Akuratyde Producer Q & A

IV4

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Sep 13, 2010
Hi Everybody,
Just wanted to let everyone know that Akuratyde is doing Q & A with detailed answers. Please check out his latest Album you can purchase here.

https://www.blumarten.com/product/akuratyde-past-lives-lp/


Hi Buddy,
Do you think you would be willing to do a DNB Forum tutorial or Q and A session. Your music is amazing, and it would be nice if you shared some tricks and tips. I know the producers of the forum would be very grateful. If you are to busy we get it.
Ivan
 
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Hi @Akuratyde. Congrats on the album release. How long was it in the making?

The albums great and I think lost summer is my favourite.

I have a million and one production questions but my minds gone blank so I will be back with those later :)
 
damn man, just threw the album up on spotify, beautiful vibes man, great work on here!
My first of many questions: what's your go-to reverb?
 
Hell yeah ivans, you kick ass bro damn it! Ivans the terrorist changes his whole 'terrible' thing about that part of his name, historically, what 'ivans' are mainly known for, is the epitaph 'the terrible' which actually means he did something super awesome that's chill and dope and rad and cool, only instead of getting named by the enemy, he had the rare misfortune of having his own people record the part of world history history that concerned him, and they were not quite as impressed with their ivans as the rest of the world was. The rest of the world feared ivanses strategic and military might, generally from shallow graves as their cities burned and their women were sold into slavery as they lamented in unison - or possibly the inverse, but ivans own people didn't think much of the work he was forced to focus on after his warfare was complete, he had no areas left to conquer, no enemies left to vanquish, be it foreign or domestic, so ivans had to turn his hand to tweaking calculations, out of the box budgeting, utopia for dummies city planning, lather upon lather of commercial trade union bylaws, and so on, so, it's just that, when you think about it, is it. He was so bad at the other things, terrible, in fact, and hence the name, and the standing epitaph, forever associated with each other, like quantum entanglement, really.
So 'ivans the terrible' but for reasons you never thought, well, you certainly did not already know about the reasons, for this, until this very moment, did you. Yes, such is the nature of knowledge and wisdom, tell me, can you feel me, deep inside, working to make you know more now. Welcome to you are now playing with power. Knowledge is power, and I grant this to you.





QQuestions for the man like @Akuratyde, but of course, I was just about to, just then, it's its it's uncanny how close it was.

WWhats a good path to go, for someone completely unfamiliar with your work, so as to get the most important sound and concepts you hold above the rest?

I'd like to ask you now so I can join the real ama and talk production techniques, creative vision, gear and arrangements
 
The albums great and I think lost summer is my favourite.

Thanks mate, I've been getting a lot of great responses to that one!

How long was it in the making?

It took exactly two years. I started it in Feb. 2016 and finished it in Feb. 2018. The rest of the time between then and now was spent getting the songs mixed and mastered, creating the artwork, and getting it pressed to vinyl.
 
damn man, just threw the album up on spotify, beautiful vibes man, great work on here!

Thanks man, I really appreciate that.

My first of many questions: what's your go-to reverb?

I'm giving away one of my secrets here, but it's Replika XT by Native Instruments. It's marketed as a delay plugin, but it has a diffusion reverb setting that is incredible. I use it on every song.
 
Whats a good path to go, for someone completely unfamiliar with your work, so as to get the most important sound and concepts you hold above the rest?

I only have a few releases, but for someone who's never heard my music I would say start with the Embrace EP and then listen to Past Lives.
 
@Akuratyde You have very beautiful melodies and atmospheric soundscapes that gives your music it's distinction. Do you prefer to use samples, synths, or combination of the two? Is there any general guidelines you follow to build these sounds? For example, do you build pads in a synth, apply some eq/fx, then come up with chord progression, bounce to audio, then resample, repeat?
 
You have very beautiful melodies and atmospheric soundscapes that gives your music it's distinction. Do you prefer to use samples, synths, or combination of the two? Is there any general guidelines you follow to build these sounds? For example, do you build pads in a synth, apply some eq/fx, then come up with chord progression, bounce to audio, then resample, repeat?

