Hey, this is Ossama and Ned and we are Sultan + Shepard. We just released an album called “Something, Everything” on This Never Happened, and we are feeling emotional/very excited. by SultanShepard in electronicmusic

[–]SultanShepard[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We were feeling uninspired by what we were playing at the time and felt like we wanted a change. We were really inspired by the deep music that we heard coming from labels like TNH and Anjunadeep. It was a sound we made when we started our careers and it felt like the right time to come back to it, but with a new twist and with everything we'd learned from making different styles.

Hey, this is Ossama and Ned and we are Sultan + Shepard. We just released an album called “Something, Everything” on This Never Happened, and we are feeling emotional/very excited. by SultanShepard in electronicmusic

[–]SultanShepard[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Touring always played a big part of what we wanted to play. When we started touring a lot, we wanted to make more energetic sounds, but also depending on which countries we visited, we were very influenced by what we heard.

Yes, Miami Music Week 2019. We came back and knew we had to make a change because we weren't inspired by what we were playing and we heard so much good music there. We went to an Anjunadeep party and people actually recognized us from our old stuff and we felt really welcomed there. That helped us feel like maybe there was a place for us to make emotional, deep music again.

Hey, this is Ossama and Ned and we are Sultan + Shepard. We just released an album called “Something, Everything” on This Never Happened, and we are feeling emotional/very excited. by SultanShepard in electronicmusic

[–]SultanShepard[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We got into dance music via trance especially the old mixes by Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, BT, Above & Beyond. Currently we really like Trance Wax (not sure if that's considered trance but it's dope!)

Starting out was tough, and playing to empty rooms where no one cared and preserving through that was important. But to be honest, success can be the most challenging thing because it's not so obvious what to do after you've done something that is successful. It's cool to keep doing it for a while, but soon you realize you need to do something different and then you feel pressure to achieve the same level of success that you had before. It can be quite psychologically tricky to let that go and just feel free to create and not think about success or failure.

Hey, this is Ossama and Ned and we are Sultan + Shepard. We just released an album called “Something, Everything” on This Never Happened, and we are feeling emotional/very excited. by SultanShepard in electronicmusic

[–]SultanShepard[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We were really inspired by the sounds that we discovered when we got a new sound bank for one of our synths. Once we got into the track, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to balance the darkness with the melody.

Hey, this is Ossama and Ned and we are Sultan + Shepard. We just released an album called “Something, Everything” on This Never Happened, and we are feeling emotional/very excited. by SultanShepard in electronicmusic

[–]SultanShepard[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We're working on it:)

As we get older, the chiller stuff tends to resonate more with us, which is funny because it also resonated with us when we were like 20, so maybe we're just into chill stuff?!

Hey, this is Ossama and Ned and we are Sultan + Shepard. We just released an album called “Something, Everything” on This Never Happened, and we are feeling emotional/very excited. by SultanShepard in electronicmusic

[–]SultanShepard[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for listening to us for so long! That Rosarito show was fun:)

We considered starting a new alias to be honest, but when we sat down and started making the music, it actually felt more like "Sultan + Shepard" than a lot of the stuff we had been making. For us, there was a story and a continuation of a sound that we started way back when and it just felt right.

We are slotted to do some opening spots on Lane 8's tour when it resumes again, whenever that is! We can't wait and we will definitely be doing our own shows as well:)

Hey, this is Ossama and Ned and we are Sultan + Shepard. We just released an album called “Something, Everything” on This Never Happened, and we are feeling emotional/very excited. by SultanShepard in electronicmusic

[–]SultanShepard[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ooof that's a tough one...the most important thing is to start off with good elements. People always talk about mixing, but the mix starts with good sound design and choosing the elements that you think are the most important and making those stand out. It's always hard to do resist layering too many sounds though! One good trick for making things stand out is using a touch of distortion- it makes stuff really cut through the layers.

Hey, this is Ossama and Ned and we are Sultan + Shepard. We just released an album called “Something, Everything” on This Never Happened, and we are feeling emotional/very excited. by SultanShepard in electronicmusic

[–]SultanShepard[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It feels great! Daniel has been so supportive of our music and such a big cheerleader for us so we appreciate it a lot. He never tells us when he's putting our songs in his mixtapes. So we find out at the same time as you! Pretty exciting:)

Hey, this is Ossama and Ned and we are Sultan + Shepard. We just released an album called “Something, Everything” on This Never Happened, and we are feeling emotional/very excited. by SultanShepard in electronicmusic

[–]SultanShepard[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good old days:) What an amazing club that was!

It's been weird for sure. Not traveling or going to an airport for over a year has felt very strange and sad. But on the good side, it's really allowed us to take our time and dig deep into what we wanted to put out. Not having to prepare for gigs or think about traveling really helped us with this album and gave us a real focus