Deep Tech Mastery: Inside the Studio with Riaz Dhanani

It’s widely acknowledged that one of the secrets to creating great music is simply to have fun making it. For North London's rising star, Riaz Dhanani, this philosophy has been the cornerstone of his rapid ascent in the house and techno scene. Having carved out his niche within the deep tech sub-genre, Dhanani’s tracks, released on labels like VIVa Limited, Defected and Audio Rehab, have garnered support from some of the biggest names in the industry, thanks to his knack for crafting peak-time anthems that resonate on dance floors worldwide.

In our recent interview, Dhanani opens up about his creative process, offering a rare glimpse into the production secrets behind his hit tracks. He delves into his unique approach, which involves an intricate blend of loops, programmed patterns, and rhythm generators. Yet, despite the technical aspects of his craft, Dhanani emphasizes the importance of keeping the process enjoyable and spontaneous, inviting flow and inspiration into his workflow. These tenets, as he reveals, are at the core of his vibrant and infectious sound. 

What initially drew you to pursue a music career, Riaz?

I started mixing vinyl in my late teens. I floated through a lot of genres. It was trance at first, then I got into garage and drum n’ bass, until I found house. Back then, I was just enjoying playing out in little bars and at small gigs here and there. I later got more into the big room house sound, until it all went a bit Swedish House Mafia style – I wasn’t really feeling that. So I began searching for a new sound that I could vibe with and came across more of a minimal tech/deep house scene. It was like a London sound fusing European and US influences with UK bass music. We called it deep tech. There was a Sunday party scene around it that I was really into. It started at Club Aquarium in London. Doors would open at midnight and there would be like 400 people waiting to go in. People like Alexis Raphael, Jamie Jones, and Lee Foss were pioneering it. At the same time, a lot of younger producers were attempting to imitate early tracks on labels like Hot Creations but weren’t quite getting it right. But it felt like they were inadvertently pulling in bass sounds from other genres like UK garage, which added new twists to the music that just worked. 

I tried to immerse myself in all this and ended up becoming part of a group called Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop at the Aquarium. Then, after a few years of DJing here and there, it hit me: “This is pretty amazing. I really want to take this to bigger clubs. How do I make that happen?“ That's when my friend said, “You have to produce.” I had been dabbling in production for a few years, but it was always sporadic; never a serious pursuit. So, I started working on this peculiar underground sound they were calling deep tech. My first release “Dark Forest“, on Mark Radford’s label, Audio Rehab made a big impact. It resonated strongly in London, becoming a well-known track that a lot of people loved. I remember when I made it, my friend was teaching me about drum variations; he'd say, “Change the hats up every 16 bars.” It was quite amusing because it was still early in my production journey, so you can hear the switches every 16 bars quite abruptly. I was still learning, yet, it just clicked, and I began doing more DJ sets, branching out beyond London. 

You must have a natural flair for music to have achieved a hit so early on. Did you learn to play any instruments growing up?

When I was younger, around 12 to 15 years old, I played the saxophone. But it was one of those things my parents encouraged me to try. I didn’t really enjoy it, so after a while, I started feeling like I was being forced to attend lessons every week and learn something I wasn’t passionate about. Eventually, I gave up the saxophone. In my later teens, I got a drum kit, and that was more my thing. I played them for a few years, but then I gave it up because I wanted to go raving every weekend.

Was the release of “Dark Forest” the pivotal moment in your music career do you think?

Around the time “Dark Forest“ came out, I was already active in the London circuit, but it still just felt like a fun side hustle. By 2017, I’d developed a new sound, blending tech house with garage elements and made a track called “Hot Fuse.“ At a VIVa Warriors event, I accidentally bumped into Steve Lawler’s A&R manager and got chatting. A few months later, I sent him my demo, after I’d worked on it for ages. He helped me get the tracks signed to Lawler’s label, VIVa Music. “Hot Fuse“ became like some iconic track. I found out Marco Carola was playing it at major events like Time Warp, leading to a surge in popularity for me, especially in Italy. This success marked a big turning point in my career. Some of my heroes, like Max Chapman, were telling me “You’ve found a really cool, connoisseur tech house sound that all the old-school artists play, but it's got this new twist. Don’t switch up your sound!” It was actually because of Ableton Live that I was able to make “Hot Fuse” sound the way it does. 

