Ian Ludvig is a Spanish DJ, producer, and composer who has previously released on Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels, Connected, and Moblack amongst others, collaborating with the likes of Dennis Cruz since his debut release in 2015. Now arriving on Bedouin’s Human By Default for the first time, Ludvig brings three emotive and cinematic house cuts to the label.
To celebrate the drop of his ‘Like A Drug’ EP on Human By Default, Ian Ludvig invites EG into the studio for 5 basic production tips:
Organize your resources well, such as libraries, plugins, or presets, this way you can find what you are looking for quickly and always focused on the personal style you want to convey to your listeners. In my case, all my sample packs are recognized by the Mix and Key website to have everything organized by tonality, I also usually record all my percussions, this will give a more organic touch to your productions.
2. Selection
Select well the sounds for your projects. The sounds you choose have to sound good together, without the need to insert any processing or put some kind of simple processing. This way, you will have less work in mixing, fewer worries, and also you will get better sounds. The idea is that from the groove to the rest of the elements, everything sounds like a block and there is no sound that you notice outside the track.
3. Referencing
Use references, but always with the objective of having it as just that, a reference, you should never copy, because firstly copies are always worse than the original, and secondly because if you copy the style of another artist, it won’t be your style. Putting a reference can be good to get closer to a sound that we like or to the energy that it transmits.
4. Variations
Don’t be lazy. Dedicate all the time you need to edit and structure your track in the timeline, have fun doing it, try things, add new elements, remove them, try effects, etc… In my case, when I create a track, I usually make up to 6 different melodies to have different points of view. I also use a lot of acapellas to inspire me in the melodies, I play a lot with the key changes. For example, if the main melody is in A minor, the bass line starts in D minor to give a change.
5. Simplicity
Less is more. This is usually said lightly, but the reality is that all my tracks start with at least 30 tracks, and when the time comes to mix, I decide to start removing tracks that I think can mess up the mix. The same when I create a melody. Because of my musical background, there are times that I tend to create very complex melodies. When this melody is created, I analyze what is the best of that melody and I remove notes to make it more accessible to people’s ears.
Ian Ludvig’s ‘Like A Drug’ EP is out now via Human By Default. Stream and buy here.
Follow Ian Ludvig: SoundCloud | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify
