of sound , or is it the other way around ? What inspires you when you start a production ?
[ Aaron ] I usually start with the world that we ' re going to be in sonically . Sometimes I start with a single sound and tweak it until it ' s right , and other times I ' m flying through presets . A pad might make me decide , “ Ok this song is going to sound round ,” or “ tense ” or something , and then I ' ll make decisions based off that . A pad could feel like outer space , or a piano reverb could feel wooden , and at that point I would introduce something to help pull on that idea more and start growing the soundscape . I don ' t ever start by saying “ this needs to feel like we ' re in a forest ,” but every time I hear something I kind of see something . I don ' t see colors or anything like that , but the tone of the song paints a picture in my head . A lot of times , when writing or starting a vibe , I ' ll hit a chord and let the reverb go on forever and just sit there in the sound and feel the vocal over it . Or I will just hold a pad , and sing the song , not playing a progression but just kind of sitting in it and feeling what the song is trying to say , and what type of sound it wants to have .
I also try to avoid filling up on things like piano , bass , live drums or guitar when starting to create a song . I will usually leave that stuff for last , otherwise I won ' t take the time to really chase the details . If I put the band stuff first , it will feel big already and I will give up too easy . I tend to ( give up easy ), so I dig in hard with the intricate stuff on the front end . Even with tracking guitars , I will use the same approach and mute a lot of the music and then be like , “ Ok , what if we hit the guitar with a quarter and put reverb on it right here in this part ?”
Sometimes I approach things like a guitar player when building sounds , and even when playing live . A guitar player literally has one sound they start with - the guitar . Then everything else after that is making it what they want it to be . With programming , synths and keyboard , I also approach it like that . We truly have endless options to start with , and you can take any of that to build off of , manipulate , shape and make your own . There are even sounds like on “ Rattle ” that people probably think are guitars ... but it ’ s actually a keys patch run through some bit-crushing and filter-gates . Side note , that patch is available ! Been using that sound for a long time
[ WM ] What ' s the heart behind your recent Juno bundles ? Your latest patch bundles at Multitracks . com are more than just accurately sampled cool gear ; it ' s your musical history and inspiration in there .
[ Aaron ] My “ Elevate ” bundles are the sounds I ' ve used live over the years , and my Juno bundles are a new expression of one of my favorite keyboards . I love having the Juno . I ' ve