Exclusive Interview: Eliot Lipp

We had the opportunity to sit down with Brooklyn based producer Eliot Lipp a little while back, we finally got it written up and ready for you to check out. Known as a producers producer, and signee to Pretty Lights PLM label Eliot is one of the original talents in a scene with so much clutter. He is currently touring with a Live band, and is working on his next full feature album, some of which we touch on in the interview below.

You’re going to want to keep an eye on Eliot Lipp, and make sure you check out his new album when it drops.

 Exclusive Interview: Eliot Lipp

 Follow Eliot Lipp: Soundcloud | Twitter | Facebook | Website

–

RTT: Very nice to meet you Eliot, lets get things started – you have a new album coming out?

Eliot: Well I’m in the middle of making the new album, I don’t know when its coming out. I’m hoping to get it together by the fall, but [we will see]… 

–

RTT: So what can we expect from that, what kind of sound?

E: I’m sampling a lot of old records, you know, a lot of piano, a lot of guitar, just a lot of samples chopped up. I guess there are some similar themes running through it like club style, house and trap, and shit like that, but I’m making it with samples. Trying to bring a more organic approach to club music, I love samples. I started out making Hop-Hop beats, beats with nothing but samples. But I do also have a lot of analog, synthesizers, a lot of VST’s and shit too. I’ve got these tracks right now with just layers and layers and layers and I’m trying to edit.

–

RTT: So like you mentioned, I know you use a lot of analog and stuff like that, what’s your setup in the studio, are you on Ableton with those synths?

E: Yeah, I record everything in Ableton and chop everything up in there, then I mix everything up in Logic.

E: But I record a lot of the synth parts live, you know, it helps me move quickly too, because when I’m programming and working that way, I spend hours fine-tuning things. But with an analog synthesizer, with the old school synth wurlitzers and stuff you only have a few different parameters you can adjust. Its kind of a good thing, it makes the workflow faster for me.

–

(some music from Eliot Lipp)

RTT: There are a lot of producers out there that are just repeatedly clicking through sounds on their laptop when making music, so the fact that you can play shit out live like that is a huge advantage.

E: Yeah, and I think it helps me with like trying to tap into that human element, trying to express on that level instead of being a robot. Playing shit live and looping that up according to live performance based stuff, you can get a little funkier with it.

–

(some music from Eliot Lipp)

RTT: Well we are definitely excited for that. So you don’t know when its coming out yet?

E: No. I’m trying to wrap it up, but at the same time….

RTT: You don’t want to rush it.

E: Yeah, haha, but for the most part I’ll be in New York all summer I’ve been in my studio a lot the last few weeks, I’m only doing a handful of dates this summer so I can maximize the amount of time in my studio.

–

RTT: That’s good that you take your production seriously, because some people just tour hard and they aren’t putting out quality shit because they’re trying to put shit out while on tour. Any collabs or anything on the album?

E: I’m working on some collaborations. Working on one with SuperVision and one with Cherub, but I don’t know if any of those are going to end up on the album yet because I am still gathering up material so look at it and say ‘how can I make a cohesive record out of this?’ But yeah, I have a bunch of collabs in the works – even one with Z Trip.

–

RTT: Who are your biggest influences that you pull from when you’re working? I’m sure it’s evolved over the years, so like now what are you into, what’s influencing the new music you’re putting out?

E: I’m definitely listening to a lot of house, and a lot of like… Ever heard of Brenmar? I really dig his stuff. And even ModeSelektor and some German stuff. I’m also really into Alchemist and Block Head and a lot of Hip-Hop producers like Just Blaze and all that. I feel like that’s the bridge that I’ve been trying to gap lately is that gritty, company flow, LP style like sampled Hip-Hop beats and then I‘m also thinking esthetically what can I steal from that sound and put into a house track.

 E: Or vice versa. Like real blippy, quirky house beats, how can I mix that with Hip-Hop. That’s kind of the bridge I’m trying to build right now.

(some music from Eliot Lipp)

RTT: Who are some of your other influences as of late?

E: I mean there are a lot of producers that have been influencing me lately… Michal Menert, of course the new Pretty Lights album is amazing, I love the new Daft Punk, Kanye, love Flosstradamus. Actually Kurt from Flosstradamus, I’ve been good friends with both those guys for a long time, Kurt actually mixed my “Shark, Wolf, Rabbit, Snake” album.

–

RTT: Oh, word, really? Didn’t know that. 

E: Yeah, he taught me a lot about mixing the last couple years, I’ve worked on a couple projects with him.

RTT: Where’s that Flosstradamus/Eliot Lipp collab at?

E: Haha, I know. I’ve been talking to him here and there about making one.

–

RTT: That would be cool, you guys should do that 🙂 . So you said you were going to be in the studio a lot, and not touring as much, but do you have any dates set up now? And Could you elaborate a little on the live band setup?

E: Going to be doing a handful of dates with this live band. Ive got a drummer who I’ve toured with a lot before, he’s local from Brooklyn, he’s a sick drummer. And a guitar player, named Nick Bockrath, he’s from the band Nicos Gun from out of Philly. Me and Nick have done a lot of shows together and me and Steve have done a lot of shows together, but as a live band we’ve only done like two or three shows together. But I love it man, playing with a live band is totally different from the solo thing. Its more of a collaborative thing, I loop up different parts so we can improvise over the tracks. And they’re both really good musicians so it makes it easy to work with them.

–

Eliot Lipp Live Band Setup (Video)

RTT: Any other news your fans should know about?

E: Well, I put out a remix EP recently with Two Fresh and Mind Elixir. Freddy Todd, Night Riders a bunch of artists on that release. I dropped it around the same time I announced I was playing Electric Forest so I’m still trying to promote that one. And I’ll be dropping some tracks here and there on my Sound Cloud leading up to the album. Yeah, pretty much just focused on finishing up this record.

–

RTT: Well Eliot, I guess that’s it. I appreciate the time, and looking forward to checking out the new record when it drops!

Exclusive Interview: Eliot Lipp