Alex O'Keeffe
Alex O'Keeffe is a Wexford-born, Dublin- and London-based producer and songwriter, Working with artists like Sistra, Bobbi Arlo, Lyra, Fia Moon and on TV shows, and national campaigns.
"What's your strategy for achieving consistent vocal sounds when recording remotely with artists using different setups?”
Anytime I do a writing session and I have limited time with the artist, I’ll always focus on the vocal production and get as many vocal takes as possible. This way you won’t run into the situation of having different mics on a lead vocal. In the case of an artist who records their own vocals, I’ll have a zoom call with them and help them dial in a nice vocal sound for the song (if they need) and leave them off to do their thing! A lot of artists I work with who remote record use the SM7B which is great, it doesn’t pick up a lot of room noise. I’ve also made a pretty simple plugin chain to use for that mic so it’s a simple case of loading up the preset. If all else fails - work with great mixing engineers! Shout out to Mr. Darren Heelis.
"How do you handle the challenge of making samples and virtual instruments feel organic and alive?”
Lately I’ve been re-amping sounds through guitar pedals instead of using plugins. Slap back delays, chorus pedals and flangers are all so good at adding an extra dimension to digital sounds. It’s also waaaay more fun messing with the pedals instead of getting into lots of automation with plugins. Line6 have a good multifx pedal that I use called the M9, it has some cool modulation fx and delays. I’ll usually go for anything that can introduce some wobble or noise to add some texture. I’ve also been getting into ramping sounds through my guitar amp and recording that. Something about getting the sound outside of the computer and into real life things you can touch just hits different.
"What's your approach to incorporating live looping and performance elements into studio productions?”
I prefer to record full takes of parts instead of recording 4 bars and copy pasting parts around. It sounds like an obvious thing to do, but doing it that way allows for so much more magic to happen in the production.
I remember one major breakthrough I had ages ago was when I figured out that looping the same 4 bar guitar loop or piano loop around the song was the reason why my productions were feeling so stiff and lifeless. Little things like transitions between sections become so much more clear when you’re actually building it dynamically and in a performative way, instead of relying on a bunch of automation and fx in the box. I’m all about getting performance elements into songs these days!
"How do you maintain perspective during long mixing sessions?”
I’ll make as many confident decisions in a row as I can till I start to feel unsure of what to do next, then I’ll take a break. Regular breaks are so key for me to keep perspective and fresh ears. I also don’t like to compare my mix to another mix until the very end when I’m dialling in the overall loudness or brightness. I’m always striving to make something unique that I haven’t heard before, I don’t like comparing things when I’m in a creative zone.
"What's your strategy for helping artists find their unique voice in a saturated market?"
I think the key to standing out is authenticity. A friend told me recently: “I’m trying to make our music sound like only we could have made it.” I think that’s the perfect mindset to have if you’re aiming to stand out. Striving for real authenticity is so important. I’d say my strategy is all about making an environment where the artist is comfortable. When you’re comfortable, you’re going to be at your most authentic!
In terms of the production, I try to create a sound that reflects their individuality by experimenting with sounds that could highlight their uniqueness. Sometimes that’s using unconventional sounds or samples, blending genres, or embracing raw or unpolished elements. I want the music to feel genuine to the artist, I think all this leads to music that is both meaningful and memorable!
"What's your approach to building your profile while maintaining focus on the craft?"
I’ll reach out to artists who I really like and see if they’re interested in making some music together! I’ve discovered it’s important to A&R yourself as a producer/songwriter and hit up artists who you genuinely think you would make something class with. I suppose I’m able to maintain focus in the projects because I’m already interested in the people from the get go. I’ve also been pushing myself to build new connections by heading to London for sessions every month or so, some of the music that I am most proud of have come from these trips. Shout out to SISTRA’s new EP!
"How do you handle the balance between commercial work and passion projects?”
Time management is the key for this stuff. It’s important to have deadlines so each project gets the attention it deserves!
"How has the rise of AI and machine learning tools influenced your production workflow, and where do you see them fitting into the future of audio production?”
Apart from ChatGPT helping me reply to emails sometimes, I haven’t found a use for any machine learning in my workflow yet. The things I've tried like SUNO, while very impressive, feel like they're in the infancy stage. It’s such a growing industry, I’m very interested to see what it looks like this time next year.
"Tell me about a moment when everything was going wrong during a session, and how you turned it around?”
Haha stuff goes wrong in sessions all the time but this one happened recently. Most of the week I’m working from my home studio in Wexford, it’s always nice and quiet. On this day, an artist had travelled a couple hours on the train to record vocals with me. Everything was going great, we were just about to hit record when I noticed a large white van pull up right outside the studio window. I was a bit confused at who this could be, but then remembered that today was the day we were getting work done on the roof… absolute disaster. As you can imagine the vibe in the room completely flatlined when the ear-piercing sound of construction started.
I was sooo stressed out that I made someone travel 2 hours to my house for nothing other than to listen to the roof get repaired.
After an hour of this we took a long break and ended up cooking some food together. The food completely turned things around and we ended up laughing at the good of it. The food gods even made the roof repair go by pretty fast so we actually got to record! Food is an unbelievable session saver, can’t recommend it enough.
"We all suffer from wanting the New New gear....How do you balance investing in new technology versus maintaining reliable legacy systems?"
Whenever I feel a bit bored or stuck creatively I’ll go shopping for new plugins or bits of gear. Recently I got a new synthesiser from UDO called the Super 6. It’s killer, but there is sooo much left for me to learn on it… it feels kind of endless which is exciting. I’ve never had a synthesiser that goes as deep as the super 6 and I’m really enjoying the learning curve. I’m always stumbling on some new sounds or ways to use it because I haven’t learned it inside-out yet or even read the manual really. I feel like getting new gear really helps me grow creatively because of the learning curve. For example, I studied guitar in college for 4 years and I don’t often find myself experimenting with it sonically as in depth as I can go with the Super 6. I think new gear is good!
"How has social media influenced your business development strategy?”
It’s a great way to connect with artists and other musicians. Sometimes if I'm making a sketch or an idea I'll share it on my IG story and an artist might reach out and ask if they can use it for their own project.
"How do you handle the increasing demand for content creation beyond just audio production?”
I used to really enjoy posting on Instagram while I was studying in BIMM. It really helped me get gigs, network and find artists. This is all still true.. but because of the fact I’ve gotten a bit older, I definitely feel the cringe and embarrassment of recording myself poorly playing guitar or keys on a track I’m working on, and sharing it online. Somehow IG is still where I get the majority of messages from artists looking to work, so I’ll always devote some time to making content.
"Looking back, what advice would you give to yourself when you were just starting out?"
Keep making those shitty beats because they’re becoming slightly less shit
"Whats the one bit of gear that you felt yourself taking that next jump up in your production work be it a mic or outboard or a deadly coffee machine"
When I was first getting into audio production at 15, I didn’t know DAWs like Logic existed. I just knew my favourite band at the time The Black Keys had used a 4 track cassette recorder to make their first albums. I bought a Tascam 8 track recorder that could burn CDs off adverts.ie and used that for a year before I found out about Logic. I’ve never felt a jump like moving to Logic from an 8 track to be honest haha its crazy thinking back
More recently though, I bought my first really nice microphone! The Telefunken TF51. It’s absolutely fantastic.
https://www.aokproducer.com/