Producer Q&A - Starkey
This week, we got Philly's number one knob-twiddler and purveyor of synth-heavy 140bpm turbo-crunk, Starkey, to answer our penetrating and probing Producer Q&As.
If you want to know more about what Starkey does, check his excellent recent mix for Fact Magazine, or head here and bless yourself with some vinyl. Currently working on his second album for Planet Mu, while still prepping singles and remixes for our friends over at Rwina, Starkey has carved out a highly-respected niche for his distinctive sound, much like a woodpecker carves out a niche for its nest. But different.
How do you approach a tune? Drums first? Melody?
Hmmmm... It's different for every tune. But I'd say usually i lay down some sort of basic drum groove with a melody or bassline in my head, then always go back and revise it. I find it's easier to lay down that melody or bassline with something other than a click track in place. On my phone, there's lots of little snippets of ideas that I'll think of during the day - I'll just sing them into the recorder and play them back when I get into the studio.
What time of day do you work best?
It's all about the daytime for me right now. When I was starting out producing, I was in college and would work from like 7pm-3am every day almost. But now, it's all about the sessions from noon-6pm or thereabouts.
Where do you get your inspiration / motivation from?
Everything really - other people's music, movies, the city I live in... Any type of artist pulls from their surroundings and everything contributes to their output. Making music is exciting to me. When I sit down to work on something I never give myself any boundaries or rules to follow. I don't say, 'I need to make a chill tune today', or 'I need to make a banger' - it's just whatever comes out really.
What do you do when you're not feeling inspired?
I usually have something I need to get done, so I trudge through it. But if I'm really not feeling it that day, I'll just turn the computer off and do something relaxing. Could be anything really - watch TV, catch a movie, maybe cook up a good meal.
Do you start a tune from scratch, or do you usually have a drumset/template/etc to work from?
Unless I'm doing a remix, I always start from scratch. I literally start with nothing on the screen. I find that people who start with templates, even if it's their own custom thing, their music all starts to sound the same. It's cool to have some kind of signature sound or feel - actually it's essential - but you don't want tunes to be re-hashed old ones.
If you got a chance would you write pop stuff for a major label (if the money was good?)
Yes, definitely. I'm big into mainstream hiphop and r&b right now. I love what's going on. I really hope to be doing some of this in the near future.
What's the boring, workhorse plugin/piece of kit that you use all the time?
I'm not sure if it's boring, but I use the EXS24 and Ultrabeat (from Logic) on pretty much every track. But they're just samplers, so they're only as boring as the samples you put in them.
What's the coolest bit of kit you've got and do you actually use it much?
I have a Roland Juno 60 which is pretty nice. I don't use it as often as I should, but it's right there above my Korg N1, which I use every day.
Do you mixdown your own stuff? Reckon there's a stigma around this?
For now, yes. I also do most of my own mastering for digital releases, as well as the Seclusiasis and Slit Jockey stuff. Mixing is all about knowing your room and monitors, and understanding EQ and compression. If you have that down, you can produce quality mixes. Yeah I'd love to go to a big studio and use tons of outboard gear on my tracks, but it's expensive, and the results are usually sub-par, because you're put in an environment where you don't feel as comfortable and don't necessarily understand the monitors and the acoustics of the space. When I moved my studio last year, it took me a good 3 months to fully understand what was happening in that space and feel comfortable with a mixdown I did in there.
What production technique do you think is really overused / annoying?
This is probably pretty stupid, but I hate it when uninteresting synths or samples pan back and forth from left to right. Like I'm talking dry boring panning. I hate that.
What do you know now that you wish you had known when you started out?
I think the most important aspects of making a record sound good are understanding how to distribute tones across the frequency spectrum and control the bass so that it sounds equally good on iPod headphones and in the club. These are things I work on all the time, that when I first started producing I didn't quite have a grasp on. The mix needs to jump out of the speakers.... U GET ME!??!!
Cheers Starkey!
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