Was there a specific feature in Ableton Live that helped you create the track or was it a combination of things?

Someone showed me how to use Macros. That’s when I started to realize I could link things together. If you listen to “Hot Fuse,“ it features one of the weirdest things I've done in a track. I used a Macro to control a high-pass filter, flanger, delay, and phaser, all at once. When the breakdown came, pushing the Macro knob up removed the low end, causing the beats to delay and disappear into the high-pass filter, while getting washed out with the flanger before dropping back in. I initially thought it might be too unconventional, but when I sent it to a friend for some honest feedback, he said, “Riaz, this is different, this is sick!” Even now, people comment on that track because of its unusual breakdown. 

Download Riaz Dhanani’s Macro Effect Rack

Maybe being able to set Macros up in that way speaks to your DJing background, because it’s similar to performing with effects on a DJ mixer. 

Yes, that is exactly my thing. I’m really into effects on mixers. I like trying to do cool things with them. 

Where do you normally start when you make a new track?

I usually start with a good kick, hat, and clap. I don't need to EQ much; I just ensure they sound solid. After getting those three elements, I start looking through my loop packs, which are tagged in my Favorites. I have a folder where I throw in various packs, and I go through to find nice loops to make the kick, snare, and hat elements gel perfectly. I audition loops for a long time until I find ones that sound like they were made for that track. I don't stop—I will audition loops forever if I have to. I've spent entire sessions just on that because I made the mistake years ago of being careless and throwing in any loop. Now, I ensure I find something that really gels with my initial sounds.

There have been some ethical debates in certain forums over the use of loops and samples in dance music, what are your thoughts on all of that?

I enjoy using royalty-free samples and loops from packs. Some people may sample parts of someone else's track, like a hi-hat, I don't see anything wrong with it. Personally, I've occasionally borrowed a cheeky snare from someone's track and used it as a layer. 

But look, we’ve got a new way of sampling now. All the younger generations are using AI. So now you can go and split the stems from all your favorite classics using platforms like LALAL.ai. It’s a wormhole. It’s a good way to look for samples, you could get any record from back in the day and that vocal sample you’ve never been able to find, you could just take that clean; or a riff, or drums, you can just extract them. One of the things I like best about AI - and I don’t even mind saying it on record - is its ability to dissect tracks. I use it to analyze how my musical heroes create their basslines for example. By isolating specific elements, I can get a better understanding of their techniques and notation. It helps me to learn where the notes are, because sometimes you can’t really hear what’s happening when it’s masked by other layers in the track. 

Has the number of loops you use in your tracks increased or decreased over time?

It’s decreased now. When I made “Hot Fuse“, I was still working heavily with loops. I had a good ear for making them fit together. My friends were surprised by how many loops I used because the track doesn’t sound that cluttered.” I may have had around 30 top loops, which is crazy. I later realized I was layering lots of loops to alter the transients and create a sort of saturation. In the same way two snares layered on top of each other sounds thicker, adding top loops helped glue the track together. I found that layering loops created a cohesive sound. The catch-22 of that was, I could never do anything more stripped back. I wasn’t good enough at that point to do simple well-programmed stuff while making it sound big using saturators and parallel distortion. I was using loops to make things sound big, whereas really, you can achieve that without needing lots of loops just by using parallel distortion and things like that. 

Do you need to reprogram the patterns in your loops to make them work together?

