DILIP & OTXHELLO

The platinum-selling hip-hop producers on… Garageband

1 Tell us about how you both got into music production Dilip: “Growing up in the Bay area, I was always exposed to music: from Indian classical songs my parents played around me to new American music that my older sister put me on to. I developed an interest in playing instruments early on and picked up the piano and guitar, teaching myself songs that I liked. In my middle and high school years I was always in bands and played a bunch of instruments like saxophone, trombone, and flute. At this point I was pretty heavily obsessed with music, especially rap, and I would religiously download and listen to songs on my iPod shuffle. I began making beats in middle school using Garageband just trying to recreate my favourite rap beats. It got a little more serious in high school when I moved on to using Ableton and began to release my own beats on the internet. Through making friends and collaborating with a lot of other talented people online including Otxhello, I was able to really progress and learn a lot. Ever since then I have just been trying to get better and have been blessed with the opportunity to get to do music full-time.”

Otxhello: “Yo! My name is Otxhello. I was born in Massachusetts, and that’s where I developed a love for music. As a kid, music was never my dream; it was just something I enjoyed. I wanted to be an NBA player! Looking back on my life, my parents introduced me to all the music I admire today. My Dad loved soul music. And my mom, being a pastor, played gospel music all the time. I started playing instruments at a young age, but I was never fully invested in it. My mom would let me fool around on the drums during choir practice, and I picked up the cello in the third grade. I never kept up with these instruments, but it helped me develop a love for making music. I wish I’d stuck with them! I picked up the piano around my freshman year of high school, and that’s also when I found out about Garageband. High school was when I started posting music on

Soundcloud, and it introduced me to so many of the friends who I look up to and have played a massive role in my life. I have not looked back since! It has been a crazy adventure, full of ups and downs, but I am grateful for the opportunity to do what I love and the friends I have made along the way.”

2 When and how would you say you became successful?

Otxhello: “Making the move to LA was a huge milestone for us. That’s when we realised we could make a living off music: collaborating with friends, holding studio sessions, and doing shows. That’s when it settled in that music would become a full-time thing.”

3 What is your overall philosophy or approach when it comes to music?

Dilip: “I think that what matters the most is that you’re having some fun with what you’re doing. Staying inspired is the key and you can find that from anything you like: music, food, conversations. You need to live life and experience things so that you have something to draw from when you create.”

Otxhello: “My approach to music changes a lot. Overall, I always want to make sure that it comes from an authentic place, and I am having fun. Music is a means of catharsis for me, so I always try to put down my ideas, even if they do not lead me anywhere.”

4 When and how did you discover the route to computer music making?

Dilip: “It was through this website that was featured on Google years ago called Aviary Music Creator, and it let you make a song using premade loops. I had so much fun playing with the sounds and spending hours tweaking what I made. It gave me the same feeling I had when playing video games. Pure bliss. I later downloaded Garageband on my iPad and began spending most of my time creating instrumentals for fun. I think this introduction to

music production gave me a great exposure to the technology that is out there and made it fun for me.”

Otxhello: “I first discovered computer musicmaking in high school. I remember getting so excited when I realised I could make music on my computer. Garageband was the first DAW I used. I cannot say that it has changed how I work, but I learned all the fundamentals from just fooling around with it. The first song I made, I layered a bunch of their pre-made loops on top of each other. I thought the song was so good, and I remember listening to it for a week straight. It was actually not very good – ha ha – but from then on, I was hooked.”

5 Tell us a little about the gear and tech in your studio

Dilip & Otxhello: “I think we keep it pretty simple in our studio. All we have is our laptops, MIDI keyboard, interface, speakers and a mic for when we want to record. Most of what we do is based in software (VSTs, samples, applications). We definitely want to expand our studio to have more hardware.”

6 What are your favourite five plugins?

Dilip & Otxhello: 1. “Spectrasonics

Omnisphere. This is a great all-around synth to find pretty much any sound you’re looking for when creating melodies.”

2. “Synplant. This is a very cool synth to use when you want random or unconventional sounds. It has a feature where you can plant seeds that create synth patches. We usually route Synplant to an audio track and record us stemming/planting seeds. We’ll then chop up the sounds we made in the recording. Going down that rabbit hole is fun because it is an easy way to find some weird patches.”

3. “Native Instruments Kontakt. This is our favourite plugin to use for live instrument emulation. The round-robin sampling in many libraries makes it sound almost identical to a real instrument.”

4. “Trackbout Ripchord. This is a dope plugin for those who are still learning about music theory and chord progressions. Preset packs like the Gravez Prisms Pack provide a selection of chords that can add flavour to any song.”

5. “Valhalla DSP Bundle. These reverb plugins are essential to add room to any sound and create depth to songs.”

7 How does a track typically start out?

Dilip & Otxhello: “Most of the time, it starts with a simple idea. It could be a loop or melody. We usually bounce ideas off the wall until we can’t think of anything else, and then we simplify it by choosing our favourite parts. Once we have those parts, we sort of structure the song by making sure everything we like flows together and makes sense.”

8 What advice do you have to complete a piece of music?

Dilip & Otxhello: “When we have a solid track going we usually keep playing back every part of the song and tweak things whether it be mixing or transitional things until we’ve exhausted ourselves. Then we’ll usually not listen to the track for a few days and hear it again with a new perspective and once we have nothing we want to change then we know it’s done and it feels right.”

9 What’s on your wishlist studio-wise?

Dilip & Otxhello: “It would be awesome to build a collection of hardware synths because we love experimenting with them and there is definitely a different feeling when you use hardware over software. A Neve preamp would also make our recording sound a lot better.”

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What would you like to see developed in terms of studio technology and why?

Dilip & Otxhello: “More development in vocal synthesis programs. There is a lot of cool stuff on the market (Antares, East West Choirs, Vocaloid etc) and it would be awesome to see it taken to the next level like a gospel choir VST that can model the human voice in a realistic way. Also, some sort of application that can bridge projects between any DAW would be game changing for people who use different DAW’s and want to collaborate cross-platform.”

11 You two have worked together before to produce for major artists like Lil Tecca and Lil Skies. Was your approach to making this EP any different than this work?

Dilip & Otxhello: “We approach making our own music differently than when we are working on other people’s music because we are a lot more personal with it. We put every idea we have down and literally make anything and everything that we like. It’s different when you work with other people because you have to keep in mind what they would like, especially vocalists who need more space on an instrumental. When we were making our EP there were no boundaries – the sky’s the limit.”

12 What advice have you picked up from working in the studio?

Dilip & Otxhello: “When working in the studio, it is key to make sure the environment is right, that people are comfortable and have the space to express themselves and their ideas freely.”

13 And from playing live?

Dilip & Otxhello: “Take the soundcheck very seriously so that your set goes smoothly. This comes from personal experience. Also, for

DJing, being able to feel out and adapt to a crowd is important.”

14 And finally, what about more general advice that you can pass on from being in the music industry?

Dilip & Otxhello: “Surround yourself with good people. The music industry can be stressful and uncertain at times, but your passion for music should carry you through it in the end. It really is about making great music with the people you love at the end of the day. Everything else will come together.”

15 Finally, what else have you got planned for the near future?

Dilip & Otxhello: “We have a lot of ideas for Late Year that we are working on! We look forward to dropping more music and playing shows (when it is safe again).”

Late Year’s Late Year EP is available now on Alpha Pup Records

“It would be awesome to see a gospel choir VST that can model the human voice”