An Interview with Reso

An Interview with Reso

04 July, 2011
by: Joj

The rise and rise of Reso, as told by the man himself..

Alex Melia, a.k.a. Reso, has come a long way from the home-grown, ex-band, bedroom producer he started out as. Having branched out across a variety of genres and honed some serious chops as both producer and DJ, he is now an established identity in dubstep as well as drum and bass and a familiar face in London’s biggest clubs. Reso tells us about his sounds, his success and how he got here in the first place.

Having grown up playing in bands, how has that affected you (in terms of production) musically later on?

Playing in bands was great for learning how different instruments interact, especially the drums and bass. In making bass driven dance music, where the emphasis tends to be on beats and bass lines, understanding how these two elements work together is crucial. Jamming with various different bass players and listening to what they played really helped when it comes to programming bass parts. I tend to regard all the elements in my tracks as if they were played by a band, giving parts space to breathe and shine through etc. I’d recommend to anyone who's serious about production that they should learn an instrument and play in a band. 

I’ve heard that you once lived with Rusko, before you were both big names. Did you get into producing and the dubstep the scene together?

Yeah, it was Rusko who introduced me to dubstep at a party in Leeds. Living together was great fun as we used to show each other ideas and give advice. I heard 'Cockney Thug' through the wall for a week solid, drove me a bit mental to be honest, haha! Ask Chris about the squirrel under the bath incident... 

One of the tunes that switched me on to Dubstep was your old track 'Logical', how did that track come about initially?

'Logical' was an attempt at making a liquid dnb inspired dubstep track. The idea just popped into my head so I gave it a crack. I'm happy with the result. 

With dubstep under your belt, at what point did you decide you were ready to start making drum n bass?

I've always been into dnb but all the early dnb tracks I made were a bit cack. When I felt my production was of a reasonable standard, I thought i'd give it another go. I'm really enjoying it as you can implement ideas that wouldn't work at slower tempos. Plus it keeps things exciting! 

Now that you produce both, how has that affected your DJ sets?

I tend to play half and half now, shifting from 140 to 170, back to 140, then to 100bpm etc. It makes it more fun as a DJ and hopefully more interesting to listen to from a crowd’s perspective. Switching tempos really gives tunes more of an impact I find. 

What music do you enjoy listening to outside of dnb and dubstep? And which of those affect your own sound?

I listen to a lot of other music, far too much to list really. They all affect my sound, for instance a guitar passage from a post rock tune might give me a good idea for a lead part in a dnb tune. 

Could you tell us a bit about the forthcoming album, and what you have tried to achieve with it?

The keyword is variation. The tracks are all very different, but still have some common elements and ideas among them. It's dubstep, some breaks, some dnb, hip hop, ambient, so basically all the music I like and enjoy producing. It's probably a bit lighter than some people might expect, with lots of melodies. I find the albums I go back to again and again are quite melodic. People will probably be disappointed if they're expecting an album of ten bangers. That's not what I set out to do, I want to be able to listen back in five years time and still enjoy it. To me melodies don't age where as bangers can sound dated after six months.  

Any dream events/nights/festivals you haven’t played yet?

I'd like to play in the Ewok Village at Shambala in Canada. That'd be splendid. 

Who is on your dream money-no-object line-up and where would the party be?

Rick James, Deftones, John Coltrane, Boards of Canada, S.S.T band, Gabba Surgeons, Ceephax Acid Crew, Noisia, DJ Funk at Alton towers.

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Joj