Interview with L.A. Producer: Coma

Good day fellow dub heads! I recently had the chance to throw Coma, one of LA’s own, a few questions about his take on dubstep, where he sees it going, and what he plans on accomplishing this year. Coma’s current endeavors into the realm of Dubstep have yielded a dynamic array of sounds. Melodic hooks, sweeping breakdowns and wobbling bass lines have become ubiquitous characteristics of his style. However, Coma carefully balances his driving, dance floor busting grooves with subtle audio edits and precision-crafted effects that provide an unsettling moodiness to his tracks. While listener’s bodies absorb the fullness of his audio-logical aura, their minds wonder elsewhere, carried off by molecular eruptions of ambient noise that seem to radiate into deep space. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? Check out what’s going on in the mind of this 27 year old producer from the City of Angels…

My Addiction by Coma.

The Call by Coma.

Where did you first hear dubstep, what track was it, and what was
your reaction?

I heard a mix by Joe Nice after he played my hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico and I thought it was shit. I really wanted to like it but it was super slow minimal dub. I just couldn’t get down. I think I got more into it when more producers from different genres really started to push the sound into different directions.

How long have you been producing Dubstep and what did you produce before
dubstep came along (if anything)?

I’ve beeen making Dubstep tunes for about 2 years. Funny thing though I’ve always been into slower tempo music and I had listened to a few of my tunes from about 5 or 6 years ago and they reminded me of really industrial Dubstep. Before I narrowed my focus to Dubstep I’d been writing alot of mid tempo stuff. Glitch hop.hip hop.melodic mid tempo type stuff and even some dnb way back in the day.

What is your current setup (gear/software)?

Apple MacBook Pro, Logic, NI Komplete, Mackie Onyx 1220, M-Audio FireWire 410 (about to switch to an Apogee Duet) M-Audio Oxygen 8 and way too many plugins to mention.

Do you have a certain process you go through when making a track?

I tend to start with a 4 to 8 bar loop and just build it up then I’ll start to flesh out the arrangement and the rest of the tune.

Did you start of DJing or producing first?

I’ve been a dj for 13 years and a producer for 8.

How would you describe your sound?

COMASOUND

Who are your influences?
That’s a horrible question, I dig on everything from The Black Keys to Skream to The XX.

What artists are you currently listening to?

The Black Keys, The XX, Le CastleVania, Scuba, Mochipet, Goldielocks, Rusko, The Dead Weather, Phoenix, 12th Planet, Flinch, Trouble & Bass, Fleet Foxes, Major Lazer, Julian Plenti, Dan Auerbach, Sebastian Grainger, ESKMO……

Where do you see dubstep going in 2010?

UP!

1 goal you must accomplish for 2010?

Put out a banger on a great label and conquer the world!

Plans for the future, IE releases, mixes, projects?

Nothing I can talk about yet, but I’ve got plenty of stuff I’m working on.

Advice for up and coming dubstep producers?

Just do it man, it took me getting laid off and finally saying fuck it I wanna do this thing to really approach it the way I needed to.

Anything you’d like to add?

I’d like to thank DUBliminal for the support and interview and peace to everyone who digs on my tunes and mixes!

Tunes by Coma.

DJ Mixes by Coma.