Behind The Scenes Of Cpaws’ ‘Mystery’

21-year-old Chicagoan producer, Cpaws, has been causing a bit of a stir in recent years with his impressive output of Trap and Future Bass tracks. Bootlegs and unofficial reworks of M.I.A brought him to the attention of the solid Blow The Roof record label where he has just completed latest track, ‘Mystery’, featuring vocals from Logan Starks, which is an R ‘n’ B-inspired work of the highest quality.

With it certain to receive plenty of play from DJ’s and fans far beyond the state of Illinois in the coming weeks and months, we just had to have a chat with Cpaws to find out a bit more about him and the story behind the ‘Mystery’.

Hi Cpaws, thanks for being here with us. How are you and what’s going on around you at the moment?
Thanks for having me! I’m doing great this year. I’m currently finishing up my Bachelor’s degree in Music Technology, so things have been very hectic to say the least.

You’ve just released a new record by the name of ‘Mystery’. How did this project come about?
Funny story actually; it first started out as a Drake remix but after experimenting with a few different takes, I decided to hit up Logan Starks since we’ve been bouncing tracks back and forth for a while now to see if he wanted to jump on the track.

How would you describe this track in terms of style and sound?
The style that best sums this track up is pretty much future bass. I tried to highlight Logan’s vocals by little electronic accompaniments here and there. It’s mainly about trying to break away from the mainstream EDM with basic repetitive melodies, but still keep the beauty and energy that EDM has.

Where did you draw inspiration for it?
Like I said, it first started off as a project I was going to scratch after messing around with a Drake song, but after several months of tweaking it here and there I thought quite the opposite really.

How long did it take to complete this production?
Overall, it took a few months of hard work on this production. We had several different takes on what we thought sounded the best and eventually had to go through every indie artist’s worst nightmare; mixing and mastering. Making our sound compete with everyone else’s tracks is probably what took us the few months to finally put it out to the world.

Could you walk us through the production process behind ‘Mystery’?
My production process really depends on the mood I’m in. Sometimes if I’m not feeling inspired, I’ll take a random acapella and build something behind it, then eventually delete the acapella and replace the parts I need to in order to create an original track. The ‘Mystery’ process was very similar to this.

Which plug-ins and sounds shaped this project?
My favourite go-to plug-ins for my tracks are definitely Nexus and Sylenth for my synths. Sylenth has a great initial starting point for sound designing the synths that were in ‘Mystery’, while Nexus provided some of the more foundational parts of the track. My go-to mastering plug-in is iZotope Ozone and is actually the only mastering tool I used for this one. Otherwise, everything else is just your basic stock plug-ins, nothing too fancy.

‘Mystery’ got signed by Blow The Roof Records – how did you spark a relationship with this label?
I actually saw that they we’re looking for more independent artists through Soundcloud, so I hit up Dan with my latest track and he dug it so we just hit it off from there. Nothing too crazy (laughs).

Where would you imagine this production being played?
Honestly, I would be thrilled to see it in some future bass mixes either live or on Soundcloud. I can’t imagine it playing in a club or anything, but just people listening it via their iPod or Soundcloud is enough to make me happy.

Describe ‘Mystery’ in three word.
Future Driving Chill.

Why should people listen to ‘Mystery’?
People should listen to ‘Mystery’ simply because it’s easy on the ears and quite catchy. I actually find myself singing Logan’s lyrics in my head randomly because I can’t get them out (laughs).

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline this year?
Of course! I’ve got a few tracks I’m stoked about releasing this year! I’ll be trying to post at least 1 track per month, so stayed tuned!

Listen on Soundcloud
https://soundcloud.com/blowtheroofrec/cplsm

Available on Beatport
https://www.beatport.com/release/mystery/1840701

Also on iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/mystery-single/id1147873699

Cpaws Online
https://www.facebook.com/CpawsMusic
https://twitter.com/cpawsmusic
https://soundcloud.com/cpaws
https://www.instagram.com/cpawsmusic

Logan Starks Online
https://www.facebook.com/loganstarksmusic
https://soundcloud.com/loganstarksmusic
https://www.instagram.com/loganstarksmusic