Chino Amobi: The Sonic State Of Sound | Native Instruments Blog

What’s your production setup?

I’ve been using Logic. I use a MIDI controller with an Alesis keyboard, and it’s really simple. I use some of the factory instruments, my samples and my vocals. I mix all of that with melodies that I play, and things that I find online. There’s a lot of sampling.

You’ve sampled Alicia Keys on your tracks.

I’ve been using a lot of that kind of thing: Rihanna; Beyoncé; Alicia Keys. In a certain way, I love working under that pop context, taking those tracks and then reusing them with classical music. I’m primarily a visual artist, and this is basically collaging. I love to create sonic interpretations of the methods I use in my visual work—it translates really well. I think those vocals make a great stand-in for a female vocalist. And it helps that they’re so flawless and compressed already. I used Beyoncé’s “Formation” vocal at Berghain, and I’ve also used it in some mixes. She sounds great, and I love that song.

Do you work with soft synths as well as sampling?

Yeah, I use some plugins. I like using Absynth, for example. I like Native Instruments plugins in general. The Logic instruments are good when you need strings, but they’re not as rich as the NI ones. With those, you feel like you’re there—it feels live, you know? I love that aspect of it. And especially with the drums, like the India or the West Africa kits, it feels like somebody’s really playing it. With synths or plugins or instruments, I want things to sound rich. If it sounds rich, I’m all over that. If you get something that doesn’t have that sound, you can play the exact same notes and it just won’t sound cool. If you do have that rich sound you can even play a bad note and make it sound good.

What’s your general approach to creating new music?

Some creators can say, “Okay, I’m going to make three beats per day,” but I’ve never really been like that. I’m kind of a romantic or something. When I see that theme or hear that note—that spark of divine creativity that moves me—then I get moving. So I think that it varies from person to person. It’s good to have balance, though: If you wait for that inspiration and it never comes, then what? I released some tracks recently that have a vibe or type of sound that I wouldn’t normally go for. Right now though, I feel free enough to just put it out there. My identity isn’t at stake to the point where I can’t just share these things. It’s been a while since I’ve actually allowed myself to have fun with a track or just be a little less serious with it.

You don’t have to suffer to make a good track

Were you more serious in the beginning?

Yeah, definitely. It’s still important for me to be taken seriously as an artist, but play is important too, and I want people to be aware of that. My music is not this thing that’s removed from interaction and my environment. You don’t have to suffer to make a good track, but sometimes I still do. There are times where I just get so frustrated working on something that I’m just like, “Ugh.” At that point, I’ll take a break. But I haven’t gotten that way in a while—not to the point where I feel super frustrated while working on a track. You know: if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, I’ll move on and watch a Nigerian movie or call my girlfriend.

You were born in America to Nigerian parents. Has that heritage influenced the collective you’re a part of, NON?

For sure. Growing up in America, I always felt alienated. My parents were hesitant to teach me and my brother Igbo, which is the language they speak, because they were concerned about us not being able to assimilate. So I’ve always been in love with Nigerian culture, but then there’s this thing of, “I don’t speak the language” and I can’t talk to my grandma when I go to Nigeria. There’s this disconnect that I felt, and I’ve always wanted to fill that void.

[Fellow NON members] Nkisi and Angel-Ho have similar experiences. Nkisi is in London but grew up in Belgium, and her mom is from the Congo. Angel-Ho’s dad is Portuguese and their mom is South African. So there’s this interstitial state that I feel like we’re all in. I like to draw the connections, and I really love doing that on a global scale. And sound is such a powerful tool right now. It’s always been that way, but now information is able to spread so quickly and open people’s minds so quickly. I love doing that on a global scale, and I’m starting from Africa because that’s where my origins are. They also transcend into other territories though, and I think it’s interesting to think of sound itself as a territory. That way, you can appoint yourself as your own governing body creatively. That’s really cool to me. Anyway, the response has been great, and NON is its own self-sustaining entity now. That’s what I love about it.