Levo’s name may well be new to many, but certainly not me - having spent a chunk of our college days aspiring to be DJ’s and in my case failing! His journey in house music has many tales to tell, with it culminating with his own label, League Records, a string of releases under his belt and collaborations taking him into new territories. His next EP comes on my own UM Records, so what better chance to catch up with an old friend and ask some key questions.
Hello Richie, this is a bit weird, I haven’t seen you for 10 years because you thought New Zealand was a nicer place to live than Middlesborough. I don’t know what you were thinking! I’ll keep this interview professional and not mention any Uni stories:)
Deeper house has been a progression really... House music has been a massive part of my life through my teenage years, spending my pocket money on 12” imports and enjoying the club scene in Nottingham in the 90s. As I’ve got a little older, deeper house has appealed to me more. It’s still kept the authenticity of house roots and still feels soulful with jazzy vibes. It’s uplifting but also can be quite smooth and chilled out. The last 5 years I’ve invested more time into deep house and thought that’s the style of music I want to be producing.
Ha ha! I stole those decks, they were from my parents and sisters stacking systems. I bought a second-hand Tandy 4 channel mixer and started doing mix tapes when I was 16. Fast forward a few years later and I took my desks to Uni (where we met) and tried to teach you how to beat match! Not easy without pitch control! DJing was a lot of fun and sometimes nerve wracking. I did pirate radio, a few clubs around the East Midlands and a few raves. It was a hard slog and I never made any money back then. I always liked doing mash-ups or remixes (Let’s not mention the Barry White/Prodigy mash-up). I preferred making something new than playing other artists tracks. I was always more interested in music production and knew one day I’d get into it. It was just a matter of time.
It’s hard to say there would be one particular big influence as there have been a lot of great influences over the years. I think original Chicago house still is the backbone of what I do. So Frankie Knuckles, Mr Fingers, DJ International and Trax labels. Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk and Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley and Todd Terry. I think ‘Can U Dance’ by Kenny ‘Jammin’ Jason on Champion was the track that made me fall in love with House Music.
Using old decks, a mixer, mini discs, an old Yamaha keyboard, creating some crazy mash-ups. I had to get creative with lots of overdubbing to record all the parts. It was very frustrating, but exciting creating new music albeit very bad music! Then I got hold of Cubase, Reason, Ableton then Logic and finally found a workflow that I was completely happy with.
Small studio at home with an iMac, Logic X, M-Audio Code49, Yamaha HS7s
I never really plan in time but I’ll always try and make time to sit down and start working on a new track. It could be 7am or 9pm. It depends if I’m feeling creative and have been inspired. Sometimes you are working on one track and it sparks an idea for another and before you know it, you’ve got 4/5 tracks on the go. I think you have to push yourself to a certain degree or you could be waiting a long time for inspiration to strike.
Just that... building my own sound. It’s easy to fall into the trap of sounding like every other producer. It’s so important to find sounds that are different so you can put you stamp on tracks.
Not to over cook it. Less is more. Being confident about what I’m composing and making it sound the best it can be. If you keep adding layers to the track for the sake of it then you really haven’t got a track in the first place. Arrangement of a track was a big learning curve. Giving the track a vibe and keeping the track interesting over 6-7mins.
Pretty simple really, I was making music, sending it to labels and either getting fobbed off or ignored. So I started my own label just so I could get my music out there.
It’s early days yet and we’re still finding our feet. I’ve realised now that starting a label is quite easy but making it work, putting in the time to market and promote tracks is very time consuming. The best bit is that I know I can release all of my music. The worst bit is going through all the EDM banger demos.
All successful labels release consistent good quality tracks. Take time to make sure releases sound the best they can be, so use good mix and mastering engineers. Don’t rush releases. There’s a lot of competition and there’s a lot of music being made so don’t expect the magic to happen overnight... unless you have masters degree in streaming algorithms:)
My first release on League Records which was a track called ‘Joobee’ It was dedicated to my wife to get her on board! It kind of set the tone of the label and what kind of music I wanted to make. It was one of those tracks that was made in a few hours and just work straight away. I wish all tracks were that easy!
Nice deeper vibes, great baselines and a few blasts from the past. 60 mins of niceness.
