> interviews / Master Producers

Over 300 issues we’ve spoken to a huge number of producers for our insightful Producer Masterclass series, where artists open up and give us hands-on advice on specific tracks they have worked on. Over the next eight pages we’ve selected some of the biggest names and, more importantly, the best advice from 300 issues of these masterclasses. Read on to discover everything: from micro beat management to processing every kind of vocal, from bass-end brilliance to shaping the perfect kick…

Mason

Get micro with your timing cm266

〉Dutch producer and DJ Mason, aka Iason Chronis, has enjoyed success and acclaim in both the pop and house scenes, bolstered by an immense list of remixes and several albums. His advice is to get right inside your mix, right down to the micro-detail…

“In house music, drums are so essential, so if you’re not 100% sure your groove’s right, it really works to solo your drums and only listen to them for a while, and keep it on loop until the groove is perfect,” he affirms. “And really pay attention to microtiming, putting the hi-hat a little bit to the right or left – you’re really talking about microseconds.

“I’m spending a lot of time on that. Even if you do that for one hour and make sure that every one of the drum sounds is exactly timed where it should be in the groove, it’ll make the whole thing so much more danceable.”

MJ Cole

How to process every vocal cm250

In the late 90s, Matthew Coleman, aka MJ Cole, helped bring the sound of twostep UK garage into the mainstream consciousness with the luscious Sincere. Since then, he’s worked with and remixed a veritable who’s-who of artists, including Mary J Blige, Mariah Carey, Amy Winehouse, Dua Lipa and Wiley. So if anyone knows about vocal processing, it’s MJ and he revealed some of his tricks while talking us through the track Pictures In My Head.

On lead vocals: “I like using two compressors on vocals. I add air with FabFilter Pro-Q 2, and a small amount of Soundtoys PhaseMistress after.”

On backing vocals: “They’re run through a UAD Fairchild 600, with separate compressors on each; I don’t like BVs all hitting a compressor at once – it gets lumpy. It’s nice to roll the low end off, so you don’t have any unnecessary stuff at the bottom. Then I feed one to its own compressor so it’s moving nicely with that specific vocal, then feed all of them into a bus. Then compress that to keep them whole.”

On choruses: “There are four breathy vocal tracks, which are actually bounces. Basically I’ve recorded loads of vocals, tuned them all and aligned them using Flex Time so they all punch together. I wanted them to all hit at once. The main vocal is four vocals again, panned differently, so it’s quite full.”

On weird vocals! “Antares Harmony Engine Evo has been great for me. I used this on a remix for Dua Lipa, and it’s the preset from that. The effect is actually triggered via MIDI and I’ve muted the passthrough of the original audio, so we’ve got a four-part harmony to play in MIDI. You can adjust the spread, and change the register.”

SOLARDO

How to make (literally) classic beats cm289

Solardo’s Mark Foster is making waves with a cutting-edge blend of bass house but is looking back to his musical roots for his beats…

“We looked at how Manchester used to be a haven for acid house so I said ‘why don’t we make our beats sound old and crispy, acidy, so that we’re taking them from the roots of where we are?’. We started sampling old rave records, getting some shit-sounding old samples to sound good!