INTRODUCING: SKOPE

September 20, 2015

The latest addition to the Inspected family has become fully engrained into our roster, and we couldn't be happier with the feedback from the fans. We're constantly looking for artists around the world who inject fresh ideas and sounds into the music we release, we found that in Skope. After the recent release of the Nordic EP on Inspected and a stellar performance at Boomtown, we managed to grab a few hours of his time to shed some light on why we were determined to add Skope to our lineup.

[INSP]: The latest member of the Inspected family, Skope! How have the last few months been for you, have you recovered from Boomtown yet?

[SKOPE]: Hello! Great thanks, but really hectic as I just relocated to London so I've been moving my studio and getting into the new place whilst hitting Boomtown, Shambala and a few gigs in between. With all that coupled with my first release with you guys and lots of new material in the works it has been a really crazy time for me. But lots of great things happening so I'm really happy and excited.

[INSP]: Give us some background on how you started out producing music, was it something you ever thought would be your career?

[SKOPE]: Music has always been a big part of my life even before I discovered production. My friends were really musical at school so we used to jam with guitars and beatboxing and things like that as we were all really into hip hop and funk. I started picking up the keyboard so i could join in more which is where I first discovered synths. It wasn't until I left school that I was introduced to electronic music and started going out to parties and clubs which is where I discovered Dubstep. At this point I got my hands on a pair of decks and Logic so I could get involved. It took a while to get to a point where I could actually get my own tracks good enough to mix with the stuff I was playing, and when I could, I could hear there was something not quite right. So I put myself through around 4 years of education at IMW in London and ACM in Guildford to really build on my skills and refine them. I left ACM last September and have been self employed working in the music industry for a year now. I don't think there was ever a point where I decided this is my career now. It was just a series of decisions that allowed to spend more time working on and perfecting my music that led me here.

[INSP]: The latest EP, Nordic, was been a massive hit. How long was that in the making for, and if you had to pick your own favourite track which would it be?

[SKOPE]: Thanks. This EP has changed shape a few times. There are several tracks that we dropped and replaced with newer ones. I think the oldest track is Outlaw which we had leaked a bit online a while ago. Spaniard was the longest labor on the EP and probably my favourite too. I had the first drop done ages ago but never got round to finishing it. Then I listened back one day and thought this has to be finished, I just love the Guitar riff. Nordic and Wouldn't I are more recent productions and probably more of a hint at some of the new sounds I'm working on.

[INSP]: Something we've been often asked by fans is what kind of equipment our artists use to make their music. So what's in the Skope toolbox?

[SKOPE]: So, I mainly work inside the box and create sounds using synths and samples. One particular tool I have been using a lot on all my recent productions is Addictive Drums. I use this for almost all my drums now combined with some synthesis and samples. I use Ableton stock plugins as much as possible but there are a few plugins that I rely on heavily such as CamelPhat, Izotope Trash2, Fabfilter Pro L, Waves Renaissance Plugins, Sonnox Transmod and of course the native instruments bundle. On this EP I got the chance to work with some musician friends of mine to record the fretless bass on Nordic and the guitar top line on The spaniard, we also recorded Seppa on his saxophone a bit for the collaboration. Live instruments are something I highly value in music as they add a delicacy to an otherwise aggressive sound scape. My hardware setup contains a pair of Adam A7x with Sub8, Focusrite interface, Korg Kaoss Pad, Lexicon MPX100 multi effects unit, FMR Audio RNC1773 compressor and a Yamaha Reface DX synth. The only thing I get a lot of use out of is the Kaoss Pad as it's great for twisting up sounds and adding a nice finish to tracks. The DX is a great FM synth based on the original DX7 and I have got some nasty bass sound out of that, However, it doesn't hit the shops just yet but will be available soon. I also borrowed a Nord Rack 2 which I used for the baseline in Nordic (with lots of internal processing), it's also great for leads!

[INSP]: With under half the year left what's the plan? Concentrating on more music, shows, collaborations?

[SKOPE]: All of the above! Just been working on a collaboration with Stickybuds down the more funky side of things, been working on lots of dnb with a few people in that scene. Currently speaking with booking agents about Canada and Australia shows. Plus I'm already hard at work on another EP!

[INSP]: Finally we like to finish on: Dream Collaboration? and Your Most Played Song This Year?

[SKOPE]: There a quite a few people I'd love to work with in the electronic scene but I think the best music collaborations come form artists who all provide something different. So I would say Go Go Penguin as their musicianship is second to none.

Most Listened to track - 20syl - Copycatt

Most Played track - Uppermost - Faster

Connect with Skope on Facebook or Soundcloud