Beyond The Board: Doc Brown Discusses Music Production and Making it Work in the Studio

Doc Brown has a unique skillset. Within that skillset is an uncanny ability to get a whole room moving. The Miami artist has established himself as one of today’s premier DJs. Although he is a fixture within club culture now, Brown originally got his start in rock n’ roll. He played in a rock band in high school, and it wasn’t until later that he found his calling in the electronic music scene. Brown has held residencies on the renowned Groove Cruise and has performed at festivals such as BPM and EDC. He also has his own label, Unlearn:Records, which has become a platform for his productions and emerging talents.

Brown is known both for his live talents and also being prolific when it comes to releasing new music. He has developed a well-earned reputation for delivering tracks that get dancefloors grooving. His latest release is the two-track EP Fake, released via Rawthentic Music. The EP offers up an energetic tech house experience with rugged basslines and warped vocal samples. It helps solidify his reputation as the man who knows just how to liven up an audience.

Today, Doc Brown joins us for a chat focused on recording, musical production, and trying to make it work in the studio.

What’s your favourite non-musical inspiration when producing?

Doc Brown: “A lot of times when I’m in the writing phase, I actually picture a visual of a specific place or time & write to that situation. It doesn’t have to be anything that I’ve actually experienced; it could just be imaginary: maybe it’s a dark warehouse at 4 am, maybe it’s poolside at a resort at sunset, or maybe it’s just driving down the road in a car. Having an image in my head can help inform some of my decisions when it comes to sound design, tempo and overall mood. Music is only auditory, but doesn’t exist in a vacuum, so any actual musical experience de facto will be made alongside other sensory experiences, I think most prominently through visual information.”

What do you do when you’re stuck creatively in the studio?

“A lot of people often give the advice to take a break, but I find it’s actually the opposite for me. Producing for me is a lot of trial-and-error, and part of how I learned to produce was understanding that the entire process is nothing but a series of decisions. Do I use this kick drum sample or that kick drum sample? What mic am I using to record this? Do I arrange the track this way or that way?

“There are probably hundreds of thousands of small decisions that, when added up, make a final song. Typically, I think getting stuck happens when focusing too much on the big picture freezes the ability to make these micro decisions. My thought is that if you can keep pushing through making choices, eventually something is going to work.”

Doc Brown studio gear, photo courtesy of Doc Brown

Share a recording fail that ended up being a surprising win.

“Basically, expounding on what I was just saying, every once in a while, when you are looking for something specific, you come across something that was nothing like what you were looking for but strikes you with new inspiration. A recent example of this was me trying to find the right tempo for a track, but I made a keystroke mistake & dropped the track BPM to a single digit. The result was obviously a very deep and digital DJ Screw style sound that ended up taking the track in a totally different direction, which ended up being a much better idea than the original one I had. I actually plan to use the chopped-and-screwed technique from time to time on tracks now, simply because I accidentally stumbled upon how to re-create it.”

Have you ever scrapped an entire project after recording? Why?

“Absolutely! It’s never an easy decision, but sometimes tracks end up working great as individual songs, but just never really sit well within the vibe of an entire playlist or mood to DJ from. It’s really important that dance music is functional; DJs need to be able to play these tracks with relative ease, and they should fit in as many different situations as possible. If a song, even if it’s a great individual track, just doesn’t fit into DJ sets, it’s not really worth releasing on a label that makes music for DJs.”

Name a trend in music production that you wish would disappear.

“I think specifically because I’m a DJ and producer of music for DJs, it seems backwards to me when people master dance music tracks in a way that I would consider to be more suitable for radio. Radio tracks can minimize a lot of the energy a heavy sub-bass takes in the mix and replace that with perceived volume in the mids.

“And although loudness is important in club music, the overall EQ curve on a track needs to have a fair amount of good, clean information below 100Hz, even as far down as the 30Hz-50Hz range. Club music needs to, first and foremost, sound good in the club!”

What common mistakes do artists make when first recording?

“One thing I see a lot with newer producers is having too many plugins and not having them organized. I think there is a feeling when you first start out that these tools can make your music sound better, so the more you have, the better your music will sound. And while it’s generally true—these plugins wouldn’t exist if they couldn’t improve the output—they can also make things sound worse if you don’t know what you’re doing.

“It’s way more important to know how to use a tool than to simply have it; I think it’s better to have one synth, compressor, or EQ, and know how to use it inside and out than it is to have ten different colours of each but not really know how to use any of them. Plug-ins also cost money, and there are a ton of really great tools that come native with most any DAW.”

What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten about music production?

“Someone once gave me some good advice, and that was to always remember that a lot of the Beatles’ music was recorded on four mono tracks. This is a telling lesson both on songwriting and mixing. Firstly, you need a good song; no amount of Steely Dan-level mixing is going to make someone want to listen to a boring track. Secondly, we don’t need to overcomplicate things. Your track probably doesn’t need that 97th and 98th channel to make it work. The track is finished when you can’t take anything away, so we are looking for the simplest way to get to the finish line.

“Lastly, it’s about working with what you’ve got. Try to work from the frame of mind that there isn’t any specific session musician or piece of equipment that is going to do something for the song that you can’t figure out how to do yourself. That way, you’re getting the best possible result from your session, and anything else that comes later can only improve what is already an amazing product.”

Do expensive cables and accessories really make a difference?

“I’m a big fan of quality over quantity. I’ve had some of the same equipment I still use and listen on for decades. Obviously, do your research, but sometimes expensive cables and accessories offer upgrades in areas that increase durability and longevity, even if some of the gauges and materials are the same in less expensive products.

“The old expression ‘it’s expensive to be cheap,’ I think, rings true when it comes to equipment; you’ll end up spending way more on five different cables over ten years at half the cost than you will on buying one cable that will last the same amount of time. Music engineering and production is a long game. It takes a long time to get good at it, and you want to make sure your tools last a long time as well.”