A classically trained pianist, lover of analogue kit, international DJ and live artist, club night curator and of course an acclaimed producer with releases on red hot labels such as Hello? Repeat, Spectral and Ghostly – the multi-faceted Kate Simko takes to the S2S hot seat.
What is the prognosis for the music industry: terminal decline or steady recovery?
Steady recovery. The world needs music, so the industry will just have to work itself out.
How do you see the music industry changing in the next 3-5 years?
Now that Technics 1200s are to be discontinued I think more and more clubs will phase out turntables, so we’ll see more DJs playing digital media with CDs or internal mixing software. Sadly, this will mean even less vinyl will be sold. I hope the music industry finds a way to release artwork with the digital releases and perhaps there will an increase audio-visual DVD projects too.
Does the industry these days dictate that artists need to be both creative artists and businessmen in equal measure?
Being a musician is definitely a balance of creativity and business ‘admin’ stuff. It seems like the most common way to make a decent living from music these days is by playing gigs. Having a good booking agent who is business savvy and looking after your interest can help a lot as it allows you to focus on the more creative aspects.
As an international touring artist who can regularly find themselves on different continents in the same week, how do you strike a balance between your touring schedule and time in the studio?
I plan studio time into my schedule. When I’m in Chicago, I work on music in the studio during the week then I’ll fly out for gigs at the weekend. When I head to another continent I usually stay for a couple weeks at least, which allows me to take a break from making music. Sometimes I’ll work on a remix or the basic start to a song while I’m travelling but things sound too different in headphones for me to finish a song away from the studio. In the past I have traveled with the intention of writing music. I traveled to Buenos Aires for about 6 weeks in 2009 and 2010 and I composed most of my album on that trip. It was nice to take a step back and make music in a chilled environment.
Who’s currently rocking your world as a producer and why?
Tevo Howard. He’s really in tune with sound quality and oblivious to over-celebrated hype music. We both live in Chicago and he always seems to have a new synth, EQ box or mixer, constantly striving for a warmer, richer sound. Tevo and I have been making music together over the past year and have our first EP set to come out on his label (Tevo Howard Recordings) later this year. Also, Tevo remixed Mind On You from my album and I love it.
What one piece of kit or plug-in can you not live without?
Logic Audio’s Channel EQ. I use this EQ on pretty much each individual channel. I take a look at the frequency analyzer and adjust the channel’s EQ so that the frequency that’s telling the story is the one that’s accentuated. To me, this is what electronic music is all about – working with the different frequencies to make a well-balanced sound collage.
When building a track how do you normally work? Do you start with the drums and build from that?
I usually make a basic sixteen bar drum loop, then add a bassline and other melodic elements. After that I’ll go back and start adding more drum layers. Once there are enough rhythms, textures, and harmonic elements I start arranging the song.
Got any arrangement secrets?
One arrangement secret is to make longer drum loops. Programming a 16-bar loop with subtle changes sounds better than a shorter loop on repeat.
Any advice on monitoring? Quiet? Loud? Do you prefer flat and boring speakers, headphones or big, phat and chunky monitors? Do you reference on multiple systems?
I prefer to work on good monitors at a pretty quiet level. For me, If you play things too loudly everything sounds better than it really does. Also, keeping the monitors low means that my ears don’t get tired as quickly.
When I get to the mixing stage of a song I cross reference the mix on headphones, my car CD player, and my DJ set-up monitors. This sounds like a lot, but it’s much better than having the mastering engineer try to fix the finished mixdown later in the process.
Do you get your tracks professionally mastered or do it yourself?
All of my tracks are mastered professionally, but it’s best to prep the tracks with a well EQed mix.
What are the biggest barriers new producers face?
Hmm I’m not sure, but my best advice is take your time and believe in yourself. Take time to cultivate your own unique sound, then things will start falling into place.
What are your three favourite pieces of hardware or software and why?
Logic Audio – this is my chosen sequencing program. It has better MIDI capacity than Pro Tools and sounds better than Ableton.
Roland Juno 106 – I love the lush synth sounds you can get out of it! You’ll hear them on my album, Lights Out . It’s analogue but with MIDI, so you have the best of both worlds.
Dave Smith Polyevolver – Very practical synth with great eerie sounds. I like the fact your can save the sounds as well.
If you could give one piece of advice to yourself when you started out in music, what would it be?
Be confident. I used to be shy and it held things back for a long time!
What do you find hardest to get right when making a track?
Finishing a song is the toughest part – taking a track from from 95 to 100% completion. This is the most tedious part of making a track and the least fun, at least for me.
When you start a writing a new song it’s pure creativity and improvisation and next comes the arrangement phase, which also a bit of creative vision to it. But the last part of the process, where you’re adding subtleties like panning and small textures which make the track more organic and warm, it where it gets harder. I guess the trick is to know when the song is finished. There comes a point when you wonder if anyone will ever notice what you are working on! But it definitely feels great when it reaches 100% and it feels even better when you hear the song played at a club or see it in a record store. That’s what makes it all worth it 
