
Speaker 1:So R9, what have we got? What are we going to listen to? I haven't heard this yet.
Speaker 4:Well, i mean, i could give you all this bullshit about it, but I just wrote it a few minutes ago before you came on air because I needed something to talk about, and that's really the bottom line of it. So yeah, i don't know, i mean I just sort of put together something and it's got a bit of a craft work, i reckon, influence in there. It's got a bit of, maybe, floyd influence in there. but I think I could head off into a bit more guitar-ness in this. It's only got one chord in it so far, so I wouldn't call that a guitar epic yet. But yeah, it's my sort of synth way of something. I don't know, i hope it might turn into something, but at the moment it's a bit of a sort of 16 bar masterpiece. but it's something to listen to, so you can all pick it apart and tell me.
Speaker 1:I love the idea of like prog craft work. I'd love to know what that sounds like, some sort of prog-based craft work. But here we go.
Speaker 4:I never listened to that originally. There was the craft work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the sounds that you've got there and the composition, i could imagine it. I don't know if any of you have watched the series called Bones, a US series, but it's something like that, where they're going out to view a crime scene in the mid-naughties and they're just venturing up on a crime scene. That's what I can hear with that first bit there, but then when that jangly guitar comes in that guitar reminds me of another track.
Speaker 1:I can't think of what it is. This is terrible. There's another track as well, and I'm going to have to listen to it again after the show.
Speaker 4:I think it might be another brick in the wall as well, but like you know, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I like when that guitar comes in. I really like that and it's going to bug me the song I'm thinking of because I can't no, I'm not going to die because I'm not going to. I'll spend the next hour trying to think of it, but I think it sounds good, mate. I think I can definitely hear the craft work element of it. Obviously it needs fleshing out, as you say, because it's only just started, but yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, it needs some. Yeah, he's literally just trying to come up with something, but I think it's got merit. But you tell me, you tell me that's what you're all here for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, what's that bass sound? What's that?
Speaker 4:The bass sounds a bit of a mixture of a Jupiter 8 kind of. There's a kind of contact version of Super 8 I think it's called which is their Jupiter 8 kind of thing. And then there's also there's the Korg Poly 8, 100, of course, the Korg Poly synth on top as well, like the classic synth way of things. So I mix the two of them. I do that a lot, actually mix the Korg with, like you know, something like either an Oppenheimer or a Jupiter 8 or something like that. It's just something that's got a bit more color to it and you know it works better with the mob wheel and the filter and gives you a bit of color, and then sort of mix that. So the bass you play in the same notes but you know they're just like one's got a bit more that solidity that I think you get out of the Korg and then the kind of color that you get out the other ones or the filter, so I like the two Yeah.
Speaker 3:How long did it take you to produce? end to end, would you say.
Speaker 4:About an hour. How jealous are you?
Speaker 6:mate Really, really jealous, that's like four weeks worth of work for me to get to that stage.
Speaker 1:So the key question here, tim, is this like you spent an hour on it, what did you focus? I say focus. focus might be the wrong word, but how did you sort of like? did you already have the sounds mapped out that you wanted to use, or do you just have like a template and just write all right, there's my synth, there's my drums, there's my lead?
Speaker 4:No, i really started from scratch completely. So I just like was just sort of, you know, i kind of guess I sort of put a fairly straight rhythm together and then went back on to that straight rhythm and sort of added some things. Later once I got something, but you know, got a bass line up and then got some chords going for a few pads. And you know, you, i often write in a sort of eight, 16 bar sort of thing and put lots of ideas in and then start to arrange it quite quickly and then go back and go, oh, what does it need?
Speaker 4:I think the difficult bit was coming up with a little lead, that lead sort of craft work, you lead thing that comes in at the end there. That that was hard to kind of get the idea for that you know, and I might need to. I mean, the thing is I often write things quite quickly but that doesn't mean that they're all done and produced and that bit takes forever while I decide whether I like the snare for like the next four weeks. So it's not, it's not quick, it's not at all quick in that way. But you know, i just pick it apart now, for I mean sometimes I think I shouldn't and I should just go with my vibe and just keep running with it and and have it all done and then be on to the next track. But, like you know, i don't tend to be like that.
