T.H.E Interview – Valoramous

Valoramous talks about “Blow up The Room” came about, vocal processing techniques used in the track, and more.

Aditya – Blow Up The Room’, sounds so different from the Amnesia remix EP released in April. It just shows the versatility of your production skills. What’s the creative process behind this track?

Valoramous – Yes. There is often a delay or lag between the initial conception of an idea and the release of that idea via a mastered track. While I produced the instrumental of “Amnesia” in early 2021, I produced the instrumental of “Blow Up The Room” while on vacation in Florida (USA) in August 2021. I desired to move towards a more EDM-festival-like Big Room sound. My creative process behind this track was to produce an instrumental track that initially confused the listener with a loss of space and time by creating a large warehouse feel in the introduction to the track. From here, I wanted the track to come more into focus, build energy, and encourage listeners and crowds to jump up and down in excitement as the drop arrives.

Aditya – The vocals in this track are succinct, what’s the idea behind that?

Valoramous – The vocalist and I went back and forth with the direction of the lyrics. While it took some time for Redd’s Dedd to deliver vocals, he provided a superior product via the succinct lyrics that you hear now. The idea behind the vocals are simple: provide the listener short, easily-memorable and easily-recognizable vocal lines to repeat and sing in a festival atmosphere. The choppiness in Redd’s Dedd’s delivery is meant to represent the unpredictability of the dance floor at festivals.

Aditya – The drop is the track sounds an amalgamation of a bunch of synths, could you break it down for us?

Valoramous – The amalgamation that you hear is layers of synthesizer elements, pads, and organ-like sounds. While the drop sounds simple, the track is more complex if you peer behind the curtain.

Aditya – Could you share the vocal processing techniques used in this track?

Valoramous – For all of my featured vocals, I begin by aligning vocals in the proper time. I spend days to ensure the correct groove. Once the groove is set, I tune the vocals. Depending on the job, tuning can be a very tedious process. After tuning, I process the vocals with various plugins and effects (saturation, compression, delays, reverbs, etc.).

Aditya – Could you share some insights about the mix & master this track?

Valoramous – I mix and master almost all of my own tracks. However, I also try to acquire feedback from mentors on my mixes and masters because two sets of ears are better than one. For “Blow Up The Room,” I utilized stems to mix the track. Thus, I exported all of the original tracks, and then mixed the track in a fresh project. While this creates more work, it also allows the mixing engineer to focus on a simplified project session, and make faster mixing decisions.

My biggest insight for mixing is organization. I firmly believe that organization of your project session is an underrated skill set. Spending a few extra minutes to organize your tracks in the beginning will provide clarity and allow for easier mixing decisions as you go deeper into your music.

As for mastering, the idea is to add that extra one to three percent (1-3%) of shine or “polish” to the track. I usually master my tracks in one 60-minute session, but I also ensure that I possess fresh ears while mastering because this is ultimately the final stage of creating a track.

Aditya – How were you able to achieve such a smooth flow among the vocals and the music?

Valoramous – Allowing space for both vocals and music is a balance and a challenge. For vocal tracks, I try to produce a track where a singer may immediately envision and insert himself or herself on top of the instrumental track. However, I always mix the track much more thoroughly after receipt of the vocals because each situation is different.

Aditya – How long have you been producing music for?

Valoramous – Four years

Aditya – Since you’re so versatile with your productions, which is your favorite genre to produce and why?

Valoramous – Big Room because this genre is the main feature for energetic Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festivals, such as Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in Las Vegas and Tomorrowland in Boom, Belgium.

Aditya – As a music producer, what does your schedule look like?

Valoramous – I maintain a firm schedule as a music producer. I am a big believer in calendars, to-do lists, goals, etc. I write all appointments into my calendar, and review my calendar at the beginning and end of each day, so that I remain committed to the tasks for each day. I try to produce music or learn specific music producer skills for at least two to three hours each weekday and for four to six hours on weekends. During the other hours of the day, I focus on the business side of music (e.g. answering emails, creating album artwork, conducting interviews, marketing/promoting songs, preparing social media posts, etc.).

Aditya – Lastly, would you rather setup a studio in the mountains or hills?

Valoramous – Tough choice, but I think I would rather setup a studio in the hills so that I have greater mobility and easier logistics.