You of course will know Villem & McLeod from their stellar work on labels such as Samurai, Hospital, Samurai Red Seal, Warm Communications… a list as long as your arm. But who wants to long it out in the studio? Sure some masochists might. But some don’t: they want to cut to the chase and soon be immersed in pure production bliss. The Zone. & the word is that this is ‘A Grade’ material, so it was time to find out more from McLeod … with an added video and production shots from the guys. Check the website at the end for more information.
First things first what things are you/you and Villem working on as we speak?
We recently finished remixes we were doing for Dispatch & Flexout Audio and we also have a project on the go with a vocalist which is keeping us busy.
Mainly we’ve been working on the Sample Pack.
What’s the Sample Pack consist of, sound-wise?
The sample pack has lots of great noises in it that could be used across the board. Both myself and Villem are into most styles of D&B so we have tried to make the Sample Pack reflect that.
If I was new to producing I might go and get some software/hardware then be immediately stuck as have no cool sounds to work with… is that where you come in then?
Yeah, that’s the idea I suppose. We just wanted to make really usable, inspirational sounds to assist people in their productions.
But could that then mean that, if people were using your sounds, it could sound like you? Is there a danger of that?
I don’t necessarily think that if people use the Sample Pack they will sound like us. The sounds are designed to be used as building blocks and could be easily processed by the user to give them their own twist.
So what sounds here are you chuffed with? What ones do you wish YOU could have had access to when you started as a producer?
All of them! I think the whole pack will be invaluable to producers new to the circuit. Between myself and Villem we have about 20 years of production experience so hopefully this will shine through in the quality of the sounds and inspire people to make great tunes.
In D&B what’s a good basis for starting a tune? I feel in the old days you might build from a break and suspend sounds and bass off it.
We tend to start with building our beat first then once we are happy with that move on to catching a vibe via a sample or experimenting with a synth. Then we tend get the bass line in and take it from there.
You like to harness ideas quickly, to get them down fast?
Totally! If you have an idea get it in and see what it sounds like! Sometimes however we stumble across ideas whilst writing a song that might not necessary be applicable to that vibe.
What do you do then? How do you remember it?
We use desktop notes as reminders for the next session.
What’s a sound or two in the sample pack you are particularly proud of?
We are both very proud of the whole Sample Pack really. We both invested lots of time making it as good as we could. There is definitely something in there for everyone whether writing Liquid, Jump Up or something a bit dirtier.
Back to your work, what was the highlight of the past year for you?
The highlight of last year had to be the success of the Samuari Red Seal 12 ‘Another Star/Keeper Of The Sun’. Both tunes we really well-received and gave us both a huge boost. This year is shaping up to be a good one too with forthcoming releases on Warm Communications, C.I.A, Utopia Music and the two remixes I mentioned earlier for Dispatch & Flexout.
Thanks. Any last words on the Pack?
Well, we got back on the tunes the other day and we were dipping into it! Enough said!