Interviews

Danny Ward (aka MoodyManc) is Balaphonic and this week he releases his Resolution Revolutions on ultra Balearic label NuNorthern Soul. We have the pleasure of sitting down with this talented producer to talk about his creative process.

Where does the impulse to create something come from in you?

Usually if I hear a record, or go to a gig, or even see something online more recently, but it might also be something political, a speech, a poem or a conversation or even an image, film or painting. It comes in many forms.

Because I'm a drummer and percussionist first and foremost it might be something I'm exploring rhythm or sound wise, or something that's happened on a gig that I'm playing that I think I might want to explore further when I get back into the studio.

As a DJ and collector I'm on a constant quest to find and play (in my opinion) the best in brand new music from right across the spectrum. I’m finding so much wonderful music being created and released these days that I never cease to be inspired…..I am also of course constantly digging back!

Studio wise I’m very lucky that I get to work on other people’s projects, either as a musician or engineer or remixer (often a combination) so in these cases there’s an immediate impetus and very focused source of inspiration.

What roles do stuff like art, relationships, and the world play for you in the the ideas process?

It can often be everything. I’m a big fan of symmetry, patterns and perspective, both visually and sonically, and can be inspired by things I see or hear in that respect. When mix engineering I tend to conceive an aural picture that I’m trying to describe: There’s a frame both in terms of frequency and dynamic ranges, but also depth, width and focus...

I’m also politically assertive and socially aware, and I enjoy people, humour and language, all inputs in the process- sometimes more overt in the output. Not always understood or felt of course, but that’s not generally a concern.

For you to get started, does there need to be concrete ideas for you to make a track?

It can definitely help as a starting point. As mentioned above I feel really lucky to work on projects with or for other artists so there’s an immediate source and often a desired outcome, but I also spend time just sitting in front of the computer coming up with beats, almost like it’s a sketch pad. I’ve got hundreds, if not thousands of these ideas that often remain as such. Sometimes I’ll keep re-visitng and developing them forever without any aim other than to play around, sometimes they might become something which I may feel could translate to a finished piece or release but it can be most fun when there’s no immediate agenda.

What is the balance between planning and improvisation for you?

To be honest it comes in phases, and often is dependent on what projects I’m involved with work wise. I’m fortunate to be pretty much full time with music stuff but that in itself means spinning a lot of plates. If I’m working with other artists or labels, that’s a lot more planned or structured as such but the nature of that stuff is that it ebbs and flows so when there’s less of it there’s more time to play with my own ideas.

I’m also very active both as a DJ and as a gigging (often jazz) musican. Improvisation is integral to both of these activities for me and therefore, as part of my overall life.

Is there a preparation phase for your process?

Definitely. Music for me is all about practice. Both as a player/performer but also as an artist. This can be the nuts and bolts of sitting behind a drum and working on the rudiments, or digging through new music and organising it in a way that might be condusive to playing out with it in public as much as exploring sounds and grooves in the studio, but it’s also important to live life as an artist; to draw from everything and allow it to feed the process.

For your latest release what did you start with? Were there conceptual considerations and what were they?

I started work on the tracks that are on Resolution Revolutions during lockdown. Balaphonic as a project has always been instigated by recording organic percussion instruments (it started with me recording different ideas on a Balafonwhich is a kind of African xylophone, then buidling around it, but most of my focus and output for decades has been directed towards dance floors and Djs full stop. All of a sudden, because of Covid that was in many ways irrelevant and yet I’d spent years studying and refining ways in which to record and present ideas I’ve had around drums and percussion with that forum in mind. I just decided to set up some microphones and dig out a lot of different percussion instruments and start recording grooves and sounds using those techniques but with the freedom to be a little more organic in the approach and process: I wasn’t really led by satisfying a specific tempo range, time signature, sonic pallette or structure. In fact, in some ways I decided to explore these aspects in ways that I might never have otherwise.

One example from the album is the track Udders: I have 5 Udus (the Udu is traditionally a clay water pot played by Igbo women in Nigeria which produces some deep bass tones as well as high pitched rings). I decided to work on a groove with all 5, in a 5/4 time signature (of course!). There’s a solo section where I partially filled one with water, tipping it to different degrees to affect the pitch when tapping to try to express some (very simple!) harmonic ideas. They are relatively quiet instrumets so I spent quite a bit of time trying to optimise the recordings with the gear and space available. If you listen out you’ll hear them in a couple of the other tracks too!

Tell us a bit about the way Resolution Revolutions developed and gradually took its final form.

One hugely liberating thing about lockdown was that I suddenly felt free from constraints on time and had no expectations of making a living. This felt like a big shift. It made me realise that despite always trying to be sincere artistically that these factors had invariably been an influence, particularly with the focus on making and releasing records, so I spent a lot of time experimenting: different mic positions, different spaces, playing the instruments I had around me in different ways and eventually re-visiting some sessions and tracks I’d done in the past with musician friends.

I also started work to collaborate on a project (Ocean Waves Brasil) with an Italian record producer, Carlo Variola (with whom I had previously worked on a Jamaican reggae release). He had moved to North East Brazil just before lockdown and had started to muti track record local Candomble religious ceremonies, sending the recordings to me to re-interpret. One of these tracks, Oxum, is on this album.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later?

I think it’s always important to digest and reflect. Sometimes, in the case of mixes or remixes it might just be overnight. Often with my own releases there’ll be a period between finishing and mastering so I’ll re visit the mix then and make any adjustments I feel I might want to hear.

How much tweaking do you allow until you're satisfied with a track?

This can really depend. I tend to have different heads on in the process. Firstly the creative head when I’m developing the idea-sometimes I might spend weeks messing around with an 8 bar loop before it goes anywhere, sometimes it all comes together in a matter of hours, but then I arrange the track according to where it might be going-either in terms of release format or even where it might sit with other tacks if it’s an EP or album. Afterwards put my engineer head on to work on the mix. Once this is down I might check on a couple of systems or play out if it’s that kind of thing and make the odd minor tweak, but often at this stage I’m just making changes I’d like to hear rather than correcting anything as such. It’s not necessarily making anything better, just scratching the itch!

Do you find that the feedback of others is important to you? Are there sometimes misunderstandings or does feedback from you peers help you to gain new insights?

As much as I like to consider myself process driven, and in many ways take some perverse pleasure in going against the flow in terms of trend, if feedback wasn’t important there’d be no point in releasing stuff into the public domain. It’s always uplifting when friends like what you do (I’ll take the kindness and sympathy as much as the the genuine stuff-it can be a lonely life!) and when there’s positivity and support from artists or Djs that you admire it’s incredibly satisfying.

There’s also a certain amount of surprise- I’ve never been (knowingly) a big fan of popular music and I don’t really strive to make music that might be such so it’s nice if it’s picked up on but also sometimes reassuring when it’s not. It’s rare to get negative feedback (who’s got the time?) though it does happen. It’s always taken on board (I’m not that cool) but sometimes you look at where it’s come from and think, yeah well this is DEFINITELY NOT for you my friend, so generally it’s a win-win! :)

What was most important for you to convey throught this release? Do you feel you have achieved it?

Without wanting to sound trite this album was very much made with love, during some happy, trippy, sunny days. The focus was on enjoying and exploring the music itself more than trying to achieve any kind of abstract success. I’m incredibly happy with it. I genuinely do hope that comes across.

Check out the latest release from Balaphonic.