Wonky Llama AMA

[WonkyLlama]

What has it been like balancing your individual acts and working on Wonky Llama at the same time? Do you go back and forth or try to work on both simultaneously?

And, maybe a little different but, what has your combined experiences been as you’ve seen such an incredible rise in popularity/fame over recent years (is it weird? Are you pretty neutral about it?)

Thanks so much for doing this!

Hey Ren :)

I don't think we really have much of an issue balancing different projects, it's more a matter of balancing other life stuff with the music projects. For example, Will has to balance school and music, and I have to balance gigging vs producing. Sometimes we'll switch focus for a bit to work on solo stuff but we're pretty much always in communication about whatever we're working on.

Well first of all I would never consider either of us to be famous. In the grand scheme of things we're kind of just a tiny blip on the radar compared to actually famous people. Also Will and I are at different points in our lives because of the age difference. I was already in college studying music when I met Will, and now I have a pretty established solo career, and now Will is in the position I was in when I first met him (in college nearing graduation, and just beginning to get his Schmoop project out there). So I think our experiences are quite different in regards to our rise in popularity whether is be our solo projects or our collab project. That being said, I think we're pretty neutral about the idea of popularity and fame and don't really care much for it, as long as the music is good. But to be clear, we are very grateful for the fanbase we have :)

-Sky

[Resonant Language]

1. What's the average amount of time it takes for you guys to get a tune from start to finish?
2. How did you guys come up with the name and why did you not go with the more obvious choice of Stable Alpaca?

[WonkyLlama]

What are your favorite plugins for imaging?

Hey Greg!

I'm not sure if you're referring to tools for analyzing stereo imaging, or tools for controlling/adding width to a stereo signal, so I will answer both.

For analysis, we use Flux Analyzer, which has a variety of different meters for loudness, stereo imaging, and spectrum analysis. (https://www.flux.audio/project/pure-analyser-essential/) You may recognize it from clips on Sky's instagram. Its low latency and has a quicker refresh rate than a stock spectrum analyzer from a DAW (and can show you so much more).

Favorite plugins for creating stereo: Fabfilter Pro-R, Toraverb 2, SerumFX Hyper/Dimension & Chorus/Reverb, Native Instruments Choral, and even Ableton's native Reverb. Basically any tool that can add width without affecting the low-end. (Also delays, delays, delays)

- Will

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Love the tunes and the latest EP. Two questions:

1. Do you have a favorite performance you've done?
2. Who are some of your favorite visual artists right now? Saw you live for the first time at Nightmare Fest and was absolutely mindfucked by the visual aspect of the show and how well it fit your music.

Hey there!

My fav performance I've done is definitely the Mission Ballroom set. It was the last show I did so I had the most new material, and having new stuff to play is definitely a big factor for me. It was also just a very beautiful experience, being able to bring out some of my biggest influences and best friends to the largest venue I've ever headlined. I got to curate my set exactly as I wanted, with lots of room for more chill stuff, whereas with festivals I usually try to bring mostly heaters. I worked super hard on updating old tracks and finishing new ones for that set.

I really love everyone I work with in the visual world. I have no knowledge when it comes to that stuff so I'm always super impressed. Tenorless is kind of my go-to guy right now, his visuals align with my taste the most, and he's really just a wonderful dude. And just FYI, Tenorless did visuals for my set at Nightmare :)

-Sky

[spockninja]

Hey man, appreciate you doing this!

Was curious what you guys have cooking up right now independently / as wonky llama?

Thanks!

[WonkyLlama]

hey gang! few questions for ya to start: 
how did this dynamic duo form?
what’s both of your favorite songs you’ve worked on together (released or unreleased) 
and how many wild chupacabras do i need to give y’all for a 3sum collab??

Hey nickarish!

A couple funny stories: I initially found Sky's Soundcloud while looking through people who followed Skrillex (he no longer follows Skrillex).
Later on, I was watching goofy Ableton tutorials by this guy Yeah Dubz, who made the videos anonymously (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY4UFEZFRpg). I happened to see Sky comment something funny, and I knew he produced music, so I started commenting that HE was Yeah Dubz.

At the time I was 13 and making Minecraft videos (because I am cool) and I reached out to him to ask if I could use a song for a speed drawing video or something. He just said to credit him. I started asking questions about production and he was always happy to help. After chatting for awhile about music, we started collaborating in early 2014, which eventually became the Noms EP. 

