Mia Moretti has built her career on finding the soul in forgotten records and transforming them into something fresh. Her latest single, “Best I Can” featuring Vonita White, continues that ethos, blending the raw energy of 90s house with her distinct touch. The track brings Vonita, the original vocalist from a rare mid-90s Baltimore house gem, back into the studio to reimagine a song that’s been a staple in Moretti’s crates for years. With its driving bassline, live percussion, and White’s powerful vocals, “Best I Can” strikes a balance between honoring its roots and creating something undeniably contemporary.
In addition to the release, Mia has also had a massive year this year – from joining Jamie Jones in Dubai last weekend through to playing the Do Lab at Coachella while joined by her best friend Katie Perry, and her DJing career, which has spanned the music and fashion worlds, has seen go from being described as one of the ‘New Club Kids’ by the NY Times to an artist who played for the likes of Solid Grooves and Bedouin’s Saga in Ibiza this summer.
To support and celebrate the release, Moretti has shared a list of tips for producers that perfectly encapsulate the philosophy behind her own creative process. From starting sessions with a clear idea to embracing collaboration, her advice is both practical and refreshingly honest.
Mia Moretti: Instagram / Soundcloud
Spaghetti Moretti: Instagram / Beatport
Production as a tool of total self-exploration…
1- Have an idea:
Start every session with an idea of what you want to create. Your ideas are your identity. Know who you are and let the ideas lead the process of what you are making.
2- Borrow an idea:
If you don’t have anything to get you started, I’m not sure why you are making music, but if you must continue, borrow an idea. Grab a reference track, throw it in your session, and mimic it. Once you get going, replace everything you copied and its elements one by one. Hopefully, this will be a jumping board for original ideas to start flowing.
3- There’s no one way:
If you get stuck on something in your DAWs, find a new way to do it. Invent your own tricks out of necessity.
4- Understand your strengths and weaknesses:
Focus on what you love to do and what you excel at. Don’t get stuck on the things you can’t do. You don’t need to be good at everything. Find a production partner or group that can help you with the things you are not good at, and help them with the things you are good at.
Lean on your community. If you don’t have one, start one.
5- Production as total self-exploration:
If you get stuck or something, ask yourself why. Get to know yourself as a producer. Know when your ego is talking, when your fear is talking and when the artist inside you is talking to you. Remember, this is art. Let that lead your process. Let go of the rest.
6- A track is a painting:
I think of songs as paintings. You start with a blank canvas, and you can go anywhere. There is no right or wrong way to paint, there are only colors. If two colors are not working well together, erase one and try another. Keep trying until the painting looks nice.
7- Be a sound explorer:
If you are making a track, you are declaring yourself to be an expert in your field. You better know your field. Go hunt for music. Go listen to DJs. Go watch people dance. Listen to different genres. Listen to music from various decades. Go back and look at your first introduction to music. There’s a good chance there is something in your childhood that informs who are you as a producer today. Go deep and wide. Leave no rock unturned.
8- Don’t listen to everyone:
Everyone has an opinion, but guess what, not everybody is right.
The only opinion you should care about is your own. Fall in love with your music and fight for it. If you want advice from someone, it better be someone who makes music that you love. Otherwise, I recommend you listen kindly and carry on with what your heart tells you to do.
9- We could all die tomorrow:
Have fun, please. If you are reading this you are already living your dream.
10- Spend the money where it counts:
Your samples, your plug-ins, the live recording, the mix engineer, the master — it is different for everyone, but decide where you think your money will go the furthest and dedicate your budget to that. For my ‘Tambor’ EP, my budget went into clearing the samples.
For the remix package, I put the budget that was left after hiring the remixers towards my mix engineer because I wanted them all to sound as good as the original versions – and to hold up against each other. For my latest single, ‘Best I Can’, I put the budget towards the singer and our session together, because the song was so much about her. No matter how much you have, decide where you want to spend it and make it count.
The post What Mia Moretti Wants New Producers to Know About Finding Their Voice appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.