Selected By Bassment - EP. 3: MATT MILLER

Born & raised in Auckland, artist & producer Matt Miller has been making waves in the scene for a minute, having frequently collaborated with renowned kiwi rapper PNC, and even has production credits on Cashmere Cat’s ‘WATERGIRL’!

Most recently, he’s dropped his single ‘With U’ taking us into his unbelievable sonic universe featuring crunchy, euphoric electronic production with unreal drops, mixed with out-of-this-world vocal effects.

We’d love to know a little bit about your journey from when you first started producing!

A friend gave me a copy of FL Studio back in high school which is where I first was introduced to making music on a computer. For the next few years I would just make beats for fun and then started posting some on Soundcloud. I studied audio engineering and music production at MAINZ in 2012 and I think that same year I linked with rapper PNC and ended up producing a whole mixtape for him. From then I kept making music for fun, kind of off and on, but it wasn't really until this year where I feel I’m ready to introduce myself as a producer and artist.

We’re obsessed with your latest track ‘With U’! What was the writing and production process like for this one?

Thank you! There was a beat battle for the ‘BASSMENT People’ gig a while back and I made a 1 minute idea for it just for fun. I thought the song had potential so I kept working on it with the idea that I wanted it to make you feel something but at the same time I wanted it to slap at a festival or club. Many versions and mixes later ‘With u’ was created. I also made the 3D animation which was kind of a vague idea of what I imagine seeing when I heard the song.

So dope! And we just wanted to take a little throwback to when you co-produced “WATERGIRL” by Cashmere Cat alongside one of the biggest producers in the world Benny Blanco! What was that experience like?

Cashmere Cat has always been one of my biggest inspirations. So to be able to work on a song with him was crazy. At the time, I was asked if I wanted to go back to my day job early and I remember weighing up between getting paid or just staying home for another week and making music. I chose the latter and one of the ideas I made that week ended up becoming part of ‘WATERGIRL’.

The song ended up coming out like a year later I think. I was on holiday in Bali at the time and I remember waking up to see it had come out and playing it 50x on repeat in the hotel room. I'm hoping we will get to work in person the next time in the near future!

Amazing! Do you have other new music on the way soon? And if so, what can we expect from it?

Yessir. I'm planning to put out my first proper EP/LP soon which will just be a representation of where I'm at musically at this point. I'm hoping that no matter what genre of music you like, there will be at least 1 song you can enjoy. And there is definitely some songs I have produced for other artists on the way too.

We can’t wait to hear it! What would you say are your go-to tools when it comes to production?

FabFilter Pro-Q 3 and Waves Tune Real-Time (auto-tune). Also just using a microphone. I've been pretty much doing some sort of vocal thing on all my music lately. It's really fun making harmonies or just random vocal bits you can use as FX or just layers. My favourite VST at the moment is Purity for the og 2000s sounds and because it's not very CPU heavy. For DAW, I've always used FL studio but it doesn't matter what you use. Use whatever you like whatever you have available, there are no rules to music :)

Who are your biggest inspirations and influences in music?

At the moment production wise probably airynore, umru, Hi Tom and always SOPHIE. I love hearing something that just makes you feel some type of way or having no idea how they made that sound. I would love to work with Charli XCX, she's my favourite pop artist and Oklou is probably my favourite artist right now. I think her song ‘entertnmnt’ was my most played song last year. 

Who are some of your favourite NZ artists & DJs right now and are there any songs in particular that you love or connect with?

I'm kind of lacking with DJs cause I haven't lived here for a few years but I love supporting any friends or mutual friends that are DJs. Hopefully I can get schooled up on who's cool when we are out of lockdown. For NZ artists at the moment Mikey Dam, Mikeyy and Sam V especially the ‘biker boy’ song he just dropped. I'm also a big fan of BENEE. I would love to work with her.

What do you love most about living in New Zealand? Do you have any favourite places to travel to or local spots to visit?

Having recently moved back from Melbourne has made me appreciate how beautiful New Zealand is and how lucky we are to have all these super nice holiday spots and beaches within walking or driving distance. Anywhere you can road trip with friends or family is always going to be a good time.

What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learnt as a producer, and what advice do you have for other producers in NZ?

Just because you get one placement or do something notable it doesn't necessarily mean it will only get better from there. Just keep working on being 1% better everyday. If you haven't made it yet, it just means you aren't ready for whatever reason. I missed out on a few opportunities when I first started making music because I wasn't ready.

Build relationships with your peers in music. Whether this is online or IRL, you're all on the same journey so help each other and boss up together. This will benefit not only yourself and your peers but also the community. Also don't hesitate to hit me up if there is any advice or help I can give you.

Absolutely love that advice! Lastly, if you could say one thing to every person in the world, what would it be?

Life isn’t that deep, so don't stress about the small things :)

Thanks so much Matt! Make sure to keep up with him on Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify or Apple Music.