Driven by a deep-seated desire to follow a dream, Stephen Kirkwood has been working tirelessly over the past decade to perfect and hone his sound, building a global fanbase and releasing on some of the biggest labels in the industry. Kirkwood has a penchant for dark, driving drum sections married with emotional melody lines and textures which has fuelled the evolution of his sound from uplifting trance inspired productions that propelled him into the limelight into a more warehouse, techno-influenced vibe. Kirkwood grew up surrounded by the throbbing beats of Glasgow’s vibrant techno scene, spoken of many times to rival Berlin, it is part of his musical DNA and, as he continues to mature as an artist, so do his productions.
Alongside his production and engineering duties, Kirkwood regularly secures sets at some of the biggest festivals and vibrant clubs across the globe. Parallel to his artist career, he is also the founder and CEO of Skapade Studios. Forever inspired by the world around him, he continues to flourish, maintaining razor-sharp quality across all his productions, performances, and business ventures.
Kirkwood clinically tight mixing coupled with diverse set lists, from warm-up to peak time driving, continue to light up dancefloors wherever he goes. Nurturing new talent whilst catching the eye of the scenes biggest labels, clubs and DJs, Kirkwood is living his dream and will continue to push himself, and others, forward into the future.
Recently he announced his latest audiovisual project ‘The Distillation of Sound’, done in collaboration of Skapade Studios and Glenfiddich Distillery, exploring one of Scotland’s oldest and most loved industries through a shared love of electronic music. Learn more clicking here.
Today Stephen Kirkwood shares 5 tips that will drastically help you in the studio.
1. Too much low end in your mix
The bottom end of your mix is most important! It is very easy to overdo your low end by adding too many competing elements. If your low end is sounding off, it is off! Try a different kick/sub combo, drop the volume of everything, and keep it simple. Also using a tool like the PAZ Analyser will let you know if your elements are in phase with each other.
2. Becoming over-reliant on others’ opinions
Music is subjective, one person will love your music and the next won’t. There isn’t a winning formula to get every single person to like your music. Stick in your own lane, and if you love what you’re doing, there will be others around the world who will also love it! I would suggest having a small circle of people who know their music to give you feedback but again, take it with a pinch of salt.
3. Mistakes in key/pitch
A very common problem! An out of key element can throw off your whole mix… Use a spectrum analyzer to check the key of all your elements and your mix will sound more gelled together. Try changing your sample up a semitone, or a tone, you might be close enough to the correct key, that it works.
4. Making your melody overly complicated
If you start with simplicity you can expand from there. Most catchy big melodies are simple, you can play them on one hand. Keep things simple, find a winning melody and the rest of the track will fall into place. If you are overcomplicating a melody just for the sake of it, the ear gets tired, at least that’s in my experience! If you don’t know musical scales & struggle with music theory, then give Ableton’s Scale & Chord feature a go for some interesting musical results.
5. Obsessing over trying to sound like everyone else
There are a lot of producers out there producing ‘what’s hot’ and what you end up with is a bunch of tunes all sounding very samey. While this is always going to happen, delve into some obscure music from your childhood, listen to stuff that’s so disconnected from what you are making, you’ll pick up ideas that really will set your music apart from the rest. Be authentic and don’t copy, take influence. Be your unique self as nobody can replicate YOU!
Learn more about ‘The Distillation of Sound’ by Skapade Studios and Glenfiddich Distillery clicking here.
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