Speaker 4:So yeah and sometimes you do lose something of that. I don't know whether everyone else thinks this, but that is the problem, isn't it? of keeping that initial energy and vibe that you're when you're writing something and then sort of still loving that track as much when you finished it and, not having lost that initial energy and vibe while you're trying to get it perfect with the production, which is, you get nailed, get sort of so focused on that that you actually begin to hate the track, lose half the you know initial sort of bits that you liked or something you know, lose the sort of vibrancy of it. So it's hard, but yeah, who knows, maybe it will turn into something yeah, i'm my own number one fan on Spotify.
Speaker 6:I actually love my own music. I got my Spotify wrapped last year and you're like, here's your number one fan and it was my fucking own account. I couldn't post it on.
Speaker 5:Instagram. I love my own music.
Speaker 6:I don't just make music because it's like, i don't know, i don't get sick of a track. If I get sick of a track halfway through, i just can it. I only produce music I and release music I actually like and actually want to listen to a whole bunch after it's out, sometimes to critique the mix, like we all do, but sometimes just because I want to listen to the fucking song it's. It's a little depressing sometimes because the track I just released a couple days ago with Dimmy K has already passed up my favorite track from my void LP like that I released a year ago in total place and it took like less than 48 hours and I'm really proud, but I'm really disappointed at myself for the void LP at the same time.
Speaker 1:I think, going back to what you said there, there for sure I think you got like your own music, though, haven't you? if you're releasing it, i mean you've got to be able to listen to it. I don't, it isn't being interesting. Question is anybody released music semi recently, like in the last couple years, that they're thinking, actually I wish I hadn't released, that you don't have to name the track if you don't really want to, but is anyone? yeah, i mean I. I probably got a song or two that I wish I could go back and rethink.
Speaker 5:I kind of like my mistakes, not even regrets.
Speaker 5:It's more like growing pains or I guess a sign that my style fucking changes and that my mood changes because I did very much like the song that I wrote and released when it was released. It's just that now I guess my ears are different listening back to it. But yeah, i find it difficult as well to how much do I hold on to an original idea versus how much do I let myself polish it and strive for some sort of perfection, because I have a tendency to fall in love with my demos As I'm trying to find a new shape for it or a new sound, or, like I say, i'm looking for the perfect snare sound. I'll realise that I'll be listening to my demo version for a month straight and now everything sounds wrong. That isn't the fucking demo version. So I'm kind of stuck being like in a Stockholm Syndrome type of situation where I'm in love with the hostage of my demo, but I'm trying to elevate it.
Speaker 4:That sounds like an album. I'm in love with the hostage of my demo. I like that, it's good. But I mean it's really it's quite a well-known thing that some very big artists will say that they do a demo version on some four track or whatever, like if we're looking back in time And they fall in love with some sound on that, which they then spend stupid amounts of time in studios trying to recreate And it can be really hard because they can't release the demo. but they've got something on that demo that is really hard to end up within. the final thing And I think that's part of it is the skill or the battle is to try and keep your things fresh and keep them. there's kind of things that you do by mistake. Don't over just say oh no, that's terrible. I must get rid of that. Sometimes you've got to hold on to things that have got something, have got something interesting in them, and not overthink it and like change everything and over sanitize everything. But it's really hard. It's my battle anyway.
Speaker 1:So, leon, what are we going to be listening to?
Speaker 3:next. Oh, i'm not sure how to describe this other than a bit of a mess at the minute. I bounced this probably an hour and a half before we went on air And, if you'll remember, i'd sent a previous version yesterday and then I decided I didn't like it overnight. And yeah, it's one of those ones that's kind of the opposite of Tim's workflow. I kind of build it up and build it up and then I start falling out of love with certain elements and I want to change things around and then it loses its kind of magic along the way. So I've fought my way through this thing this afternoon to get to the stage of where it is. It's absolutely nowhere near where I want it to be. It's got kind of three sections in it at the moment and I would appreciate your thoughts It only has eight bases, so I haven't gone over the top this time.
Speaker 1:And it's called Sinister.
Speaker 3:It's very restrained of you Subneon, so yeah well, you know you've got to take it easy.
Speaker 1:Well, this is it. Yeah, you got. yeah, it's the summertime and all that, Here we go.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cool, matt. My initial thought was when it was playing around 25 seconds. I was thinking I could do with it like stopping or like dropping out slightly, and then it came in at 30 seconds. So it sort of answered what I was gonna say. But that's what I was expecting to hear there after that was like it to drop out and then come back in. I think a change of tempo will be good as well in that.
