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soundrooms · 7 years

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Soundrs: Noisecastle III

I'm Scott Bruzenak, aka Noisecastle III, I work in pop and electronic music. I'm best known for my production on Daya's first singles and the Dawn Richard album "Blackheart". I recently re-released my wife Ariel Westberg’s eponymous album.

• What are your inspiration sources?

I'm constantly shocked by the amount of recorded music. Beyond just inspiring songs and great albums and great artists, I semi-regularly find genres of which I wasn't aware. Recently I discovered Sacred Harp music on the internet, which sounds to me like the closest thing to Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares or polynesian hymns, except that it's a purely american folk music.

It’s nice with all the media available to turn off and let inspiration grow from inside, it’s almost a forbidden technique in this postmodern world. I feel like a naughty boy when something comes directly from my brain with no recent precedent.

• Tell us something about your workflow.

Try not to have one. I try to look around at the tools I have and think about what is possible. I try to do some research every time I produce something. For instance I listened to the first American Football album yesterday because I was trying to figure out some cool guitar textures to try for a pop song. I try to think laterally as much as possible and don’t worry for a second about copying because I’m inherently quite weird and anything that goes in comes out shaped like Bruzenak. I don’t actually know that but so I’m told.

• How would creative rituals benefit your workflow?

I go for walks sometimes to try to get away from my gear and generate ideas. I usually do this after I do a vocal, so that I can sing it in my head and audition production styles or chord changes. I used to walk around and write entire songs, melodies and chords. I also would walk around and imagine ways to program generative music on the Nord G2. I do that occasionally now with Ableton and all the insane vsts available on it. A little mental vacation to synthland, if you will. With no synths, only brainsynths.

• How do you get in the zone?

Flip on Bloodborne with the music turned off and hoont some beasts, listen to my current track and decide what to do next.

• How do you start a track?

96% of the time it starts with a writer or two and a conversation about what we’re listening to or dealing with. Then I’ll either build from samples or play keys and/or guitar.

• Do you have a special template?

No. I make an unreasonable mess and then organize when I get the feeling like WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING I WANT TO DIE

• What do you put on the master channel?

bypassed multicompressor (for listening to frequency bands) -> multicompressor at max -3 db chunk, limiter at max -3 db chunk, ableton eq set to m/s so I can isolate and do critical listening against references

• How do you arrange and finish a track?

Organize as well as possible, set markers. Learn the song via finishing the vocal. If I have something I’m burning to try, it’s off to the races. If not I’ll just listen to music, possibly in the same genre, possibly just in the same tempo. When I’m tired of researching I’ll listen to my song again, then go wash some dishes or go for a walk. I’ll get an idea of something to try and then take my sweet time doing it so I don’t feel like I’m in a hurry to get it over with.

• How do you deal with unfinished projects?

I let them age peacefully and periodically cannibalize them, giving credit where it’s due, usually just to myself from five years ago.

• How do you store and organize your projects?

By year, then month, then day. I have a naming convention which I’ve evolved over the past ten years.

• How do you take care of studio ergonomics?

Ugh, well I gave myself levoscoliosis apparently, so I’m not real great at it. I get up and move around a lot now. If I dig for samples I lay on the floor and use a laptop. If I use an iPad, I’ll do it on my back on the floor. I also make damn sure to spend as little time as possible sitting down—so my mental game of down time is strong. Usually when I sit down to the chair and desktop, I have a very clear idea of what I’m going to do for the next twenty minutes.

• Tell us something about your daily routine, how is your day structured, how do you make room for creativity?

If I have a session it’s usually during the daytime, unless I’m at another studio. I treat sessions like a free-for-all, get as much done as possible creative sprint (while not trying to rush or force anything). That’s a balance. If no session, then I just wake up, flip the computer on with my coffee, turn on the aforementioned Bloodborne or some other PS4 game, maybe smoke weed, and just work on one thing for the entire day—but with no real goal, just a sense of joy and possibility. When I get burnt out I damn well stop. If I’m totally strung out I’ll put my shoes on and go walk down to the gym and get under some barbells.

• Share a quick producing tip.

organize. slow down. make mockups of your song on a different piece of gear. reharmonize. restructure. consider the bpm. research. reverse engineer things. make hybrids. use adjectives. stop fucking panicking. use a baby ear irrigator, don’t use q-tips. A/B against stuff you like. collaborate, for the love of god collaborate.

• Share a link to an interesting website (doesn’t have to be music related).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

• List ten sounds you are hearing right this moment : )

swiffer commercial

blood in my ears

spine crackling through my aged flesh

leather seat

fingertips

hair against leather

clacking of keys

Ariel’s knee cracking

dog grumbling

dog snorting

Thanks Scott! If you want to get featured, send a message here on tumblr or an email to [email protected].

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