Artist Stories: nammick

This week we had an opportunity to catch up with Nammick . We asked him to tell us about his release “Mumz” and to show us how Splice fits into his production workflow.

What inspired you to share this track with the Splice community?

To me it’s more about what the splice community is becoming. There are some great projects freely available from both well known artist and complete unknowns. I like that they are judged on their merit which is a refreshing change from artists getting attention purely on based on how many followers they have. I haven’t been on splice long but it is an invaluable resource and it has sped up the time it takes me to create a track. If I hear something I like the sound of – splice it and see how it was created, then I can use that knowledge on my own material. So I think why not share for someone else to have the same experience, and in the process pick up a little kudos! After all you never know where it could lead or who that person could become.

Tell us about your approach to writing and production. Any favorite sample packs or plugins?

Synths: I love Sylenth1 for warm analog sounds, I love Massive for clinical modern subtractive sounds and I love Serum as it sits smack bang in the middle, wavetable synthesis with warmth.

Mastering: iZotope’s Ozone is my go-to.

EQ: Waves Q10 for clinical work and in box EQ’s for everything else.

Recently, I was as guilty for sticking to Vengeance and Xfer packs for the majority of my percussion which is great, not until I found Splice Sounds that has nearly every major sample pack you can get.

You’re primarily a Ableton Live user. What is it about Ableton Live that makes it your DAW of choice?

There are 3 major reasons why I favor Ableton over the likes of Logic or Fruity.

The first is that Channel FX chain is far easier to modify in Ableton. Both Fruity and Logic suffer from predetermined FX slots on channels which makes it a little awkward to work with and limiting at times.

Second, Ableton’s architecture is nested which means it allows you to create templates for future projects. I like to add a folder for my own presets and with the ALS format you can drag either a single midi clip which also retains the VST and preset info or you can group a groove over multiple channels and add them as a whole set of sounds or you save an entire FX or mastering chain. This allows me to easily pull up an effects chain at my own convenience.

Third it’s great to use when playing in a live gig. With my band Bassheads, I use it to sync up everything and play from a PUSH 2 and various other interfaces, Ableton allows me to play the full show direct from a laptop with the bonus of being able to swap out elements depending on how many of us are at the gig.

nammick-2-splice

How has Splice had an impact on your production process or workflow?

I find it really nice being able to splice tracks then template elements I like. Going through these templates, out of previous spliced projects, helps me find samples and stuff to fill and wrap up the last few elements of a track I’m working on. Also splice is a great resource for pure inspiration and quite often I’ll dig through some of the projects that come up in the community that makes you go ‘yeah that sounds wicked’ with the benefit of seeing how it was done.

What are your influences at the moment?

I try and listen to music that breaks out of the typical major and minor scales and does something a little clever, it could be anything from some complex modulations between keys to a few cheeky blues notes on pentatonic scale. These ideas are often difficult to implement in electronic dance music but when you get the right hook with the right sound, it can be really sweet. Rob Swire is fantastic at doing this and is an incredible producer to boot.

You’ve had quite a few users in the community Splice the project file for “Mumz” – what do you hope that they’ll do with it?

Well they’ve listened to it and liked it enough to splice it which is always nice! I was quite surprised when it started trending in the community. Honestly though, they’re quite welcome to do as they please, I would be interested to hear someone else’s take on the track but if they want to to just nick the bass hook, presets, percussion or even just look at the project from an educational point of view then that’s cool with me.

Where do you think that you music is headed next? Anything that you’ll like to share with us?

I have been playing around with music again for a couple of years on and off but very recently (in the last few weeks) sold off my company to go full time on music production. Hence, I am in full on writing mode! I’m putting together an album which I am gearing up for release and 4 tracks which are very solid and representative of where I am musically. In between that I’m gigging quite a bit with Bassheads and working collaboratively on some new material with them. When I am not busy, I’m playing around with creating some new VST’s but they are far to early days to share just yet.

Will I be sharing any of my other material on splice? Absolutely – when I get some free time I’ll dig through some of the projects that I put up on Soundcloud, clean them up and release the projects through splice. As for my new stuff I’ll be timing my Splice releases with the actual track release.