Speaker 1:But do you ever think cause you mentioned that about your songwriting and you get to the point where by you have all these different things going on. I don't know if anyone else experienced this, but when you throw stuff at a track, you keep throwing bits and pieces at it like a demo, and then it gets to the point whereby you just lose sight of it altogether. I've done that before where I've had like track upon track upon track upon track upon track and you keep adding to it and then trying to make it better And then it just doesn't go. I don't know. I used to suffer from that quite a lot. I remember one track I was mixing. There was like 48, 50 different tracks in it And I was like it's just crazy Is that a lie.
Speaker 1:For me it was My latest stuff. I've got about 25 tracks, if that, I think.
Speaker 5:But yeah, i went.
Speaker 1:I think I had this I think I was gonna say I think Tolta mentioned this a while back, which was about going through your tracks and then getting rid of, like killing, your darlings.
Speaker 1:I think you called it, It might yeah, yeah, and getting rid of those elements that just aren't contributing And I've been doing that since and it's greatly brought that track count down. I've got fun on a tangent here a bit And this is based off what you said before the song. but yeah, my thought was space and it came in, So there we go.
Speaker 6:I thought the demo clip was over and he was just like being really classy, letting it echo out. And then it came back and I was shocked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, i was the same. I thought that it was really cool, man, really cool, some great sounds.
Speaker 5:I absolutely loved it. The texture play between the different sounds that you use was almost visual when you listen to it. The amount of difference that you're playing with and all the rhythm switches. as a drummer, i was like, yes, such an exciting track and so satisfying with a groove kicked in with a bass line towards the end. Just an absolute roller coaster of excitement. I definitely think you should keep doing whatever you're doing, even if it's painful. I just dragged this out for seven minutes and I'll be listening to it.
Speaker 4:My feeling would be that you've got exactly what Tosa said. That's really all going on in the tracks, which is excellent. To be honest, i think it's going on in. You know. There's some things that are going on in all of your tracks, like some similar sort of things that you're interested in, like that really captivate you, that make you want to write music, and they're coming out and your style is coming out in your tracks, a lot of that rhythm and, like you know, you've got a lot more going on rhythmically than maybe some synthwave tracks have and that sort of thing.
Speaker 4:But yeah, most, but at the same time I think sometimes it's that it's just knowing how much to put in, and it is that thing that Mark was saying. Sometimes it's just like do I need that extra bass on this one or can I make this really punch through and be really powerful without bass? number seven you know, like 6.5 was enough, like no. You just sort of find like that you just balance things up and less is more when you still may keep what you're trying to achieve in there, you know. And then I'm not saying you want to stop trying to achieve what you're trying to achieve. That's the point, you know, i'm not saying dumb it down in any way, but like at the same time, yeah, i think you might. The real struggle is to manage to make it as powerful and, as you know, energetic and as interesting and have all those textures, but maybe just to shed out the sort of bits that aren't, aren't necessary, which the probably are some at times.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, we don't find it. Yeah, absolutely, i mean I've, i'm I when I, when I write I add in the track or a synth sound, and then I play it for a bit and then I don't like it, then I mute it, then I bring in another track and then change the preset, but I leave it there just in case I might want to go back to it and then I'll turn it on again And I'll say, oh, that quite sounds, quite nice together. So then you know, and it keeps kind of layering up like that And I've got too much stuff going on in there listening back to it now After the drop and it comes in with that big baby hands in the air kind of synth. It's so much cleaner and there's only two basses playing there.
Speaker 4:So you know yeah, that bit does feel cleaner. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But also what you do really amazing as well is in Russia. I actually think Russell Nash is very good at this. Within about three seconds of any of your tracks starting, you can say that's a sub neon track instantly And that's an amazing thing to have, like amazing, to have a signature sound. I think you have that. Russell Nash definitely has it in that very retro sound and Clinton has it as well. Minute Clinton track starts like that's Clinton, you know, and so I think you know it's trying to balance getting the track right but also being you know what. I'm fucking sub neon and I'm going to make this sound exactly like sub neon because you're the only guy that's doing that.
Speaker 6:I was just going to say kind of the same thing, like I think it's really interesting to see how, anytime anybody who hasn't heard sub neon here sub neon for the first time, they're just like, holy shit, that's good Again, it always had. Every single time it happened Somebody's introduced to sub neon, they're just like, wow, this is synth wave, this is so much different, but it's so good. And I have the same risk every time he sends me a track to listen to, i'm just like that's some neon. This guy is on another level, man.
