How did you get your Producer / Artist name?

Ironically for having a creative job I didn’t manage to come up with a creative name. It’s definitely a talking point I would bring up with other producers, especially ones which already have an alias, but the vast majority of people have said to keep it simple and use my own name.

Where are you from?

I’m from the north east of England and grew up in a small town around 20 minutes from Newcastle. I’ve recently moved into the city as it’s where my DJ residencies are based, whilst also being close to my studio.

How did you get into producing?

I come from a classical music background, with my first instrument being piano. I’ve always been involved with music throughout my life. I taught saxophone at a music academy for a number of years, I’ve written music for orchestras, played in rock bands, jazz bands, ensembles, you name it. I dropped out of university a couple of years ago where I was studying Business Management to pursue my career as a DJ, and it was at this point that I knew I needed to follow the producer dream. Coming from the background I have really helps when it comes to producing, and then being able to test my new tracks out in the clubs helps me to gain instant feedback for what works with my music and what needs to be improved on.

What did you do to advance your skills / knowledge?

The thing I found the most beneficial, and still do, is to go and sit in a studio with another producer. I’m still in the early stages of my producing career, however I know you never stop learning in this game. It’s amazing what tricks / techniques you can pick up from spending a day in the studio with another producer. For me I think it’s important to get out to the clubs where possible too. I know as a producer it’s important to have your own identity with your music, but since I focus on mainly producing house music it’s good to listen to what DJ’s are playing in the clubs and keeping yourself current in terms of style and sound.

What did your first setup look like?

My first setup was an old Dell laptop, with a second hand audio interface, and some speakers from an old hi fi system that were given to me. It wasn’t glamorous but I guess it did the job. I used it more at the time to write music / arrangements for bands and orchestras more than I did for producing. But this was the setup that I started to experiment with, and when I purchased my first DAW.

What does your current setup look like?

Thankfully things have moved on quite a bit, but my setup is still focused around a laptop, with logic being my DAW of choice. My main monitors are a set of Yamaha HS8’s which I like because they give a nice flat response to what you hear. My secondary monitors are KRK Rokit 5’s. I use these to make sure the bottom end still sounds balanced as these speakers add a lot of color to what you hear. The oldest bit of kit is my Mackie Big Knob which lets me switch between audio inputs and outputs with ease, and the Apollo twin mkII is the audio interface of choice for me. I have the other bits of kit like the Roland TR-8 and Machine, but truth be told everything focuses around the laptop for me. This makes it a lot easier for me to work when I’m traveling. Hopefully at some point I can please my inner geek and splash out on some of the classic synths like the Prophet - 5 and Minimoog.

If you could produce for any artist (dead or alive), who would it be?

I’ve always been drawn to female vocalists with powerful voices and rich tone. If a song comes on the radio with a warm female vocal it immediately catches my attention. I think Jess Glynne would be top of my list at the minute. I’ve always been a big fan of her sound and she is certainly somebody I would love to work with in the future.

What is your goal when you create?

The immediate goal for me is to make the listener feel something. At the moment with my current sound those feelings are generally joy and happiness. Euphoria is always a term I keep in my head when I am making music. I love the fact you can have people from all walks of life who have nothing in common, but your music can bring all these people together. The greater overall goal is to leave a legacy. Music is a timestamp that will always be there, and to think people could be listening to my music long after I’m gone is a pretty amazing thought.

What’s your go - to song right now?

Martin Ikin feat. Hayley May - How I Feel. I know the track has been out a little while now but for me it ticks all the boxes. It has beautiful rich pianos, an emotive yet simple vocal line, catchy percussion, and it provokes emotion from me and really gets me thinking. Still a banger!

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What is your dream as a Producer?

I think to a degree as humans we all seek some form of validation, for me it’s something I think about a lot. My dream is to simply make the best music that I can, to tell a story through sound, and to make people feel something. Hopefully I will be able to do that on a global scale and work with world famous artists throughout my career, but for me the goal is still exactly the same.

What is some advice you would give to someone with a dream to become a Producer?

Just do it. It can seem overwhelming to start with, but set yourself an overall goal along with lots of smaller goals to help you put a game plan in place. With the power of the internet there is so much knowledge available at the click of a button in order to help you achieve your goals, and the community from my own experience is very supportive and there to help. Most importantly just keep going and don’t throw in the towel when it gets tough. You’ll get there if you stick with it.

Where can people find you?

I pretty much always use Instagram as my main social media platform. I tend to document my studio days and behind the scenes stuff on Instagram stories, and from there you can access my DJ mixes, Facebook page and Spotify. @michaelwallsdj on the socials. I have lots of new music dropping this year, and 2020 is already shaping up to be pretty incredible!

Michael Walls interview | Respect the Producer Interview