Over the last few years, London based House duo Saison have carved a niche of their own. Named as the best Deep House Artist of 2018 and 2019 by Traxsource and were one of the best-selling deep house artists on Beatport.
They’ve had releases on some of the most respected labels in the industry such as Defected, Toolroom and Suara to name a few. We recently dug a little deeper into their story and asked the all-important questions about Music Production.
It’s been really inspiring to share what we do in the studio with people who enjoy our music. We hope it inspires others to make some wicked tracks they can share with the world.
We wanted to keep it true to our values as producers and the style of our productions, as in deeper more melodic house. But also create more versatile production ready sounds that we know can inspire producers to get working and not overthink the sonics.
We both started out in the house scene in the mid 90s Matt in the U.S and Leigh in the U.K, bring those influences together has helped engineer our sound
We both work a little differently, Leigh does both but tends to have a clear idea of what he wants to accomplish. Matt usually jams out and then develops on what the stronger ideas are.
Don’t follow trends, just hone in on your craft and sound and things will happen naturally.
Probably would have used “that” sample and not overthought about using it.
Sometimes taking time away from music can be just as important as the time you put in. Taking a break, listening to other music and try to listen to as much different music as you can.
Where to start… There are a few saturation things from UAD and Waves that are in every mix but even some of the simple things like logic’s enveloper, Wave’s deesser, and UAD’s 1176 are all staples.
Logic’s Envelope:
Waves DeEsser:
UAD 1176:
Be patient and don’t send multiple emails. If someone likes something we promise they will get back. You will have to find away to stand out from the thousands of emails labels get everyday. If you can get an introduction or meet someone in person before sending a demo that always helps as well. Taylor links to the label you are sending to, don’t send the same link out to multiple labels, a demo with 50-100 plays already is a bit of a turn off.
Wake up, take the dog for a walk, the kids to school, coffee, studio, studio, coffee, studio, studio, gym, studio and finally studio. We do try to make it home before dinner…
For saison it was when we really started focusing on the sound we were good at. We stopped trying to focus on getting certain dj’s to play our music or make a song that might fit with a certain label or download site. When we just did our own thing successful releases just fell into place. An interesting fact, our first ever Saison release was on Toolroom!
We were both touring Djs in a previous life and had many great experiences, we also took the rough with the smooth, since producing as Saison we have been able to take that experience on and now when we get a chance to play every show is a stand out..
Some of our favourites include Art of Tones, Luke Solomon, Daniel Steinberg, Catz n Dogz, Sek, Dam Swindle & Kerri Chandler.
Just a lot more music on the horizon and an exciting new potential label in the works…
You can expect punchy analogue basslines, a unique EFX section and a plethora of one-shots in this pack as well as much more to help take your productions to the next level!
This is now available via Splice and the Toolroom Academy Website.
