BuyUK-born songwriter, Luke Sital-Singh has had tens of millions of plays on Spotify alone. Inspired by a recent move to California, Luke has just released his third album with Raygun Records, for which his eight channel mic pre, ASP880 was invaluable as part of the recording process.
Luke’s soulful voice and introspective lyrics can really grip you by the heart and have been wowing sold-out venues on his current European tour. Watch him performing his track Time Is A Riddle recorded by Audient using iD44 earlier this year.
After this amazing performance, Audient wanted to know more about his motivation and caught up with him just before he set out on this latest tour. We started out by asking him about himself:
I am a singer/songwriter from London, currently living in Los Angeles. I write melancholy pop songs, record them and then sing them at people.
A new album – congratulations! Give us all the details:
My new album is called A Golden State. It was mostly recorded at Jackpot! Recording Studio in Portland, which was originally set up by Larry Crane and Elliot Smith. It’s 10 songs of which I hope at least one will make you cry.
How did your Audient ASP880 help as part of the process?
I use the ASP880 as part of my home recording set up. Recording is one of my favourite aspects of making music. I’ve become a real geek for it over the years. I’ve learnt from experience that oftentimes the demo performance ends up being ‘the one’ and just impossible to recreate in a studio. So I’ve embraced this with the gear I use to demo my songs.
The Audient pres are just incredible for presenting clearly and pristinely what I’m getting down, so that if it ends up on the record – which a lot of it has on this album – the mix engineer doesn’t have to work too hard making a shoddy demo stem fit with proper studio quality stuff.
“Audient pres are just incredible for presenting clearly and pristinely what I’m getting down”
The ASP880 seems at first fairly overkill as I’m never recording more than one or two things at a time. BUT I like sending things out of ProTools into spring reverbs and effects etc, so it’s great to have it all plumbed in the different channels ready to go.
Tell us about your writing process. Has it changed over the years – and if so, how?
Umm I’d say I try to get out of the way as much as possible now. When I started I was very intentional about each and every thing. Really crafting the song out bit by bit. Now I see it as something I can’t control. Great songs have just come to me and I have no idea how or why. I can’t force them. So as much as I can I let my intuition and whatever do the work.
What message do you want to send out into the world with your music?
Honesty is the best way through adversity.
What track would you recommend we listen to give us the best idea about your sound?
I like Lover on the new album. But I’m not a single track kinda artist. Listen to an entire album. Haha.
What/who inspires you?
David Bazan is my favourite songwriter. His story. His wisdom. The way he manages to write so particularly and yet so universally. The way he navigates his career and family. Everything. Legend.
“Stop waiting for the next thing. Everything is now. Now is everything.”
What advice would you give a younger you just starting out?
Stand up for yourself more. Be assertive. Enjoy the moment. Stop waiting for the next thing. Everything is now. Now is everything.
Amen to that, Luke – and thanks for your thoughtful insights.
To hear the album click here: A Golden State or stream it on Spotify. Find out more about Luke himself via his website or check him out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube – just about everywhere!