Introduction
As I see it, workflow in music production is the process of how producers uniquely interact with their tools (digital or analogue) to produce a track. When I initially started making music, I learned and understood my favorite producers’ workflow. From Madlib to 9th Wonder I pulled little things in their workflow that would work in mine, I sampled their workflows in a way. Personally, the most important thing when it comes to workflow is that I should be able to feel comfortable expressing myself intimately, my DAW or SP-404 becomes a part of me; I shouldn’t be interacting with my equipment rather my own ideas or emotions.
Burial [1]
When I first investigated his music I was intimidated. Burial is an electronic artist, and my genre of choice is hip-hop. Even though there is a lot of overlap between the genre looking into his music was out of my comfort zone. However, as I continued investigating, I saw many similarities between his music and J Dilla’s (one of my main influences). The way the vocal chops were chopped and sampled on Untrue were very similar to Donuts, along with the swing in his drums. Both even used rudimentary tools; Burial used Sound Forge, an audio-editing tool which wasn’t even a DAW, while Dilla used a BOSS Dr. Sample SP-303 (A basic portable sampler). These similarities gave me a massive insight into his workflow; he directly pulled from his influences. Courtesy of Hyperdub Records
On one of his most popular songs, Archangel, Burial [2] samples Ray J – One Wish, a song that influenced [1] UK Garage (A genre that deeply influenced him). [1] He also sampled one of his favorite video games, Metal Gear Solid 2. He also frequently sampled gun sounds from Metal Gear Solid and manipulated them to form percussive sounds for drums.
When it comes to his drums [3] Burial told The Wire, when the waveform of a drum sound looks like a fishbone, he knows it’s ready.
Conclusion
Burial’s workflow is very specialized to his own sound. His rudimentary tools allow him to creatively explore his ideas in a more intimate and unique way.
References
- The making of burial’s untrue (no date) kottke.org. Available at: https://kottke.org/17/12/the-making-of-burials-untrue (Accessed: 03 December 2023).
- Archangel by burial – samples, covers and remixes | Whosampled (no date) whosampled.com. Available at: https://www.whosampled.com/Burial/Archangel/ (Accessed: 03 December 2023).
- Fisher, M. (2007) Burial: Unedited transcript – the Wire, The Wire Magazine – Adventures In Modern Music. Available at: https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/interviews/burial_unedited-transcript (Accessed: 03 December 2023).