Speaker 3:So that being said, i think I think it's actually just the limitation of my knowledge of the other, since limit.
Speaker 6:Creative limitation is a good thing. I think Mark said that at the beginning of the episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, i did. Yeah, i think limitation is good, man. I think I think one way to describe your music is like immersive, and this goes back to what Toto was saying earlier. It's like you listen to it And it is very immersive. I think, if you were to, you should consider this is getting it like a Dolby Atmos mix of your tunes and see what it sounds like, because I can imagine if you were to do that, it would sound incredibly immersive, as it would do because it's Dolby Atmos, but I think it would sound amazing. I mean, money is it's easy for me to say that go and find a Dolby Atmos mix and get it mixed and Dolby Atmos, but I would do it, man, i just to see what it sounds like, because I think it would sound incredible, and then yeah, I'll bear that in mind.
Speaker 3:I want to get over a certain number of streams.
Speaker 4:When we say immersive, don't try listening to it in a submarine.
Speaker 1:Tell you what.
Speaker 3:I can't speak highly enough of these headphones, these VSXs. I'm not on the payroll, by the way, but it really does make a big difference in you gonna make me go buy, to pick out the different sort of areas of mud and stuff.
Speaker 4:Steven Slate is busy writing the check as we speak.
Speaker 1:He did. Yeah, I should get some sort of like affiliate linking.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, no, you would they have. I've been mastering your stuff and I can tell I could tell straight away when you sent me mixes like it was just like a whole load of stuff had really cleaned up and lower mid sort of range, really really big difference. So they must be good. And then I just mastered it on my crappy speakers and it sounded alright. So there we go.
Speaker 1:Brilliant. Thank you, zed Nion. Fantastic stuff. So final one Pashang. What have we got?
Speaker 6:So this is a track that was supposed to end up going into my Shredway VP that I'm releasing as soon as Russell and Typhirion finish their guitar parts Assuming they do. Typhirion, i can't wait. I haven't heard his stuff yet, but I know it's going to be amazing. It's going to be insane, and I've been jamming live with Russell over Discord and, oh my gosh, the dude has so much talent, he's so self-deprecating but he's so freaking good at guitar. It's insane. Anyway, i digress as one does on this show.
Speaker 6:I have a bunch of extra tracks that I wanted to put in the EP, but then I thought maybe I don't want to put guitars in all of these. I had this whole story that I came up with and Dimmy K kind of smacked me on the back of the head and said, hey, idiot, that's what people want to read. They want to get that context to the music. So why don't you actually write that out? So I did, and then it ended up inspiring me to write a whole bunch of other songs with little tales from the Resistance, which I think is going to be the title of the EP.
Speaker 6:It'll be a follow-up to the Shredway VP, but not necessarily all guitar stuff, and this one is a track called The Evolution Chamber, where the evil robot overlords are stripping the flesh from their hapless victims and remaking them in their own image to join the infinite Legion. It actually features at this point in time and hopefully he'll let me keep it. Some really good voiceovers from Sub-Neon as the evil robot torture master. But we didn't do that part Oh, right yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh there we go. Yeah, we decided that we can. He's the man of Betty.
Speaker 3:Collins, you got here.
Speaker 6:I was going to leave it in there because it's right after the clip cuts off is when he starts talking. And I was just going to say fuck the rules. I'm letting y'all hear Sub-Neon's cool evil robot torture master voice, but it didn't fit.
Speaker 1:No, he should have left it in there.
Speaker 6:It's so good. It's so good. I sent him the script and I was like I'll see what he does. And then it's just such a good job. I was like hey, do you want to just collab on this? And now I think we might actually release it as his first collab. No pressure, but you know, now it's out there on the internet.
Speaker 6:You know it's been said, but yeah anyway, the robot torture master is not in here, but the guitars in this clip are up for deletion. If you think they're not relevant to the track, please let me know and give me some. Give me some critiques, because this is a genre I haven't worked in very, very much like the really heavy dark synth and I really love it. It's my favorite genre to listen to in synthwave, but it's a lot harder to produce than you know it sounds to be honest. So hit me with some brutal feedback. I do enjoy getting a little bit of gut punches every once in a while, and Russell's really good for that, but he's not here. So you guys have to settle in for that Sub in, if you will.
