Interview: Blame
This man has witnessed the last 20 years in the drum&bass scene first-hand, and is by no means a spent force yet, as MTM finds out... Photography by Zen Inoya
Blame is celebrating 20 years in music production this year. As one of the biggest names in the evolving drum&bass scene in 1990, he produced classics such as Music Takes You on the highly respected Moving Shadow label. He then went on to produce several mix albums on Good Looking Records and DJ’ed across the globe supporting them. Since then he has produced major hits like Solar Burn and Because Of You, which Radio 1 adopted last year, with Zane Lowe describing it as his ‘Hottest Record In The World’. He is also one of the UK’s most respected remixers and has applied his skills to tracks by Alesha Dixon, Steve Angello & Laidback Luke, plus the number 1 hit When Love Takes Over by David Guetta and Kelly Rowland.
Blame’s new album, The Music, is out now and features some of the hottest vocal talents around, including the chart-topping Tinchy Stryder, Dynamite MC and the legendary Jocelyn Brown, among many others. It was recorded in Miloco studios in London plus Blame’s home studio – based around an SSL X-Desk, so he certainly had access to some of the best gear and facilities during its recording. It’s a far cry from his early days, when he freely admits to falling into music production almost by accident…
“I grew up listening to electro and hip hop,” he recalls, “and wondered what all the individual elements were that made up the tracks. When I was 17 it all clicked when a friend of mine had college work experience at a local recording studio. I got a job and all my week’s wages went into booking the studio. It was during my first session that I wrote Music Takes You in a few hours – everything just went crazy from there! I signed the track to Moving Shadow and luckily all the pieces of the puzzle came together. Looking back it was definitely beginner’s luck because the track reached number 1 in the national dance chart and made the top 40!”
After setting the drum&bass world alight Blame eventually set up his own label, 720 Degrees, and put out singles including Stay Forever and the aforementioned recent smash Because Of You. These led to the new album, which saw the producer working between two setups: his home studio (“an Apple Mac G5 running Logic Pro with a few Roland and Dave Smith synths that all run into my SSL X-Desk alongside the outputs of my computer”) and the world-renowned Miloco Studios. As you might expect from someone so intrinsically linked with the drum&bass genre, a typical production starts with the beats…
“Yeah I get a solid drum track built up,” Blame confirms. “I still like to hunt through my old sampled breakbeat collection and when I’ve found one that catches me I will reinforce the hits with more powerful-sounding kicks and snares, usually from Stylus or BFD.”
Tracks develop with chord progressions and synth parts by way of classic Junos and Prophets or from the soft synths available in Logic.
“It’s all about jamming, having fun with music and waiting for that sound/riff to pop out that gives you goose bumps. It has to excite me otherwise how can I expect it to excite anyone else? Also, it’s very important to have an idea before I go into the studio – it gives me a goal to aim for so I’m not just endlessly loading up plug-in sounds until an idea jumps out.”
Going ’Loco
As his tracks progress, Blame gets to the point where he wants to add vocals and “ideas start coming to mind and I approach the singer that I have in mind for the track with my ideas”. Blame makes it sound easy – and when you have vocalists such as Jocelyn Brown in your address book it certainly helps! But when you are working with such big vocalists it is best to get the sound spot on, so this is where Miloco comes in…
“I like to hire a big commercial studio to record the vocals,” says Blame. “That way I can listen to what’s being recorded and make suggestions. You also get the chance to test different microphone and preamp combinations because well-equipped studios usually excel in that department.
“Luckily, all the artists on the album have been really cool and are happy to try different ideas and experiment. I haven’t worked with any divas yet! It’s a very different vibe working one day with, say, Tinchy Stryder and the next with Jocelyn Brown, but the goal of making a killer record is always the same. I like to listen through the track while the artist sings along for a couple of runs and then we can decide which parts to tackle first. The key is to try to nail the easy parts early while warming up for that killer hook section a bit later in the day, because that’s when the magic is needed!”
Production tips
After the recording, Blame details the processing that then takes place: “Once the vocals are laid down I start comp’ing the best takes. Vocals always need a bit of EQ cutting in the lower frequencies to clean up the sound. I always roll off EQ below 60Hz because that’s usually only mic pop noises or low rumble. I then check the vocals with a spectrum analyser to see where other problem peaks are and cut accordingly.
