Producer Q&A - Rossi B
November 30
This week we've got Rossi B on Q&A duties. Well known for his productions with Luca, and their sick DJ-ing (seriously - head to the myspace or just go straight to this one), he also runs Heavy Artillery - one of the best crunching, grimey dubstep labels around if you want my opinion. OK, maybe I would say that, but it's brought us some sick stuff from some of my favourite producers - the likes of Dubchild and El-B - so you have to admit I'm right.
Anyway, on with the show; big ups to Rossi for taking time out to answer these:
How do you approach a tune? Drums first? Melody?
Usually i'll kick things off by getting a little beat loop going before i do anything else.
What time of day do you work best?
I'm definitely a night time worker, i find i get distracted too easily in the day.
Where do you get your inspiration / motivation from?
I try and take inspiration from as many influences as i can in order to get a versatile sound, at the moment i'm particularly influenced by a lot of the early 2step / dubstep movement such as El B, Zed Bias etc but my inspirations vary from track to track and day to day depending on my mood.
What do you do when you're not feeling inspired?
Every now and then i'll run into a little patch where no matter what i do i cant seem to put together anything that sounds remotely like music, in these times i tend to just switch off for a few days, take in some fresh music and go back in when I feel suitably energised!
Do you start a tune from scratch, or do you usually have a drumset/template/etc to work from?
It's very tempting to go in on an old template and just rejig things about, there's nothing wrong with it. I guess i'd have to say i do both, sometimes it's just best to go in from scratch as you end up using sounds or coming up with things you probably wouldn't have otherwise.
If you got a chance would you write pop stuff for a major label (if the money was good?)
I'd never just make any old shit for the money, I don't think I could do it if I tried to be honest, but if they were up for some pop with a bit of an edge to it, sure I'd give it a go.
What's the boring, workhorse plugin/piece of kit that you use all the time?
A lot of my work is done mainly with samples, i guess my albino would be my most overused plug in along with various echo / reverb vsts that always come in handy.
What's the coolest bit of kit you've got and do you actually use it much?
I have no kit, other than my lappy and my big ear holes. That's how I roll!
Do you mixdown your own stuff? Reckon there's a stigma around this?
I do, pretty poorly. I look at it like art, not every artist is technically the best, but their work is no less relevant because of this. Obviously you do have to attain somewhat of a minimum standard though, I think i do ok. What production technique do you think is really overused / annoying?
LFOs are getting a bit tired but they still work in the dance! I'd have to say that auto tune vst has a lot to answer for in current popular music.
What do you know now that you wish you had known when you started out?
Believe it or not, i have only recently got to grips with how to automate adequately. It's so simple yet i just didn't know!---------
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