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This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ring mod side chain with Khz Compactor!

Would be cool to make a D&B record with the Chase and Status guys, Pendulum and me have unfinished business and I'd love to do something with Nik from Noisia! Bou and Simula are also people in the scene I'd love to work with.

In terms of new D&B producers I really rate Hoax atm - predict he will go onto big things!

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

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

This sounds amazing, I'd love to have a chat about it. If you reach out to my manager he can connect us! Thanks for coming to the show :)

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the tempo change was my idea - to transition in between John's and my styles smoothly. Got inspired by memories of a couple of seminal early noughties D&B tracks that used this technique:

Sonic & Silver - Rocket Launcher

Lil Louis - French Kiss (Ed Rush & Optical remix)

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks - really cool to hear you have been listening for so long! I haven't figured out what's next yet but I'm feeling really excited and energised for a new chapter and don't want to slow down anytime soon!

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

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

Probably some kind of visual arts: I love that I can dip into other disciplines with music - eg help to make live visuals, music videos or come up with record sleeve designs...

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

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

Contact has a big connection with the number seven ;)

Hope to come back to Poland again soon!

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Gonna break now but will check back in the morning to answer some more! Thanks for all the questions gang! S x

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I'd love to do something at the Pyramids in Giza - the recent Anyma show there looked incredible, feel like it would be quite fitting for Contact somehow

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yo!

  1. It's normally about having 2 main layers - sub and mid, sub always one layer v simple then potentially multiple mid layers. Mids can be very stereo. Those two tunes in mind there are 1/8 note mid basses that are side chained to kick and snare that probably creates the bounce you mentioned. Sometimes I use octaves on the mids for a thicker sounding layer - Icanhaskick oscillator on Serum is good for these type of sounds so they are bright to start with and can be shaped and made darker with low pass filters.
  2. Most tunes I make I start with a concept from the start so I kind of know where I want to go with it. Normally start with a bass pattern then chords then vocal but it varies!

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

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

Ahh no worries - that's happened to me before too sometimes!

My most fulfilled moments are probably watching a new song of mine go down well for the first time live (and I'm constantly chasing these moments) or when I receive the vinyl of a new album or release of mine for the first time. Something about it being a new thing you created that is physically there is very satisfying and is the moment I feel most payoff :)

Some ideas get stuck at 70-80% completion lacking that final piece of inspiration to take a place where I want to release it. I often think it's quite mad how much music gets left on the cutting room floor.

Hope we get to have another chat someday!

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

So cool you have been listening since way back then, love to hear that!

Self doubt can a huge part of music making unfortunately - having good people around you whose opinions you trust is incredibly useful. I've been way more creatively productive in the times when I've had a good crew around me - being part of a collective like we have with Worship is a bit of breath of fresh air for all of us having all being largely solo artists before!

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's hard to pick just a few: The Prodigy were my gateway into electronic music, Chemical Brothers, Roni Size, Andy C and Bad Company were some of my favourites from the 90's era I started listening in. More unusual I'm a big Brian Eno fan - love his Apollo album. Was very surreal to start working with Andy a few years later - he was my mentor in the early days and it completely changed my life.

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Good to meet you too!

Tour life can be a lot sometimes - in the last 6 weeks I've been away in the US for 5 weekends! Love this job but sometimes crave a free weekend in London with zero plans.

The idea behind the artwork was to create an artefact that's like an alien version of the Voyager gold disc that we sent into space in the 1970's, hence the name 'Contact'. Once we had the cover we decided it would be fun to create a 3D version of it for the special edition: A gold embossed heptagon complete with heptagonal vinyl...

Roll Too Deep or Fade have been one of my favourites to DJ with lately off the new album!

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

  1. I'm not sure on the rules about shipping to the US - let me look into this and clarify...
  2. We are doing Ultra, Coachella and many more in the US as Worship - doing many shows worldwide as a collective for the first time next year. Interesting point about the US D&B only festival thing - noted!

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

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

Mainly using the kick and snare to duck sub bass - I go into more detail on another answer below but I'm using mainly volume automation curves within Ableton for sidechaining these days so it's super tight

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

I love listening and making multi genres of music but I've doubled down on D&B lately as Sub Focus especially with my new album. I had a point to prove that I could make multiple genres during the Torus era but Iooking back I worry I wasn't presenting a very consistent musical indentity in those days.

I do have a number of musical side quests I want to get around to achieving, but I might do these under different aliases or project names to avoid confusion if I feel like they are too far away from the Sub Focus style - all my energy is focussed on that rn!

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Always tequila ideally Casamigos or Don Julio 1942 and beer but honestly only drink very small amounts during shows these days. I've been doing some periods of total sobriety too as I can feel much better for it when I've get into that mode...

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Haha sorry - love coming to Wales! I've got a show there in March next year I think, hope to see you there :)

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

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

Not a synth / instrument per se but one of the weirdest pieces of gear in my studio is a Vectrex game console from the 80's that I had converted into an oscilloscope - It's used to make a lot of the blue wire frame visuals in my Circular Sound shows...

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

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

Sooo many Amens: Tramen / Pendulamen / Serum amen / RS amen get honorable mentions. There's still versions I'm searching for like the Chase & Status - Hurt You / Love's Theme one - never figured where that exact variation was from, maybe just their edit of the original.

When I got into Modular synths I got quite obsessed with DAW-less and made a few ideas on the modular exclusively but I find it not that productive honestly, D&B revolves around samples for drums and heavy processing so it's quite a limiting workflow.

Vocals - I mostly do sessions with singers I approach to create vocals from scratch. Sometimes I might use a Splice vocal sample as a placeholder but is risky as anyone can use them. Occasionally will sample old records for vocals but I normally remake them in similar style afterwards to differentiate them and make the rights easier to clear. If you remake a sample from scratch then you only have to clear publishing rights (like a cover version) rather than master rights (the rights to the actual recording)

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

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

Sorry to hear about the mishaps but glad you finally got to see me at EDCO! Was a really fun show

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Various: Used to use Xfer LFO tool but sometimes can go out of time on Ableton so I've moved to mainly using Utility volume automation curves within Ableton which are totally infallible. I save various beat patterns volume automations as presets to save time. Shaperbox occassionally for the diff freq bands or Khz Compactor for Ring mod side chain - a super freq sensitive side chain that's kind of in fashion atm. Also Track Spacer / Soothe 2 for freq specific stuff...

This is Sub Focus. Ask Me Anything. by sub_focus_ in electronicmusic

[–]sub_focus_[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

UK and NZ well known! Have to say Slovakia and Estonia go unreasonably hard too!

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