“Bouncing MIDI to audio is powerful for me creatively”: Chris Lake shares top tips

House and EDM producer Chris Lake has shared some of his top tips for music production, praising the benefits of bouncing tracks down to audio as you go.

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Speaking in the latest edition of Future Music Magazine and for MusicRadar, Lake says that by bouncing down any MIDI sections to audio and seeing the waveform in front of you, you identify any issues you might have missed before.

“Committing parts to audio is powerful for me creatively.” He says. “I immediately think about how I can use the part in different ways. It’s always great to see what the part is doing via the waveform this creates in your DAW – things like audio tails or clicks that you maybe didn’t realise were there that you want to remove.”

Also in the interview, the Changes producer advises those making dance music to focus on breakdown sections by looping them with main sections to see if they work together.

“Like many, I start by building a 4 or 8-bar loop section that I vibe with,” he says, “but I always find it helpful to create breakdown sections within that loop. That can be as easy as dropping the bass in and out like I would if I was DJing, so I get a groove that feels good both with the low end in and out.”

The UK-born, LA-based musician goes on to urge producers to really think about the build-up to drops.

“Another thing I find really helpful is setting a loop region around the ‘drop’, so for example, having the loop region start two bars before the drop and loop for four bars, then focus on getting the impact of the drop to hit the way that feels good. It’s a very important part of the track. Focus on it.”

Check out all things Chris Lake via his official website.