Balance, Dedications, and the Making of Space Gang’s “Return of The Goon”
The New Jersey producer walks us through the sampling philosophy, gear, and inspiration for one of his best-received projects.
The life of the working producer is not easy or glamorous. After laboring long hours at a day job, musicians have to squeeze in creative time wherever they can — all while trying to maintain a healthy balance with their family, friends, and romantic relationships. It’s a tricky tightrope walk New Jersey-based producer Space Gang knows all too well. “My girlfriend puts up with a lot of my nonsense,” he admits as we break down his recent Return of The Goon album. “Working 10 hour days, then coming home to zone out into music until I fall asleep and repeat myself.”
This tiring cycle of nonstop work and music making went into overdrive as he tried to put the finishing touches on Return of The Goon in late fall of 2017. Despite his busy schedule Space Gang’s girlfriend remained encouraging and supportive throughout, inspiring him to make a song for her in the process. “It was going on for a while with this album, so I wanted to do something for her,” he says.
That something turned into “You & Me”, the album’s third track and one of Space Gang’s favorite songs. The initial seed of inspiration for the song took root as Space Gang flipped through a folder of pre-chopped samples from his friend Eraser Fase. After exploring the various sounds contained within the sample collection, he eventually found something that seemed appropriate for the emotions he wanted to convey.
“No matter how I chopped it, it wouldn’t fit. So I had to put a short reverse loop at the end of every sample so it would fit the groove right.”
Three months after the album’s release, “You & Me” remains a personal favorite for Space Gang. “It’s special to me because I made it for her,” Space he explains. “I didn’t put a dedicated description or anything because that’s my personal life, but I enjoyed playing it for her and explaining it was for her. It’s just a song, it’s not an extreme gesture. But she understood what it was supposed to mean and appreciated that. She’s the only reason I’m still here making music, so it felt right.”
Whether or not his girlfriend is actually the only reason he’s still producing, Space Gang has been consistently making music for the last five years, dropping four albums in the process. Throughout his career he has utilized the same basic setup he started out with. “I’ve been using Reason 5 and my typing keyboard since day one,” he says with a laugh. “I’d like to upgrade my Reason and get some real gear soon, but I like that I’ve been able to get this far off a sort of bare minimum.”
Using the bare minimum is often a blessing in disguise for him, as it leads to rather unconventional sample sources and composition methods. “Lots of people are always going to the same playlists to find their samples,” Space Gang says while describing the beautiful vocal samples on “The City”. “I try not to go that route so people don’t stumble across another track with the same sample.”
“She’s the only reason I’m still here making music, so it felt right.”
In addition to using atypical samples, Space Gang also prides himself on seamlessly weaving together multiple samples from disparate places while making it sound like it was played live. “Roach Clip”, another stand out track on Return of The Goon, employed this technique. “‘It was a mix of a couple different songs,” he says. “I tried my best to blend three different sampled sounds as if they were self-recorded.”
Space Gang’s tinkering and experimentation has also been helpful for finding useful workarounds when the creative process hits an unexpected rut. While making Return of The Goon, “Tropico” proved to be the one song that tested Space Gang’s ingenuity and patience the most. “This was one of those tracks that no matter how I chopped it, it wouldn’t fit,” he says. “So I had to put a short reverse loop at the end of every sample so it would fit the groove right.”
Though the short reverse loop method started earlier in his career as a one time trick, it has since become a go-to formula for making tricky loops work. “Whenever I have this kinda problem, I just fill the missing air with the last few milliseconds of the sample in reverse,” he says. “In this case, it coincidentally gave the track a seamless feel — especially with the strings.”
“I just been through some shit. Here are beats to accompany that.”
Although some songs on Return Of The Goon required more trial and error, others proved rather effortless. “‘Velvet’ was on the opposite of the spectrum,” says Space Gang. “This one was a gem that no matter how it got chopped, it sounded soulful and beautiful as shit. I decided to only keep 2 chops in a loop because they sounded so great together.”
After nailing the chops, Space Gang added some texture to his production by fiddling with the EQ. “Afterwards I was meddling with all the EQing and I wanted to put a really airy, lush layer over the whole song,” he says. “The end result was that vocal sample sorta melting into all the other sounds while still being distinguishable in its own way as an instrument.”
With several years of exploring the possibilities of sampling as instruments, Space Gang is ready to work some new techniques into his repertoire. “I’m working myself towards doing live instrumentation more often than sampling,” he says.
“I like that I’ve been able to get this far off a sort of bare minimum.”
Though Space Gang may be moving away from re-contextualizing other people’s music, Return of The Goon is a testament to the emotional power of sampling. From the beautiful tribute to his girlfriend (“You & Me”) to the lush, gorgeous soundscape created on “Velvet”, the listener can tell Space Gang channeled his truest emotions into the music on this project. As he says in the liner notes, “Man, I just been through some shit. Here are beats to accompany that.”
Space Gang’s recent life experiences helped shape varied and impressive offering that should impress both die-hard beat heads and casual listeners. Whichever category you fall into, Return of The Goon is well worth your time.
Connect with Space Gang on Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, and on Twitter at @spcegng.
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