Speaker 1:Okay, here we go then. So shout out to those evil robot overlords. I love that story. I love the fact that Sub neon is also moonlighting as a robot overlord as well, which is great.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, yeah, shout out to Tim.
Speaker 4:I think he's part machine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, from the cupboard, here we go. Okay, this is, this is the. I think this is where the limitation of the Riverside platform comes in.
Speaker 2:Right Oh it's different.
Speaker 1:It's different to the one that you submitted to me, because my thoughts are coming from the metal background and being a metal guitarist is I'd want more sort of like me on those Where the hell are the guitars.
Speaker 6:But it's just being all cut off about 400 Hertz.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it sounds like if I was going to liken it to a guitar time. it's like it reminds me of Pantera, like Dimebag Darrell's guitar time.
Speaker 6:That's a compliment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, scoot mid. Oh, mate, i love Pantera. I've been watching the live show, live stuff recently and it's great to see him back on stage, Um, albeit without the two brothers. But yeah, i would want more meat on those on those guitars, more like I really want them to down. I can describe it just when they're chugging, i want them to chug. So you want?
Speaker 6:more guitar. Not kill the guitars, but make the guitars bigger in the mix.
Speaker 1:Not necessarily bigger is the sound itself because, as you, say it sounds like they've been top and tailed and then you've lost a lot of that low end chug. But you've got to be careful there, because you've got. You've got a lot of bass going on as well. Do I ever? So, yeah, you've got to marry, you've got to weigh up. Okay, if I'm going to, if those guitars are going to extend into those low mids, then they're going to compete with that bass I've got going on. So you've got to, you've got to weigh up the two. But definitely keep the guitars in there. Man, i'm with the guitars in this, but I just think they need the sound sculpting needs to address.
Speaker 6:Oh for sure, I'm absolutely terrible at mixing guitars.
Speaker 1:I found that it's quite an art, it's quite tricky, but leave them in, When the highest stuff came in the melody sort of.
Speaker 4:There was a sort of melody that came in there. I felt like in the mix I wanted to hear that more and get a bit more detail of what was going on. It may be this audio listening across here, but I couldn't hear the melody very clearly. But I loved the. I loved the sort of chug and the vibe with the drums as well. I thought like they were hitting the mark and you know, yeah, it was had a good energy, all of the groove.
Speaker 1:There's power in those drums. You've got power in those drums When that snare and that kick drum combined.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that's true, I actually. I usually hate the combo of my snare and kick, but this one I actually like it. It sounds pretty good.
Speaker 1:I think they hit really well. I think they sound, they punch very well.
Speaker 2:I love that sound. It's very much like Midnight Danger meets Pertorbrator.
Speaker 6:I like that combo. All right, sign me up for that. It's hard, man Hard, that's real good. That's one of the reasons I made a follow-up EP is because there's a bunch of material I made for the Shredwave EP that was just too heavy. Because I realized something like halfway through making the EP like Shredwave is not necessarily the darkest music in synthwave It's just shreddy and I want to go dark. I want like the intro of this track is a solid minute 15 seconds of torture, screams and robot. Like there's a lot of sound design in there, like it's pretty intense. Sorry, subdion, what have you signed up?
Speaker 3:for Yeah, I did not provide the screaming He did not.
Speaker 6:But you know, if you want to add to it, get another layer in there. By all means, Just channel that. Channel that like post meeting anger and just get it on the mic.
Speaker 5:I was thinking for a bit. I love the darkness and the grit of the tune. Have you thought about incorporating like machine sounds into the beat, like a robot walking, like a factory type?
Speaker 3:of That's a great idea.
Speaker 6:It's so weird because fair factory stuff Yes all the stuff, all the mechanical Foley sounds, disappear right before the clip starts, and then Subdion's killer voiceover starts right as the clip in. So I managed to find the least interesting part of the track and send it to you guys.
Speaker 1:I was going to say that I think you've said like it's a great part, but I think you could have sent us either the sub neon bit or the, the, the atonal sound bit with it, with those found sounds, because if you get like those, those fair factory like star sounds in there of mechanical shit going on that sounds weird.