“Vocals usually need to be compressed,” he adds. “ Also, a lot of the time the sibilant parts need to be de-essed, so I use a Waves de-esser or C4 multi-band compressor focusing on the ‘ess’ frequency. I like to add stereo delay to my vocals to add some width. A touch of reverb is always nice, but I don’t use a lot if I’m going for an up-front vocal sound.”
Blame details a few more of his production methods for the rest of a typical track, starting with the drums: “The trick is to spend time up-front. Layering four kicks to get a good sound is OK, but you will get a much cleaner, snappier result if you spent the time to find an amazing kick and snare right from the start. The key is to do as little processing as possible.
“Drums generally need some punch and power added in the kick frequency (around 120Hz) and snare (200Hz), as well as a bit of sparkle and sizzle added to the top end. I then send my drums out to a group buss and apply some compression to unify and glue the sound.
“It’s the same with bass,” he continues. “Getting a nice sub bass is very important, so a lot of the time I will combine two basses. I will get a nice, fat and clean sub bass and play that alongside a more present ‘saw’ or ‘buzzy’ midranged bass. I will cut all the low frequencies on this so I’m not clashing with the sub. When you get the balance right you end up with a nice, fat bass line with a really crunchy top end.
“The bass usually needs a nice boost around the 60Hz mark to warm and thicken it,” he adds. “Also, if it’s more of a raspy-toned bass it’s nice to boost around 3–6kHz to add some bite and crunch.”
Finally, it’s the lead and pad sounds: “There is usually a balancing act between your bass and vocals, so I may roll off any low frequencies that would clash with the bass and be careful not to boost frequencies that are mainly occupied by the vocals. You can get away with some nice delays and reverbs here to add character to your track. Again, I use the spectrum analyser to find problematic peaks, EQ them out and add some compression to fit them in the mix.”
Down in the mix
“The mixdown is the last creative phase,” Blame says, continuing his production journey. “The goal is to make your track sound the best it can – not to make the individual elements just sound great in solo mode.”
At the mix stage Blame selects his favourite plug-ins for a run-through completely in-the-box and then returns to the studio for an A/B comparison. He explains: “I use my Waves bundle and the Sonnox bundle on my PowerCore. I have switched to FabFilter’s Pro-Q EQ because the spectrum analyser is detailed and the sound seems smoother and richer. I then run the stems out through my SSL X-Desk and back into the computer because I can capture extra separation and a bit of SSL magic.
“We take all the files back to the commercial studio with a big SSL or Neve desk to run the mix through some amazing outboard gear, but it’s important to have your home mix to hand as reference and make sure you’re not losing anything or getting too carried away with all the endless possibilities.”
Mastering the process
Finally comes the mastering stage. And while Blame usually has his tracks mastered externally there is still a certain amount of processing he does himself: “I may add a bit of light limiting with either iZotope Ozone or Slate FG-X, which both sound nice and transparent,” he says. “This evens out a few peaks and brings the level of the track up into the zone of mastered releases. I may eventually send the unlimited mix off to mastering for the experts to remaster, but it’s always good to have a semi-mastered mix to send to your singers, managers and record labels to get a bit of feedback.”
So what does he think about the ever-increasing volumes of mastered works? “Unfortunately, if you want to make a living out of making music, your tracks have to be able to stand up to other tracks in stores and on the radio. I think you can get into the loud ballpark without having to smash your tracks through limiters. It just takes careful sound selection and use of compression. Funnily enough, it has been my quieter tracks that have been my most popular, which shows me that if people like the track they will support it regardless of crazy loudness.”
This feature first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 92
Filed under
Home,
Interviews,
Features
Sign in to download this article
New users, please register here
See also...
 MTM 108 |
Brainworx Vertigo VSC-2 Review |
 MTM 108 |
Yamaha 01V96i Review |
|
 MTM 107 |
25 Tips for Mix Processing |
MTM 107 |
Control for Live Performance |
|
 |
Music Tech Focus - Ableton Live 2012 |
 |
Music Tech Focus - Synthesis 2012 |
|
MTM 106 |
25 Pro Tips for Kick-starting Composition |
MTM 106 |
Contemporary Mastering |