I sometimes cut things up and move them around, but usually, as I mentioned, I start with a kick, clap, hat, and a bit of percussion, all programmed manually. Then find a loop that glues my programmed beat together. I might then add more loops on top to fill up space. I know some people might think that’s really bad practice, but for me, it’s about doing whatever works, so I’m cool with it. Transient shaping is also key when it comes to making loops fit together. Once I learned about transient shapers I realized you can make sounds narrow and tight or longer and more sustained, allowing for better flow. Instead of just using a loop as it is, you can take it much further.

Which transient shapers do you use?

I highly recommend Smack Attack by Waves, it has become my go-to. If you want to make loops sound minimal and tight, it works perfectly. However, the best transient envelope, in my opinion, is actually in Ableton Live. When you select “Beat“ on the Warp algorithm, there's a little arrow pointing to the right. Clicking this arrow turns off the Transient Loop Mode. Then, if you reduce the duration of the Transient Envelope, it works wonders. This method is the best  for helping me bring loops into time precisely.

Do you prefer to work with loops as audio clips or chop them up and resequence them as MIDI?

Now, it's a 50/50 process. I find loops and cut out the bits I don't want. Before, I used entire loops, which made things messy. Now, I pick out the cool parts, like a hat sound, and just use that. I cut up the audio and then write my percussion in MIDI around it. My MIDI work is mainly percussion, with maybe some snares and basslines. I don't use bass loops.

So you play in your own bass patterns?

I used to cut up bass loops. There's a producer called Iglesias, who I highly rate. He has a unique method of finding five random bass loops that are all in key, then cutting them up and making them work together. I can't do that, but I've always been good on keys, so I'm good at writing basslines. My main go-to synths are the TAL BassLine-101, which is a Roland SH-101 emulator, SubBoomBass by Rob Papen, and Predator. 

Some loops have their own timing and grooves already baked in. Do you typically embrace this or do you prefer to quantize them?

Most of the loops I choose are usually OK timing-wise, though sometimes they might be a bit swung or off-grid. If I really like a loop, I’ll go in and quantize it. If there’s a nice conga or something in a top loop, I might double it by hitting CTRL+D on the keyboard. Then I can adjust the volumes of each slice to influence the groove and timing further. Once the loop sounds tight, I use transient shaping to make the hits really short so they fit well.

When I’m happy with my loops and they're all working together, I start working with MIDI, seeing if there are any single hit placements to add. Depending on the style I want, I might put some offbeat hats in certain spots. These adjustments are more surgical and help to create syncopations. Then I layer snares. Once I have my main snare, I might layer other snares to get different timbres. Finally, I start writing in the percussion.

And how do you typically write in your percussion?  

I use the mouse to manually write in MIDI notes. If I need some inspiration, I use a VST called Riffer, which generates random MIDI notes. I roll the dice a few times with Riffer to see what I get. However, I prefer doing detailed work with the mouse. Once that’s tight, it’s time to start creating basslines.

Do you use similar techniques for writing basslines?

I like to write basses on Push because I find the grid-based layout works better for me than a conventional keyboard. I can do more unexpected things on the Push because its layout allows for different finger placements. On a keyboard, my fingers tend to work from muscle memory for bassline riffs, but the Push layout encourages new patterns and ideas.

Another pattern generator I sometimes use for ideas is called Sting. It's a Max for Live device that creates acid basslines. You can click the smiley face, and eventually, you might get a cool bass pattern that you can edit and make your own. You can use Sting along with the Scale MIDI Effect, set it to whatever scale you want, and it will give you endless options. It adds portamento up and down and generates amazing patterns.

How do you ensure your basslines stay in tune while experimenting with different patterns?

I find the Keys and Scales feature really useful because I can enable it and then, when programming a bassline, I can jam as liberally as I want, knowing it will stay in tune. If it's a three-note bassline, hitting Fold removes all the unnecessary keys in the scale, showing only the three notes I need. This way, I can alternate and experiment without having a lot of keys and getting lost. For me, it's kind of like simplifying the process.

Are there any keys or scales you find work best for the type of music you make?  