It's very much a combination of the two. I have no preference over synths or samples, I use what feels best for the song.

For example, do you build pads in a synth, apply some eq/fx, then come up with chord progression, bounce to audio, then resample, repeat?

I typically come up with the chord progression first, then I'll add the EQ and FX and render to audio. It's rare for me to make a synth patch specifically for a song. When I'm writing I like to be in the moment and the less things slowing me down the better. I spend a lot of time making my own patches, then when I'm writing I load up whichever one I think best suits the vibe I'm going for and tweak the settings to get the sound I want.

I do a lot of resampling as well. The pads in the intro of "Without You" are actually two different guitar parts with loads of reverb resampled, chopped, and layered. Then I layered in more pads from my Prophet 12 as the song progresses. The pads in the intro of "Wonder, Love & Loss" are actually a sample from the breakdown of "Without You". I timestretched them, added even more reverb, transposed them, and then played new chords with them. It's all about getting creative with your sampling techniques.

I'll share a method which I developed while I was writing "Embrace": play a note or chord with a really wet reverb that has a long release time. Render that to audio, then load it up in your sampler and chop off the beginning portion of the audio, leaving just the reverb tail. Set a really high attack, around 2000 ms, and a really long release, around 5000 ms. Now you have a pad which is completely unique to your song. I usually add some tape saturation and a filter too.
 
It's very much a combination of the two. I have no preference over synths or samples, I use what feels best for the song.



I typically come up with the chord progression first, then I'll add the EQ and FX and render to audio. It's rare for me to make a synth patch specifically for a song. When I'm writing I like to be in the moment and the less things slowing me down the better. I spend a lot of time making my own patches, then when I'm writing I load up whichever one I think best suits the vibe I'm going for and tweak the settings to get the sound I want.

I do a lot of resampling as well. The pads in the intro of "Without You" are actually two different guitar parts with loads of reverb resampled, chopped, and layered. Then I layered in more pads from my Prophet 12 as the song progresses. The pads in the intro of "Wonder, Love & Loss" are actually a sample from the breakdown of "Without You". I timestretched them, added even more reverb, transposed them, and then played new chords with them. It's all about getting creative with your sampling techniques.

I'll share a method which I developed while I was writing "Embrace": play a note or chord with a really wet reverb that has a long release time. Render that to audio, then load it up in your sampler and chop off the beginning portion of the audio, leaving just the reverb tail. Set a really high attack, around 2000 ms, and a really long release, around 5000 ms. Now you have a pad which is completely unique to your song. I usually add some tape saturation and a filter too.
Damn good tips. Thank you!
 
Thanks mate, I've been getting a lot of great responses to that one!



It took exactly two years. I started it in Feb. 2016 and finished it in Feb. 2018. The rest of the time between then and now was spent getting the songs mixed and mastered, creating the artwork, and getting it pressed to vinyl.

All that time and hard work paid off, it’s a quality album.
I spotted your Instagram post of you playing guitar for Without You and that you also have some synths. How often do you choose hardware over software?
Awesome studio by the way and thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.
 
I spotted your Instagram post of you playing guitar for Without You and that you also have some synths. How often do you choose hardware over software?

My music is about a 50/50 split of hardware and software. I like the tactile feel of hardwire synths, being able to move knobs and sliders by hand. I also like not always having to look at a screen all the time when writing music. I'll go with whatever gives me the right sound though. For example: the two synths which come in at 1:30 on "Lost Summer" are both Serum because I knew I wanted a really bright digital sound.

Awesome studio by the way and thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.

Anytime. Keep the questions coming!
 
Do you ever find it hard to mix, into a dj set, your own music?
 
Do you ever find it hard to mix, into a dj set, your own music?

Yeah, sometimes. The songs from 'Past Lives' are rather unconventional so those have been a bit more challenging to mix, but songs like "Time Left Behind", "Sway", or the remixes I've done are pretty easy to mix. I don't mind the challenge though, it just means I have to get more creative with my mixing.
 
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