I went to Beatport Connect in LA a couple of weeks ago. there were panels with artists, producers and people from different sides of the electronic music industry. and one thing kept coming up. stop chasing what everyone else is doing. funny enough, I regularly preach exactly this to a lot of the artists I work with. because it’s incredibly easy to do. you hear a record blowing up. a particular sound starts appearing everywhere. and naturally, you think: maybe I should be making more of that....
15 days ago • 1 min read
the first producer room officially wrapped this weekend. for the last two weeks, I’ve been working closely with five artists and producers on their music. different genres. different styles. different stages of their careers. and honestly, I think I learned almost as much from the experience as they did. but one thing kept coming up in different ways. we probably need to trust ourselves a little more. and I don’t think that’s just a music problem. the longer you spend creating anything, the...
30 days ago • 1 min read
I turned 37 last week. which doesn't sound right. I'm pretty sure I'm still about 28. my dad always used to tell me that the older you get, the faster time goes. I assumed that was just something old people said. annoyingly, he was right. birthdays have a funny way of making you take stock. not necessarily of what you've achieved, but of what you're starting to understand. and I definitely don't have everything figured out. my to-do list, for example, has somehow continued to get longer...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
there comes a point where your song stops belonging to you. I'm three songs into releasing music from my album. and while I've learned plenty about ads, playlists, release strategy and what works, the biggest lesson hasn't really been about any of that. it's been about letting go. when you make something, it's near impossible not to attach expectations to it. this song should do well. this playlist should accept it. people should care. and if you've spent weeks or months making something,...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
two years ago, I started a song that I couldn’t finish. it came from a writing session with a good friend of mine in London. I’d put together a quick instrumental idea beforehand, played it to him, and we spent a couple of hours writing a hook and a verse. and that was pretty much it. I went back home to Toronto knowing there was something special there. every few months I’d open the project again. change the arrangement. try some new sounds. add something. take something away. then...
2 months ago • 1 min read
my process when I start a song usually looks something like this. I'll spend some time throwing ideas around. most won't go anywhere. but eventually, one does. there's that moment where something clicks and I think, fuck yeah. this is special. so I start building it out. then I go deep. hours spent improving the production. layering sounds. changing instruments. working on the arrangement. adding things. taking things away. listening over and over again. I usually bounce the track and take it...
3 months ago • 1 min read
last week, I wrote about the part YouTube can't teach you. the judgement behind the technique. the ability to recognise what a song actually needs, make a decision, and trust it. today, I can finally share what I've been building around that idea. the producer room. a live, collaborative two week intensive where we'll work directly on your music, together, in real time. inside the room: four live working sessions. two optional Q&As. a private WhatsApp group for questions, accountability,...
3 months ago • 1 min read
when I first started making music, I thought getting better meant learning more. another tutorial. another plugin. another songwriting technique. another mixing trick. and to be fair, all of those things helped. they taught me how to create. but over the last few years, I've realised the biggest breakthroughs in my career didn't come from learning new techniques. they came from learning how to think differently about the techniques I already knew. this really hit me over the last couple of...
3 months ago • 1 min read
lately i've been thinking a lot about creativity. not creativity itself. but the way we talk about it. i think we've romanticised the idea that great work arrives out of nowhere. one perfect idea. one magical afternoon. one moment where inspiration suddenly strikes. and then somehow... you create something incredible. if i'm honest, i used to think like that too. i'd wait until i felt creative. until i felt motivated. until it felt like the right day to write. but over the years, i've...
4 months ago • 1 min read