Here's a fun fact for you: When I first started out, I didn't have much knowledge of music theory. Despite the fact that most dance music is typically written in minor scales, I actually wrote everything in major scales until about three years ago.

At one time, I created a sample pack for someone, and they pointed out, “All your basslines are in major— you can't do that.“ I said, “Well, all my biggest tracks are written in major.“ So they said, “Fair play, okay then.“

For me, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to making music. I simply do what I want and have fun with it. I don't worry too much about music theory when I'm writing; I prefer to stay free and let creativity guide me. While I don't approach everything aimlessly, I'm not bound by strict rules like many others are. I just want to sit down, have fun, and create a groove. When the excitement hits and I feel inspired, that's when I turn it into a track.

How do you navigate between different moods and energies in your tracks?

I'm all about rolling energy; my main focus is creating feel-good, peak-time tracks. While I understand the appeal of making more melancholic music at times, I just prefer making tunes that lift people’s spirits.

Once, someone said to me, “Riaz, you're so arrogant. Why can't you make something that's not peak time?“ But I don't see the need for that. I don't sit down with a specific goal in mind; I just let creativity flow naturally. I'm not claiming to be a musical genius like Mozart or suggesting that I'm a vessel for inspiration—although that's what he said, isn't it? But in a strange way, I do follow my instincts. I don't consciously think, “I want to make a peak-time track.“ I simply enjoy the energy and positivity it brings. Perhaps that's why I tend to write in major keys; I'm drawn to sounds that evoke positivity and happiness.

How long does it typically take you to finish a track these days?

A week now. I know people who are quicker. A good track takes time to mix and get right. I'd say I can create a banger in a full week, whereas up until a year and a half ago, it took me a month. It used to stress me out because I thought I'd never make it as a producer if it took me so long to write tracks. But then someone said to me, “Yeah, but one track of yours lasts a whole year on the rounds because you’re making big tunes.”

Now, to be fair, I’m making tunes more quickly but I’m also probably doing more average stuff. I don't mind working on one big track and three average ones in a month instead of spending the whole month on one big one and driving myself insane. I've spent two weeks on a bassline before. I've spent eight hours trying to write that perfect bassline. My mates will say, “But this one’s good, Riaz, leave it.” But I think, okay, it’s good, but what if you find one that just makes you feel something different, and you know all the people who support you are going to lose their minds when they hear it? Then you know. So, I’d rather take ages doing something.

I have this system called “beat the bassline.” If I have a bassline that I think is good, I’ll try and beat it two more times. Even if I’m scrolling for four hours to find the one, I’ll try to better it twice. Once I’ve done that, then I’ll know I’ve got the one.

It sounds like you have a pretty strict quality control system in place!

I’m really hard on myself. Not that there are any rules, I just want everything to be the best that I can do. When I finally throw in the towel and say, “Right, this is the best I can do”, it will be. Then I don't want to work on it anymore. I won’t go back and think, “Oh, I wish I’d pushed it further.” I’ll know I pushed my creative flow as far as it could go. All my tunes are very honest; that is me at my full power. I’ve never done something where I think, “I don’t really like it, but I’m going to put it out anyway.”

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring music makers what would it be?

Make sure you're having fun. Because, although people often describe making music as fun, you can make it really unfun for yourself. If you really want to become a professional producer or musician, you need to find yourself as a person—understand who you are, what you’re into, and what works for you but also connects with a crowd.

You can make stuff solely for yourself, and it should be about you, but if you’re too in your own head and doing something that doesn’t connect, you’re going to feel sad until you find that connection. So, find your audience, find yourself, make it work, and enjoy it. Because if you don’t enjoy it, you can end up just trying to be something that you’re not. You won’t get anywhere doing that. Be true.

Keep up with Riaz Dhanani on Instagram, Facebook and Soundcloud

Text and Interview by Joseph Joyce 

Photography by Perry Walsh