Page 39 - Zone Magazine Issue 010

producer focus
FAKE SELF - ‘My Request’ [Hedonistic Records]
Newcastle upon Tyne based producer Fake Self has been absolutely killing it lately, with releases on the likes of 18-09 Records, Hedonistic Records, Fracture Recordings and Onefold Digital. His recent tech-house smasher ‘My Request’ is a forward driving club banger, so we got in touch to see how he made it!
Hello Adam, thanks for agreeing to talk to us for our first producer focus. Can we talk a little out your track ‘My Request’?
Yep that's cool, thats a good one to talk about because that was actually two tracks combined. I had two tracks that I'd been sitting on for a while and were both missing that 'something'. I switched the bassline from one to the other and the drums worked better, added the twisted pad and it came together
It's an absolute banger mate, it did pretty well on Traxsource didn’t it?
Yeah it did, I think it reached top 40 in the Traxsource Tech House chart. I was blown away by how much it connected.
The track has a really powerful
and driving bassline which seems to be a feature in your music. What synths or hardware did you use on the track and why?
All of my basses are audio, apart from the sub, and that comes from Rob Papens Predator. That has got loads of usable sounds and it's quite old now, so a lot of people have forgotten it! I keep away from the popular hardware or VSTs, as you have to try be original. I sidechain the bass sounds and layer them as much as possible, and set a tiny bit of swing - which can really bring out the power and drive.
What DAW do you use and do you feel it has an impact on your sound?
I use Ableton and I love it. I started out on reason but couldn't really make anything of releasable quality on it! I find Ableton really user friendly and quick to get an idea going, and endless VST synths and plugins just keep things interesting.
You mentioned that you use audio for your basslines etc, what samples do you find yourself using? Any specific packs or companies? And do you sample bits from other tracks or movies?
Luckily I've stored up a lot of audio over the years so it's just a case of hunting, I don't particularly
stick to any companies. You have to be careful though, there is a lot of bad quality samples out there so if you are going to move away from hardware, the samples have to be quality to properly fit into a track.
What’s your studio set up like?
Nothing flashy, wee Macbook with KRK 6s and Adams A7s, my trusty m-Audio Radium midi keyboard and that's me set haha..
Any advice to upcoming producers?
Yeah, stay positive and be you!
What’s next for Fake Self?
I have remixes on Pathogen, Karunga Muusica, Xylo and Dolphin Friendly Tunage dropping over the next couple of months and as well as my follow up on Hedonistic I've got a collaboration in the works too. Oh and the follow up to My Request, Don't be Afraid, is out July 22nd on Hedonistic Records.
Connect:
https://soundcloud.com/
hedonisticrecords/fake-self-my- request-preview-forthcoming- late-april
Words By Conor McEvoy
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 39