Boku is following up on his sublime ‘Fortune’ EP with another expertly crafted single, ‘Epiphany’. Blending downtempo stylizations with chopped vocals and rich instrumentation, the textured production showcases Boku’s sharp ear and eclectic inspirations.
To celebrate his new single release ‘Epiphany’, Boku shares 5 tips to apply in the studio.
1. Separating the creativity from the technical.
If you are feeling inspired don’t sit down at the start of a session and EQ a kick drum or do something else technical because before you know it, an hour will have passed and you will have probably lost that initial creative spark. Find something quickly, have a bank of sounds that you know sound good, and move forward, you can always backtrack after. For me personally, I do small bits of processing quickly as I go because I feel it helps me understand the overall sonic impression, and how much I need to add or subtract, I also then don’t have a lot of heavy lifting to do at the end when mixing.
2. Be kind to your creativity.
Understand that every time you go to write music you just simply won’t come up with a smash. You will have lots of flops and times where you think this is awful but the important part is playing with music, being creative, and having fun. At any point, you can have that happy mistake and develop something special from something you didn’t expect.
3. Don’t forget to print.
You hear people talk all the time about too much gear is a bad thing because you have too much choice, well plugins can be the same. If you have tons of plugins on a track for sound design purposes and that sound is not playing a major role in the production then just print/bounce it to audio. This lightens up the CPU load on your computer but more importantly, it helps you make decisions and get closer to the finishing line on a record. There is room for error with computers when you print your final mix so this also reduces those risk factors.
4. Remember to mess things up.
If something isn’t feeling right you might be a bit hesitant of really getting in and throwing things around as it will destroy your original idea and organized project. Just save a new copy, go in and really mess it up, it’s in those moments that you might invent something better than what you originally had, and hey if it doesn’t work just revert back to what you originally had.
5. Overplaying breeds doubt.
No matter who you are and what you make, after you listen to something thousands of times you will get sick of it and maybe start questioning your sanity. You know that song you loved but just overplayed it? Well, the same concept goes for music production, you will initially love your idea and be super excited about it but as time passes and you listen to it so much you just simply won’t get that same feeling and might start doubting it, what you have to remember though is when someone else hears your song for the first time they will get that initial feeling which is what you are trying to capture.
Boku’s ‘Epiphany’ is now available on all streaming platforms via Feel Good Lost. Stream it here.
