'It all started with the break'
Creative Process for New World’

In my old studio space in Limehouse I recorded a lot of live drums. This resulted in me compiling a library of my own drums

(with me playing them). I was digging through these breaks and found one from another track I had already made that I wasn’t fully satisfied with, but I really liked the drums. When I did record the break I got the mic out and set it over the drums, jumped on the kit, put a metronome on and laid down the groove I had in my head, going for that big raw hip hop sounding loose feel that I love to play. I added some distortion to give it some extra crunch. Although I made the track around it, I kinda new I would probably use these drums again for another track that I would more than likely release. When I dug this drum break out from my library I changed the pitch to one tone higher to give it a slightly different vibe to what it was before.

My next idea was to add a ethereal texture to the break, so I went through some percussion sounds of mine and found an udu groove that I thought I would try out. I edited, reworked it and changed the pitch from the original recording. I love that the udu sound came out as a melodic hook also giving it a real warehouse and underground feel. It felt right to start ‘New World’ with this hard hitting break.

 

After establishing the drum break I wanted to add a mysterious dark eerie vibe, so I added a low piano note, syncopated synth sounds followed by a harmonium drone. I dug into some old vocals of mine and found one that fitted well in the mix which added to the atmosphere. I changed the pitch to a few tones lower from the original vocal sound.

Listening to the track in completion, what was coming to my mind were images from different Sci fi films, along with nature and it’s importance to our lives. I couldn’t help but think of ‘New World’ as the title for the track.

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