Producer Profile

MELBOURNITE METALCORE TITANS DREAM ON DREAMER ARE CALLING IT A DAY IN 2020 – BUT NOT BEFORE THEY RELEASE ONE LAST SPEAKER-BUSTING BELTER OF SEARING RIFFS AND BRUTAL BREAKDOWNS, PRODUCED ENTIRELY IN-HOUSE BY LEAD SHREDDER AND BACKING VOCALIST CALLAN ORR. SO, HOW DID HE GO ABOUT MAKING IT AN ALBUM WORTH DEFINING THE BAND’S DECADE-LONG LEGACY? WORDS BY MATT DORIA.

Metalcore is a dangerous genre for most producers to play with, primarily since its key characteristics – huge walls of frenetic, effects-laden riffage and punishingly heavy wallops of bassy, down-tuned juts and seismic drum fills – are impossibly easy to bake in the mixing process, leading to muddy, overblown messes of sound.

Rising up the ranks throughout the 2010s as one of Australia’s leading forces in metalcore mayhem, Dream On Dreamer are one such band whose sound is nearly impeccable from an audiophile’s perspective, their lashings of grit and grunt sewn together with the faultless finesse of the finest out there. And there’s one conclusive reason why their sound is so dialled-in: they call the shots themselves, with lead guitarist and backing vocalist Callan Orr leading the charge behind the decks.

The band themselves are getting ready to close up shop, with album number five – What If I Told You It Doesn’t Get Better – positioned as their sharp, scuzzy and searing swansong. Reigning in elements of all the highlights across Dream On Dreamer’s tenure, the ten-tracker plays out like a ‘greatest hits’ compilation for the Melbourne quartet. And according to Orr, it was a surprisingly easy record to smash out.

What If I Told You It Doesn’t Get Better has been described as “the most diligently crafted and strongest representation of the band’s themes and values to date”. How did you want to achieve that through the album’s production?

Ironically, I think the best way to achieve that is to not try too hard – just trust your instincts and try to have fun. If you can learn to make your process enjoyable, I think you’ll find that you’ll naturally do more work and be more attentive. Removing stress removes the anxious resistance that stops you from performing at your best!

You’ve had a hand in producing Dream On Dreamer’s material in-house since Loveless in 2013. How do you feel your skills have grown over four records?

If you play me a song off Loveless, my skin will probably crawl off my body and into the bin. I still love those songs and I love that record – I love what it represents for us as a band starting a new chapter, and I actually think it’s some of our best work as a whole – but we had so much pressure from our label to rush that production and the mix just isn’t there. However, the subsequent record that I produced, It Comes And Goes, I’m still very happy with. I have to give a shoutout to my main man Dave Petrovic for the amazing vocal production.

You had Dave Petrovic co-produce with you on It Comes And Goes, and Matt Goldman on Songs Of Solitude before that, but What If I Told You… is a full solo operation. What made you want to tackle this one on your own again?

We always love working with Dave Petrovic – he did our very first EP, Hope, and has been a great friend of ours ever since. In hindsight, I would love to have worked with him on every single release, but we have always been about trying things slightly differently and therefore have worked with a bunch of different producers. But he’s our number one. He also taught me a lot – I wouldn’t have been able to pull this record off without his help and guidance. We decided to do this one as a solo operation solely due to budget constraints – we wanted to try saving those costs and plugging them into other avenues such as marketing and PR.

THANKFULLY THE BAND

WAS THERE TO SUPPORT ME, AND IT TURNED OUT TO BE THE MOST HEALING EXPERIENCE I COULD HAVE HOPED FOR.

Knowing that this would be the last Dream On Dreamer album after 11 years of storied shredding and legacy-building, did that put any additional pressure on you to make the record stand out or sound especially great?

This record had absolutely no pressure at all. I think there was a lot of confidence found from the last one. We really just wanted to make a sequel to, or evolution of It

Comes And Goes. I actually wrote all the songs instrumentally a couple of months after that release, just because we were buzzing so much from all the feedback. So it was the most organic process to date. And in my experience, that sort of flow state leads to the best results. Fingers crossed this one hits the mark!

What was the biggest challenge you faced in recording this album, and how did you overcome it?

I was actually going through a pretty big change in my personal life while recording the vocals and mixing this record. I won’t go into too much detail, but it was a struggle. It was a “couldn’t keep down food and constantly had a sick feeling in my stomach” sort of situation. So I suppose the hardest part was being able to separate my personal life from the task at hand. Thankfully the band was there to support me, and it turned out to be the most healing experience I could have hoped for. I gained such an appreciation for music and my job through the whole experience. I have such a passion for what I do, and it’s something that no one can ever take away from me.

What was the most gratifying part of making this album?

I think the most rewarding thing to listen back on is the programming.

It’s an element I got into when we released “Don’t Lose Your Heart” in 2015, and it seemed to be a huge key to the song’s success. It’s a very enjoyable process – it’s very much a case of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. So again, no overthinking, just getting into a flow and saving the critical thinking for later. Listening back to all the ideas that came out is awesome because it feels like something I didn’t actually do – it just sort of happened.

Run us through the studio setup you had for What If I Told You…

Honestly, these days you don’t need much to make something – just a computer, interface and cheap microphone (we used the Shure SM7), and the rest is in your imagination. I could have made this record with just those three things.

What’s your secret behind recording music that can sound so ball-tearingly heavy one second, and then atmospheric and lowkey the next, without the transition ever feeling out-of-place or jarring?

I think the key is lots and lots of programming layers. You could take the drums and guitars out of this album and it would all still sound very musical and listenable. Meanwhile, if you took those programmed elements out, I think this record would be very boring and stale. It’s sort of the driving force behind it.

On a track like “Sentimental”, you’re fluctuating between these huge guitar-driven choruses, and verses that revel in really cerebral synths and drum beats. What’s the philosophy behind using dissonance and contrast to set a mood or exemplify thematic tone in a song?

Again, my sensei Dave Petrovic taught me the importance of making the chorus the climax of the song. It seems obvious, but it’s something I didn’t really understand or appreciate until he spelled it out for me. It’s very important to make sure the chorus stands out dynamically and has a lift in energy. That often means dialling things back for the verses, rather than trying to do too much for the chorus. Also, hearing distorted guitars for 40 minutes straight is not my idea of a good time. Maybe my ears are getting old and tired.

When you’re producing a record that you also perform on, are you paying much attention to how you’re going to replicate certain tones and recreate certain soundscapes in a live atmosphere?

Not at all. I think your main focus, when you’re in the studio, should be making things sound awesome and not letting anything get in the way of that. You can always find a way to make things work live – or if not, do an adaptation that brings the song to life in a new way for the live show.

What does the future hold for yourself as a musician and producer? Do you have any new projects on the horizon, or any goals you’re excited to kick?

I’m currently working on a heap of cool projects, co-writing the new Calibum record and finishing up production work with Young Lions, Bad/Love, Drown This City and

Bad Juju, plus a few other bits and pieces. I’m also in the early stages of starting a new creative project with my US producer buddy Cameron Mizell – who owns Chango Studios in Florida – which I’m very excited about. I’ll always be making music.