We sat down with second year student Lily Mumby (Lapalace) to chat about hardware production, getting interest from R&S Records and how dBs’ more personable learning environment has supported their creative development.
Originally studying at Access Creative College, Lily progressed into our very first cohort at dBs Manchester. Now on the cusp of entering their final year on the BA (Hons) Electronic Music Production degree, we sat down to chat about how they’ve grown as a music producer and why the experience here is completely unlike that of larger universities.
“When I was younger, I'd always like to take things apart and mess about with computers. I was always really interested in the technological side of things, spending lots of my time on the computer. I was also a big music collector, though not consciously - I just kept buying CDs.
“When I was 13 maybe, I came across people making music on FL Studio and I'd see videos on YouTube of them working on their projects. That was a bit of a revelation, because I’d never considered the possibility of making music on a computer before. It just never occurred to me.
“When I was about 15, I discovered Ableton Live and I started DJing. Once I’d gotten into Ableton, that was it for me and now five years on I’m actually putting out music.”
“I’ve really struggled with this in the past, but I would narrow it down to ambient, jungle, break beats; that’s the easiest way to sum it up. What I make tends to vary, but my biggest interest is ambient music and that’s how a lot of my ideas start.”
“‘Ephemera’ started in 2021. At the moment, I’ve been mixing between old and new stuff and trying to find which tracks work together and then package those up. The summers in 2020/2021 were so warm and then really stormy and I was going on a lot of walks with my camera. A lot of those photos served as an inspiration for ‘Ephemera’. I’ll quite often build mood boards around those rainy and foggy atmospheres, it’s something I inject into my music quite often.”
“It all happened quite naturally. I was in the studios at dBs mixing one of the tracks, and Tim [Clerkin] walked past and I asked if he would listen and give some feedback on the mix. He asked what my plans were for releasing it, and at the time I’d not thought about releasing on a label, and that’s when he suggested putting it out on Insult to Injury.”
“My workflow changed because I was suddenly introduced to a different way of working with hardware, mixing desks and stuff like that. I’m really glad that I’ve got that knowledge, because I prefer using hardware and trying to get out of the box. I really like having something tactile.
“I'm using a lot of tape for resampling because I really enjoy my stuff sounding very textural. I don't like super clean sounds all the time. Sometimes it's nice, but having texture to a sound really gives it more of a story. When I'm listening to other people's music, that’s what sticks out to me and I’m always trying to figure out how they’ve created a particular sound.
“Going from Access Creative College to dBs, the main thing was getting out of the box and experimenting a lot more. Using hardware stuff has become pretty integral to my workflow. I spent so much time in the studios in dBs Manchester. Because I was one of 14 students, I was basically in there for an unlimited amount of time. It was great, because I was able to get to grips with everything and made a lot of shit music that helped me make some good music.”
“It was very quiet, but in a good way. The learning was very one to one. If one of us wasn’t quite getting something, then Dom [Kane] or Tim could just spend ages with us making sure we got it, which is obviously a little bit more difficult when there's more students. We would have debates as a class, which was really fun.
“Having more students here makes everybody feel a bit more like part of a community. It's just nice to have more students around. I've made friends with people in the first year, like Liv [Ramsden, KillShotBunny]. She's really lovely, and she's constantly asking, ‘Have you done this? Have you tried this?’, so we often go to the studios together. It's just nicer to have more people around, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t missing how much studio time I got last year, but you can’t have both.”
“Yeah, absolutely. It took me a couple months but I settled on the the API: The Box studio with the Prophet. Oh my god, I love that synth so much. I wish I could buy one, but they are about £3,500.”
“I think that came off the back of the ‘Ephemera’ release, it was something silly like two days after that. Matt from Skiptrace reached out to me and asked if I wanted to contribute a track for the compilation which was raising money for Manchester Central Foodbank.
“I jumped at the chance, but the message came in September and the deadline was a month later, so I was really excited but also a little bit stressed about it. I spent several weeks working on this idea, and must have done six or seven ‘Save As’ versions and nothing was working.
“I started a new Ableton project and took this pad I liked from the original idea and the core of the song was done in like an hour and a half. I slapped some Prophet-6 on there (obviously) and did the 303 lead in my home studio and that was it.
“It’s probably the fastest I’ve ever produced a track, which was quite an accomplishment after how long ‘Ephemera’ had taken from when I started to release. It was nice to prove to myself that I can work quickly, I think I just need a deadline.”
“Not long after I put the ‘Ephemera’ performance video that I did at dBs on Instagram and YouTube, I got a message while I was driving from Renaat [Vandepapeliere], who is the co-founder of R&S Records and signed Aphex Twin. I couldn’t really believe it, and I had only just started following him on Instagram.
“He sent me a few messages and it was a good thing I was literally pulling up to my house because I was like, ‘I’m gonna have to pull over to read this message’. He said:
“Seen your live performance. Interesting. You can always send me music at ‘email’.
Warm Regards, Renaat.”
“I sent over some music around Christmas, but you know, that’s a pretty quiet time for a lot of people in music, so nothing has come of it so far, but it’s an ongoing thing, so fingers crossed.”
“It's been pretty crazy, to be honest. I don't think it's really hit me that I'm doing all these things. I didn't really expect to hear back from Steam radio, but they gave me a residency after I applied. The brief for my show was to explore ambient music and sonic textures, but ranging from anything like jungle, break beats, neo-classical and stuff like that. A mix of whatever to give each show its own theme. That’s been really fun.
“With the live side of things, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but it wasn’t until last year that I really put myself out there. I wasn’t expecting much to come from it, but things just kind of happened. When Dom asked me to do the live performance for the open day last year, it came at a time when I was thinking about performing live, and then Phoebe [Pope] said that her partner would happily film it for free, so it just naturally came together. The video of that performance really kicked things off.
“I love playing live. It's just really fun. I don't really enjoy the whole mixing and mastering process, bouncing things a million times. I get so fed up with it and begin to hate the tracks I’m working on. But when I play it live, it’s a great reminder that I do love the music I make.”
“I'm excited. I have a plan to do an art installation in a gallery in Manchester. I really like art installations, especially interactive art installations. It’s something I want to do, and this feels like the perfect time when I have all the resources and the people to support me with that.”
“First year was very unique and really beneficial, but I think just getting stuck in was the best part. I was able to loosen up and try new things, plus the opportunities I’ve had access to have been really good, too.”
“I’ve learned not to be scared of a blank canvas. Before dBs, I would open an empty Ableton project and get in my head about things, but now I know that you just have to start making noise and see where it takes you. You might get rid of it later, you might find something that you really like that sparks the core idea of the song.
“What’s nice about dBs is that the tutors are exactly the same. They experience these kinds of challenges, too. My partner and I were chatting and they thought it was mad that my tutors knew my name and we actually have conversations, which isn’t always the case in bigger universities. Whereas at dBs, the tutors will see something and think, ‘Lily would like that’ and send it my way. I think that’s what’s really different about dBs.”
Want to move away from in-the-box production and get hands-on with hardware? Check out our BA (Hons) Electronic Music Production degree available at Bristol, Manchester and Plymouth.
FIND OUT MORE
https://www.lapalace.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/lapalacemusic/