Track Breakdown: KAAZE on the making of 'Reach Out I’ll Be There'
KAAZE talks us through the creation of his latest single.
Trailblazing producer KAAZE has made a name for himself by blending emotional songwriting with high-octane festival energy, and his latest release, a rework of the Four Tops’ classic “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” is no exception.
Step into the studio with KAAZE as he walks us through the inspiration, production techniques, sound design choices and personal touches that brought 'Reach Out I’ll Be There' into a whole new dancefloor era.
So you’ve fired up your chosen DAW, started a bank project, what are your first action points from here to begin creating Reach Out I’ll Be There?
For 'Reach Out I’ll Be There,' it started with recreating the flute/guitar sample from scratch since that was going to be the key element of the song.
What plugins were key to the making of this track?
On the flute part, I wanted to make sure it sounded authentically vintage, so I added some Waves amp plugins and also a vinylizer to give it that distance recording sound. In terms of the drop elements, I used a record amount of distortion on various sounds like the drop pluck lead and the Reese sound in the last drop. It made sense to have things a bit rougher so it could match nicely with the flute part.
How do you typically source new samples, and what inspired you to select this Motown classic in particular?
I’ve had this idea lying around for quite some years. The first time I heard a sample idea of this song was an old version of Sander Van Doorn back when I started producing 15 years ago or something.
Do you produce with a live crowd in mind? Was this the case with Reach Out I’ll Be There?
Absolutely! This song was purely made for my sets. It’s a bit outside the box of my 'Hot Teknō' sound because of the heavy Reese sounds.
What has the fan reaction been like when you’ve played this one live? And do you have a go-to track at the moment that you find transitions well?
Already, the very first demo of it went off to be honest. I was so happy to see the reaction, then I posted it a few times on my socials, and it blew up there as well, so I knew I had something good going on.
In terms of “go-to track," it's always various, I feel. More than 80% of my sets at the moment are unreleased tracks, but some of them are mashed up with popular songs, so there’s always some secret weapons to through in!
Reach Out I’ll Be There is on Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike’s Smash The House. How did you come to sign the track with the label in particular? What makes it a good fit in your opinion?
Since last summer, I’ve had a great run with Smash The House, starting with Papi, which was the most played song at Tomorrowland, followed up by Faded and Maneater. And all tracks have done really good, so it felt really nice putting this one at Smash again!
Do you ever hit ‘writer’s block’ in the studio? If so, what do you do to work around this?
Yes and no. So what I do is I put a timer on myself when I start a new project. Around 35 minutes each time to come up with something. When the timer goes off, I’ll check and see if I have something worth continuing on; if not, I reset the timer and start over. I like to work very fast, and in the beginning, it’s all about finding the idea and not focusing too much on sound design. If I like the idea I’m working on, then I’ll go back and tweak the sounds.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given from another DJ/producer?
Be patient...
Tell us one non-music-related essential we’d find in your home studio set-up?
Two full racks of approximately 150 perfume bottles. I’m a big collector of perfumes, and I often use scents as inspiration for my music.
