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10 questions with Way Out West
Jody Wisternoff takes to the S2S hotseat and talks candidly about monitoring and mastering, soft synths and hard work.
At Sounds/To/Sample we're constantly striving to bring you the biggest and best and this week's guest producer is no exception. Selling more than 100,000 albums with his band Way Out West would be enough for most people but Jody Wisternoff has gone much further - with countless remixes and production duties for the likes of James Holden, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Orb and Roni Size. 2004/2005 saw a world tour sharing billing with Faithless and festival slots for Radio 1 at Glastonbury, Creamfields UK and Prague and in Argentina. Over to you Jody...
Who's currently rocking your world as a producer?
I've always been in awe of the Chemical Brothers. They really know how to make a synth sing and they have a ridiculous collection of analogue beauties at their disposal. In the current climate of laptop music I love hearing dance music that's made in studios full of outboard with a proper mixing desk. On the same note, Simian Mobile Disco are bang on the money. They make a very electronic, synthetic but also extremely organic form of club music that I really appreciate. There's also a few German producers I respect. Robert Babicz, for example, has an incredible grasp of sound and is also a professional mastering engineer on the side.
When building a track how do you normally work? Do you start with the beat and build your way up from that?
I normally start with a riff or bassline. When I used to make breakbeat music I would start with a selection of beats and loops, but these days I find it more inspiring to begin with a musical element - either a sample, a vocal or a really catchy riff. I then put the drums in afterwards and build the groove from there. If you've got a great hook the track usually flows a lot better. Another thing I like doing is looping up a kick drum at the start of the track to be used as a sidechain trigger; then I build the track with the sidechained backbone.
Do you use mainly analogue or digital soft synth sources? Do you think analogue really makes a difference?
I am really into analogue synths and I've become more so over the last few years. I just seem to get more usable and inspiring results from old analogue synths, as opposed to vst plug-ins. I think a major reason is that I like to alter my sounds as I play riffs and to do this with a vst requires a lot of mouse movement and automation which can kill inspiration. There's just something special about genuine synths - they all seem to have individual characters and personalites of their own. And it's not just vintage analogue stuff I love, but also digital classics like the DX7. However, everything has its place, and I'm a huge fan of programs like Reaktor and Massive when it comes to complex rhythmic stuff, soundscapes and effects. Having said all this, sometimes vsts are just easier; they never give you tuning issues, you can write on the road, total recall is standard, and most listeners probably can't hear the difference anyway.
Any arrangement secrets you want to share?
I think it pays to start arranging a track sooner rather than later. If you start building a general structure quite early on then you can work out how many different ideas you need in a track, as opposed to working over an eight bar loop and just adding and adding. Simplicity is often the key, and even though it's hard to keep a track interesting over seven minutes with only a few essential elements when you achieve it, it can be a beautiful thing. Complexity can often be a substitute for a lack of really good ideas. I also think that you either need to be a DJ, or spend a lot of time clubbing, to really understand how dance tracks should be structured.
How do you make your beats? Do you use samples or do you make them from scratch?
A bit of both really. It depends on the vibe of the track, but I usually run a few loops behind programmed beats. They really help fill out the groove and magical things can happen when you start layering. You do have to be careful that things don't clash though, and I do a lot of subtractive eqing to help the different elements sit in the mix. For example, you don't usually want more than one main kick drum or things can get messy. It's a lot harder getting a groove going when programmed from single hits, but if you can do it it's great because you have control over all the individual elements.
How important do you think it is to have your music mastered commercially? Can you do it yourself as effectively and what tools would you recommend?
Commercial mastering is an extremely important process and is not something I would ever attempt using plugins. You need a proper mastering rig, which consists of a selection of dedicated compressors and eqs, all of which shape the sound in their own specific way. You also need years of experience to call yourself a mastering engineer. It's a specialist job in itself, and is often underestimated. On demos it's fine to throw a limiter plugin on the master, but for a commercial release mastering is a job best left to the pros.
Any advice on monitoring? Quiet? Loud? Do you prefer flat and boring speakers, headphones or big, phat and chunky monitors?
I monitor reasonably quietly with NS10s. When it comes to checking the low end I switch to a set of Genelecs briefly, but I really feel that I understand the NS10s, no matter how crap they sound. The most important thing is knowing your speakers, and this only comes with experience. Even if your room isn't perfect, if you listen to loads of music then you will know how things should sound and you will start mixing your own tracks to get this sound. As for monitoring loud: it's usually a substitute for good ideas, and tinnitus is no fun.
Which sounds do you find are the hardest to create from scratch?
Really interesting electronic sounds that have never been heard before are the hardest to create; sounds that are unusual, but also harmonically pleasing and give a good feeling. It's one thing using presets, but when you come up with amazing noises from the ground-up it's really satisfying.
What's your opinion on processing the mix buss? leave it clean or drive it to the extreme?
If you have a lot of stuff strapped to the mix buss, you are giving the mastering engineer less room to manouevre. That said, some compression can definitely help glue the mix together, and a bit of eq is sometimes needed. When I mix, I tend to set up three main busses for drums, bass and music. It's on these busses - rather than the main outputs - that I apply compression and sidechaining. Usually if I find myself wanting to eq the master buss, it's a sign that I need to work on the mix a bit more. At the end of the day though, just trust your ears. Dance music has always been about breaking the rules, and some of the most exciting sounds have been made by accident. If it sounds good but is technically wrong, f**k it and run with it!
What is the secret to your success as a producer?
I think the most important thing is remaining consistant, and also keeping your profile strong with a continuous flow of output. The industry is more competitive than ever right now, and you really cannot rest on your laurels: you have to be driven to create music as if your life depends on it. Making music is not a shortcut to an easy life, but more like an addiction that needs to be fed, and in order to be succesful you need to give it 110 per cent, have a bit of talent, and a whole lot of luck.
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More from Jody at: www.myspace.com/officialwayoutwest
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