Speaker 6:I think I might actually layer in some of that stuff because, like you said, some of the like the low mids are feeling a little muddled and maybe having a little bit of clanky clanky stuff going on there might might introduce a little bit of variety to it. And the reason I sent this bit of the track is because this is the part I'm least confident about. It feels more generic, dark synth and less, you know, robot torture, screaming soundscape, slash, robot torture, master voiceover, which I'm very confident about. So I said the bit. I wanted. The feedback on the rest of that shit you can't touch, i'm just keeping it.
Speaker 2:I don't know if anybody knows the track Reptile by Nine Inches Nails Very much plays to what I was saying around, like servo motors and mechanical, but also captures from Mark was saying about that. you know that crunch, you know it's it's crunchy and it's playing to the guitars but it's got the industrials and I think Reptile is probably the ideal reference track for this.
Speaker 6:That's a good call. I don't know you go back to that. I haven't listened to that song in ages and I actually I bought a Foley pack of mechanical servo motors and clanks and clanks and stuff like that specifically for this track and it's all in the intro. So I'm just going to bring some of that into the the main verse part then. That's a really good bit of advice. I'm going to try that immediately.
Speaker 5:No, okay, just rhythmically as well. It's also on the. The bass is in the same, the shredding is in the same vibe and the synthesizer that's kind of falling in an arpey kind of way is in the same rhythm. And with that stability beat Like laying down the ground work, it gets very factory-ish. And I'm thinking you could add a Subneon type little rhythm, switch up at the end of a bar, if you wanted to give that more dynamic, if this period in particular Just towards the end of a loop or something.
Speaker 5:Cut out something and bring it back in, because that rhythm is so steady. We all get into the machine of it all like we know where we're going with that beat and that's. That's the charm. But that also gives us a super power note to take it away and we'll completely fucking be a battle by it.
Speaker 1:I Know you can't do it with this song, but I think if you're going down a dark route and you're going into this like really Mechanic, mechanical soundscape and stuff is like when the when you get the guitarist in, maybe consider dropping the tuning. I think if you were to think about like I'm a mile bad, we should play and drop B. I'm not saying go drop B because I was heavy as piss, but maybe like Actually, yeah, maybe drop B. I think drop B on that would sound so heavy man. But maybe consider tunings on the next ones as well, on the next track, and think, because I don't know what tuning that's in, but it sounds like it's going to be in standard. I could be wrong, it's actually a nine string guitar.
Speaker 6:I'm just not using the bottom two strings And it's in drop C sharp I.
Speaker 1:Was way out, then it's not nine string guitar, it's not a real guitar.
Speaker 6:It's not a real guitar, so bloody cable is a Really good VST called ample metal Hellraiser and I just got kind of good at programming it to sound pretty realistic And it got. It has a lot of articulation tools to kind of give you that Realistic vibe, as long as you don't get too far away from the chuggy stuff.
Speaker 4:Does a pretty good. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that was, that was cool. Oh, it's really impressive.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I can absolutely change the tuning easily and At some point in this follow-up EP I want to do a full on Mick Gordon track, just like full on dooms 2016 soundtrack vibe, and I keep almost getting there and then too far and taking it back. So one of these days I'm just gonna let it rip. But for this track, like you said, that factory vibe was that kind of something I was going for, but I think I might have hit it a little too on the nose. So like dialing it back a bit and mixing up some of those rhythmic switches and Adding a bit more clinky, clinky foley and there might be a good idea solid feedback, you guys. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1:Nice man, i was gonna say if you're ever in the need of, if you want like dropped guitar, like just riffs, give me a shout, man. I'm sure I don't know what tunings my guitars are in. I've got two Jackson DKMGs with 81, 85 pickups and they're pure.
Speaker 6:I've seen my Instagram post. It's the summer of shred. Come on, man, just send me some.
Speaker 1:Probably have to be fair.
Speaker 6:It's just I yeah yeah, summer is nowhere near over, sir. Let us just send me some riffs. Send me some shreds. I'll send you a track, shred, let me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's shreddings that I will put my head up and say shreddings, not my forte. But if you want rhythm, i really know big knives cut to do that.
Speaker 6:I'm on some deep chart, chunky, chunky shreds to it. Now I have to be way up on the front board.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, i'll see what we can do, mate. Um, no, that sounds great. I'd love to play some metal.