Sky says his favorite released tune is Olivia's Theme, and my favorite is unreleased and it's called Deep Elmo.

9,000,000 chupacabras! But I'm sure its hard enough to find just one.

- Will

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Do you plan on playing any live shows as Wonky Llama?

Yes :)

---

Hope you guys are doing good! How did you two meet and decide on making this label?

What is something production related that you have learned from collaborating with each other?

Finally, whats a trend in music production that you feel is overdone/overhyped?

Hey nippler :)

We already answered that question a couple replies back so please check that one out.

I (Sky) have learned so much from working with Will. We've pretty much been near-constant collaborators since 2014, so it's hard to imagine something I learned in these past 6 years that Will wasn't there for. That being said, I think the most important thing I've learned is to trust another artist, to have more confidence in myself, and to understand that my creative process doesn't need to be the same as any other artist that I look up to. I know those aren't really production related, but it's what really meant the most to me in my growth as an artist.

I (Will) have definitely learned most of what I know about production from Sky, but on top of that I’ve learned not to force a vivid idea from my head if the process doesn’t permit it. It’s nice to allow your tools/resources you collect to guide your creativity, and not get attached to a certain outcome in your head.

Simple FM + erosion wobble basses aka wook basses because "It's like if Michael Phelps came out of retirement, jumped in the pool, bellyflopped, and drowned." -Michael Scott

[bezio]

sup doodz

i totally forgot about Yeah Dubz - throwback af. anywho, 1) i've always wondered how close you work with the vj when playing a show. do you get together and plan anything, or is it usually off the cuff? maybe take mission ballroom for example, since you both played & had dedicated vizzies.

2) Sky - what are those pieces of outboard gear that are in some pics of your studio, mounted in the right side of your production desk?what's your favorite of them and how has it helped with your production/mastering?

3) Will, what's your fav JC track // Sky what's your fav Schmoop track?

4) oh and final question, i've wondered about a few times lol Sky - how did you get connected with STS9 and what's it been like doing shows with them, yall buds IRL?

thanks!

[WonkyLlama]

How did you find your creative match or know it was a good fit? 

Did you try working with other artists before working together or did you just develop a good relationship with each other?

Hey Dasma :)

I think we have a good way of communicating our individual tastes with each other, and showing each other why we should appreciate certain aspects of the music we share with each other. We've also been sharing inspirations for such a long time that I think our taste is pretty dang similar now which makes working on music together really easy and efficient. There are of course things we disagree on though, like in any relationship. For example, I showed Will Dibiase since he was interested in chiptunes, and then he took that a step further by discovering tons of new broken beat type stuff (which is kind of what his Featherbed set ended up being). And since Will shared chiptunes with me, it lead me to a whole new appreciation of 8 bit video game music, and because of that, fell in love with artists like Disasterpeace.

When I (Sky) first started producing in high school, it was making hip hop beats with some friends. So I was very open to collaborating at the beginning stages. It was only until i started to take things seriously that I stepped away from collabs to find my own sound and take production/mixing/sound design to the next level. Also, those original friends I worked with were much more interested in hip hop, whereas my taste started shifting towards bass music and sound designy stuff. In college I was really self conscious about my abilities so I pretty much stayed away from collabs. I think collaborating with Will was very effortless because it mostly started as an educational thing, and he caught up really quick, to the point where I learn as much from him as he does from me.

Early on, I (Will) was mostly interested in making chiptunes and understanding why it sounded the way it did. I collaborated quite a bit through high school, spending most of my time in group chats meeting people and seeing how they worked. I had quite a few musical phases, making trappy and future bass-y things and slowly my tastes changed. As I worked more on music, I listened to more music and gathered ideas and inspirations from different places.

---

1. What's the average amount of time it takes for you guys to get a tune from start to finish?
2. How did you guys come up with the name and why did you not go with the more obvious choice of Stable Alpaca?

Waddup Reslang 

1. The amount of time it takes for us to finish a tune can vary quite a bit, but in most cases when we start a tune, a bulk of the work should be done in the span of week. For some reason, sitting on a project thats maybe only 8 bars isn't as alluring to pick up and move forward so we try to get things put together as quickly as possible. (Usually 1-2 weeks total, not necessarily including sound design sessions)

2. Because everyone knows Alpacas are unstable. Look an alpaca in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong! Also a Band Name Generator gave us "Wonky" and we decided on the Llama.