I’ve just release ‘Keys of Life EP’ on my label. 4 Tracks with more of a piano groove. Hopefully working more with Col Lawton for Deep Fix recordings... We’ll see, maybe another UM release in 2021...
Where can people follow you?
Hello Richie, this is a bit weird, I haven’t seen you for 10 years because you thought New Zealand was a nicer place to live than Middlesborough. I don’t know what you were thinking! I’ll keep this interview professional and not mention any Uni stories:)
Deeper house has been a progression really... House music has been a massive part of my life through my teenage years, spending my pocket money on 12” imports and enjoying the club scene in Nottingham in the 90s. As I’ve got a little older, deeper house has appealed to me more. It’s still kept the authenticity of house roots and still feels soulful with jazzy vibes. It’s uplifting but also can be quite smooth and chilled out. The last 5 years I’ve invested more time into deep house and thought that’s the style of music I want to be producing.
Ha ha! I stole those decks, they were from my parents and sisters stacking systems. I bought a second-hand Tandy 4 channel mixer and started doing mix tapes when I was 16. Fast forward a few years later and I took my desks to Uni (where we met) and tried to teach you how to beat match! Not easy without pitch control! DJing was a lot of fun and sometimes nerve wracking. I did pirate radio, a few clubs around the East Midlands and a few raves. It was a hard slog and I never made any money back then. I always liked doing mash-ups or remixes (Let’s not mention the Barry White/Prodigy mash-up). I preferred making something new than playing other artists tracks. I was always more interested in music production and knew one day I’d get into it. It was just a matter of time.
It’s hard to say there would be one particular big influence as there have been a lot of great influences over the years. I think original Chicago house still is the backbone of what I do. So Frankie Knuckles, Mr Fingers, DJ International and Trax labels. Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk and Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley and Todd Terry. I think ‘Can U Dance’ by Kenny ‘Jammin’ Jason on Champion was the track that made me fall in love with House Music.
Using old decks, a mixer, mini discs, an old Yamaha keyboard, creating some crazy mash-ups. I had to get creative with lots of overdubbing to record all the parts. It was very frustrating, but exciting creating new music albeit very bad music! Then I got hold of Cubase, Reason, Ableton then Logic and finally found a workflow that I was completely happy with.
Small studio at home with an iMac, Logic X, M-Audio Code49, Yamaha HS7s
I never really plan in time but I’ll always try and make time to sit down and start working on a new track. It could be 7am or 9pm. It depends if I’m feeling creative and have been inspired. Sometimes you are working on one track and it sparks an idea for another and before you know it, you’ve got 4/5 tracks on the go. I think you have to push yourself to a certain degree or you could be waiting a long time for inspiration to strike.
Just that... building my own sound. It’s easy to fall into the trap of sounding like every other producer. It’s so important to find sounds that are different so you can put you stamp on tracks.
Not to over cook it. Less is more. Being confident about what I’m composing and making it sound the best it can be. If you keep adding layers to the track for the sake of it then you really haven’t got a track in the first place. Arrangement of a track was a big learning curve. Giving the track a vibe and keeping the track interesting over 6-7mins.
Pretty simple really, I was making music, sending it to labels and either getting fobbed off or ignored. So I started my own label just so I could get my music out there.
It’s early days yet and we’re still finding our feet. I’ve realised now that starting a label is quite easy but making it work, putting in the time to market and promote tracks is very time consuming. The best bit is that I know I can release all of my music. The worst bit is going through all the EDM banger demos.
All successful labels release consistent good quality tracks. Take time to make sure releases sound the best they can be, so use good mix and mastering engineers. Don’t rush releases. There’s a lot of competition and there’s a lot of music being made so don’t expect the magic to happen overnight... unless you have masters degree in streaming algorithms:)
My first release on League Records which was a track called ‘Joobee’ It was dedicated to my wife to get her on board! It kind of set the tone of the label and what kind of music I wanted to make. It was one of those tracks that was made in a few hours and just work straight away. I wish all tracks were that easy!
Nice deeper vibes, great baselines and a few blasts from the past. 60 mins of niceness.
I’ve just release ‘Keys of Life EP’ on my label. 4 Tracks with more of a piano groove. Hopefully working more with Col Lawton for Deep Fix recordings... We’ll see, maybe another UM release in 2021...
Where can people follow you?