Speaker 1:I'm hell Yes now we're talking Fantastic. I hope that was useful folks. I was gonna say Jensen, but alienating talk folks. Um, this has been great. I've loved this episode. We've gone off on proper tangents, talk about wolves, seagulls, music. It's been great. I'm just gonna go over to YouTube. There's no one there. Facebook There's no one there either. So there we go. Um, what we'll do is we'll go round. We've had four people on YouTube and You can just highlight where the audience can find you and if you've got any key dates or anything coming up, just shout that out, because this episode will go live. It's the second July today and it's gonna go live a week on Tuesday, so I'm gonna go round. We go from the first one. So neon highway Where can we find you any key dates?
Speaker 2:I'm just at neon highway synth or an Instagram and there's a link tree for everything. New track just came out and that's about the last thing that I've got in the calendar at the moment, but seems to be getting good feedback, so go have a listen.
Speaker 1:Fantastic and Dota.
Speaker 5:Yeah, i'm at Todd's voice on Instagram. Otherwise, any of your streaming platforms as just Tota, and if you happen to be listening from Sweden, i'm gonna be laughing at my name now.
Speaker 4:Am I saying?
Speaker 1:I think it's because I've been put out to the wrong.
Speaker 4:I think that might be what it is. She thought you were finished.
Speaker 6:You thought you were finished. Oh, Sweetie don't say that to any Finnish people. Oh my god, i.
Speaker 5:Feel like, with this, this fringe, i've got going on, i'm basically finished.
Speaker 6:I thought you were, i thought you were, because the pronunciation I got finished in Yonna and if I was from Texas I'd be saying Jauna, anyway, anyway, yeah, no well, it was just saying.
Speaker 5:I have a gig coming up 29th of July, so if you happen to be in Malmö, come catch us. We'll be playing The recent singles as well as a lot from the album.
Speaker 1:Fantastic and I all nine.
Speaker 4:Yeah, oh no, i'm well. You can find me at all nine music on Instagram and there's link tree there for absolutely everything else, but you'll find me on pretty much every social media thing at all. Nine music, yeah, and you can come buy a nice t-shirt. There we go. And I've got I think I'm going to sort of have a new single out I've just had it turn over, drive out and I've got a single out that I've sort of worked on for just Scott recently, and I've got a new one of mine that I'm gonna sort of get out of the next few weeks, which I think is going to be called worlds away, and that's going to be another instrumental one. And then I've got a gig coming up Dust Graves in London but it's miles away, but like just to warn you in October, and which is going to be very cool, i think, with some other awesome retro musicians. So that's going to be really good and, yeah, that's just gonna be lots more music. I think I'm hoping so.
Speaker 1:Fantastic, lovely stuff. I'm looking forward to that gig. In the same month I'm watching Blaise Bailey and I'll nine. Doesn't get much better than that blaze Bailey of.
Speaker 4:X does and does it really?
Speaker 1:and then our nine not the same gig, although that would be really good. I'd love to see blaze Bailey and you team up. But there we go. Um, fantastic, and there's sub neon.
Speaker 3:I can never remember what my socials are, so that's why I've shoved them all on a website, so you can find me a sub neon net. My next single, called Thunderheart, is coming out on the 28th of July. As mastered by Tim over there, it's done a fantastic job, as always, and it's coming out on retro synth records, my first release on the label.
Speaker 6:So yeah, whoa and Pashank so I just released a couple days ago my debut single from the summer of shred Main thing, the resistance EP, and the track is called lockdown. Features demikane guitars and it's It's performing pretty well so far. It's out on streaming in bandcamp. Please go by demikane a coffee vicariously through me at Pashong dot bandcamp. Calm, i'm on Instagram is Pashong audio and you can find me all over the place. My next track is called GGFO, featuring the uncanny master of shreds and also mastering engineer, for the album ran and That'll be coming out middle of July And then from there the full album will follow and the follow-up album after that. So there's quite a lot of stuff going on this year. Hope you guys stick around to catch it.
Speaker 1:Fantastic folks. I will put all those links in the episode description before we sign off For those listening slash watching. If you would like to join us on an episode of the producers pub, do head over to inside the mix podcast on podia Com and get signed up for an episode of the producers pub. Alternatively, you can head over to Instagram and click the link in the bio and join us, as we have done today. The next one is going to be on a 30th of July and then we're taking a slight break and then we're coming back in September, october and November with some more episodes. So, folks, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you very much And I hope you've enjoyed it and I would do it all again soon.
