KSHMR has become one of the most admired names in all of electronic dance music over the last two years. He broke onto the scene when it was reported that he was behind some of the biggest productions of all time as a ghost producer. He then proceeded to drop some of the most heartfelt, and impressive releases we have ever heard.
In a recent interview with WAVES KSHMR revealed a great deal of his production process and what he feels makes his music so special and unique. It was a wealth of knowledge that we needed to share with you. KSHMR spoke a bit about where the traditional Indian melodies featured in many of his songs come from.
“My dad came from India to the US and brought with him his love of classic Bollywood movies and the Beatles. I wasn’t that into all that as a kid. But as I grew up, I started to appreciate my heritage and what made me different. And I began to embrace this wealth of music and exotic instruments we had at my house and started using them in my work.”
KSHMR also broke down some of the finer details of his production process. Which as you might guess is thoroughly thought out. When WAVES asked specifically about the incredibly unique “articulations, modulations, pitch bends, and drops” KSHMR had this wealth of information to say:
“It’s beneficial to think like a real player does. Players don’t just go note to note. Sure, you can make everything perfect, quantized to grid. But real players, they bend. There’s inflictions in-between, and that’s what makes it feel real — the imperfections.
You’ve got to find creative ways to make it sound like a human is behind it all. And that’s what gets lost in a lot of dance music. The synths may not be struggling to get to the next note; they just pop up there – but that’s not what humans do. A real human player has to sort of struggle between each note. I think pitch-bending does that real well. Anytime you can sort of strain it, you just hit a human chord.
I’m all about key switching different articulations in the course of a melody. When you’re really precise, you can make a horn sound just like the real thing. But it does require more than just plug-and-play. You have to make it breathe like a real player would breathe into it, versus making it as big as possible. It takes a lot of extra effort in terms of making it play well and sit well in a mix.”
If those answers got you curious as a producer, make sure to read the full interview via WAVES. The article was linked above. We cannot wait to hear what comes next from KSHMR as it seems with each release his style is becoming more impressive.