- Will

---

Hey man, appreciate you doing this!

Was curious what you guys have cooking up right now independently / as wonky llama?

Thanks!

Hey spockninja!

Thanks for the question. We recently finished a remaster of the Noms EP, which will be released on August 7th. We are thinking about making a vinyl as well with some bonus tracks to go with it :-)

As for me (Will), I have been finishing up a 4-track EP that I'll be releasing in the near future.

I (Sky) am working on the Brood VII vinyl with some additional tunes. Also working on Ableton FX racks which should be ready in mid-August. When I get back to Denver, I will continue working on my album.

---

sup doodz

i totally forgot about Yeah Dubz - throwback af. anywho, 1) i've always wondered how close you work with the vj when playing a show. do you get together and plan anything, or is it usually off the cuff? maybe take mission ballroom for example, since you both played & had dedicated vizzies.

2) Sky - what are those pieces of outboard gear that are in some pics of your studio, mounted in the right side of your production desk?what's your favorite of them and how has it helped with your production/mastering?

3) Will, what's your fav JC track // Sky what's your fav Schmoop track?

4) oh and final question, i've wondered about a few times lol Sky - how did you get connected with STS9 and what's it been like doing shows with them, yall buds IRL?

thanks!

Hey bezio :)

1. It really depends on the show and the visual artist. Some VJs like to improvise, others like a little direction, others want to really dive into my set and have a game plan. With Tenorless at Mission Ballroom we essentially went through my entire set together and picked out looks for each tune. Will and Mezmer (at Mission) basically just had a conversation about his set and was much more improvisational.
   
2. In all honesty I hardly ever use any of that anymore. I'm very in the box these days. I have a Daking FET III Stereo Compressor that I used lightly for mastering back in the day, and a Kush Audio Clariphonic Parallel EQ that I also used for mastering. I also have a small modular rack that I hardly ever touch just because it's slightly annoying to set up. I'm impatient and would rather be able to to things super quickly. I'd def say my favorite of all those things is the modular rack because when the mood does strike to use it, you can get some really wacky results.
   
3. (Will) depends on the mood, little creatures for chill and king mcswing for heavy. (Sky) My fav schmoop track is track 4 of his upcoming EP :)
   
4. I got connected with STS9 because we're on the same agency. I wouldn't say I'm tight with all of them, but if we happen to be playing the same show/festival we'll definitely hang out. I'm probably closest with Zach (he was the most talkative and welcoming when I did a few shows with them), Phipps because he's the synth guy, and Hunter.
   

Thanks for the questions :)

[Sean Noizbleed]

Hey, Sean From the DnB project Noizbleed here! Hope you're having a fun AMA session..
My Question to you guys is what are your top favorite creative distortion, sound design processes?!
Cheers!

[WonkyLlama]

Hey, Sean From the DnB project Noizbleed here! Hope you're having a fun AMA session..
My Question to you guys is what are your top favorite creative distortion, sound design processes?!
Cheers!

Hey Sean!

Fun things we like to do when aggressively distorting:

• Sending weird filter movements into 3 instances of OTT (its nice to map the Above Threshold on the lower band too, to control the sub amount).
  
• AudioThing's Valve Exciter is a great tube distortion that adds some interesting harmonics, especially when pushing the sub.
  
• D16 Audio makes Redoptor/Devastor/Decimort, which individually are great ways to distort a bass, but also work together really well.
  
• Unfiltered Audio Dent 2 is another great plugin for bias distortion and waveshaping. You can really destroy a signal with this one.
  

Other sound design processes:

• Ableton Sampler/Simpler are your best friend (if you're in Ableton), and just any creative way of mangling audio. For example, granular synthesis, or the warp modes in Ableton. Something I've been meaning to try out is Woulg's new GrainSpec plugin.
  
• Smooth Random/Rigid Sample&Hold LFOs on any parameter. See what combinations work and which ones don't. You may want to record everything just to avoid missing a magic moment.
  
• Ableton's Expression Control is good for keytracking EQs, which can be great for leaving room for a sub oscillator and can also be used for creative purposes (keytracking accentuation of certain harmonics). It is also great for mapping parameters to velocity if you have a MIDI controller (you can also randomize velocity values with Ableton's MIDI effects).
  
• Using the Dry/Wet parameter on filters can be really interesting. It's easy to forget about parallel filter processing.
  

[nickarish]

okay real talk, when are the country and christmas albums coming out?? the world needs to kno