Contributing WriterLev has been an important part of the house world for many years, both as a solo artist and working as one half of the My Friend Duo. He is a producer and mix engineer with a hi-fidelity sound that has come on labels such as Enhanced Progressive, Night Mayors, and several others, and early this year dropped ‘You’ll Be Okay’ with Lake Taro. He now kicks off the New Year in top form with another standout package.
1. Hi Lev, thanks for joining us today. How are you today, and how has the start of the new year been for you so far?
Thanks for having me! The start of the year has been great, it’s always very productive and creative after a good Christmas break!
2. You’ve got a new release coming out with Last Night On Earth. Can you tell us how this came about?
I have previously released with the guys on another alias, so once I’d finished these 2 tunes, I decided to give LNOE a go as I thought they’d be a great home for the records!
3. What were your inspirations for the EP? Did you know what you wanted to create before you started, or did it become clearer during the production process?
‘Sugar Beach’ was massively inspired by the film ‘The Beach’. The vocal sample in that track really gives me an All Saints vibe! ‘Shine’ definitely has a big Eric Prydz-type feel. He is my all-time favourite producer. I never really start with an idea beforehand in my head; the tracks normally just come naturally when writing in the studio. With these in particular, I used the vocal to write around first.
4. How long have you been producing for? What made you want to start?
I’ve been producing for about 14 years now. I started purely for the love of music and raving.
5. You’ve got Lake Taro on the second track of the ep ‘Shine’. How was it collaborating with them? Do you enjoy collaborating with artists?
Lake Taro, aka Nathan Bal,l is a very dear friend of mine. He is also an extremely talented singer/songwriter. It always seems to be so effortless making tracks with him. I love to collaborate with people, two heads are better than one!
6. What does your studio set-up look like? Do you have go-to instruments or plug-ins you use regularly in your production?
I like to keep things simple, for me personally, less is more in the studio, especially when it comes to creativity! I have a pair of Adam A7Xs and a couple of analog synths. I also use a fair amount of production bits in the box, some of my favourites being SubLab 2 for bass and for the leads I think I used the BA 1 in the one which I love. It has a really nice old school 90s sound to it
7. Who are some of your influences in music?
In the electronic world, Eric Prydz, Dusky, and Spray are up there. I listen to a bunch of other genres too, people like M83 and Hanz Zimmer give me a lot of inspiration too.
8. It’s been great chatting with you today! What does the rest of your year look like?
The rest of the year is looking pretty busy with touring. I’m also about to upgrade my studio entirely, so I’m going to have to live on baked beans for a while!
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