Australian producer UNO Stereo has worked with a who's who of Australian hip-hop, as well as the likes of Khalid and Wiley. However, when he's not been producing for some of the biggest names in hip-hop and R&B, he's been working on his own music.

Recently he dropped his cool as a cucumber project, Innerludes, and today we got a suave new song called TEXT featuring Amindi. We spoke to UNO about how he got his start in music thanks to a Playstation 1 game, wanting to sound like Dr. Dre and Kanye West, and his dream collaborations. 

Cool Accidents: What inspired you to start producing?

UNO Stereo: When (Dr. Dre's) Chronic 2001 came out I was 11 years old, and even though I had been listening to hip-hop since forever (via my older brother), that album, in particular, sounded so incredible to me. Apart from how crazy the beats were, I knew sonically it was different to everything else… more hi-fi maybe?

That was the first time I started really paying attention to beats and production in general, and when I figured out that being a producer was actually a separate role to being an artist and that there were people ‘behind the scenes’ working on these records - that seemed like a dream job to me.

Luckily for me, there was a PlayStation 1(!) game out back then called “MTV Music Generator” - that was the start of my obsession with beat-making. Pretty sure all I did every day after school for like 3 months was try to replicate some of the beats from Chronic 2001 using shitty pre-made loops and samples within the game. From there I just started analysing every track I listened to from a production standpoint and it was like I couldn’t hear music the same anymore.

Who do you consider your influences in terms of your production style?

When I started out it really was all about Dre, he was the king of beats and so initially I strived for that iconic ‘grand’ sound he had. Then Blueprint dropped and all I wanted to do was make beats like IZZO, and when I discovered Kanye West was a producer I spent my last few years of high school trying to emulate his sound.

Pretty much, I just started to form my whole style by mimicking a handful of legends that I couldn’t stop idolising, from Pete Rock to Premo, to Q-Tip and Dilla, to Kanye and Pharrell, Just Blaze and Timbo. I took bits and pieces from all of them really, but I would say the one consistent sound I had was incorporating samples in my beats.

Whether it was basing whole loops off them, chopping drum breaks or just blending a whole bunch of smaller samples together, I love the texture and depth they can add to a song when done right. That, and also trying to find ways to add vintage-style synth sounds on top of it all.

Is there a particular track/project you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of?

The album Mainland by Miracle (now known as BLESSED) is really special to me. For a lot of reasons, but to name a few; it was the first full-length project I got to work on, and not only is Mira like a little brother to me coz we both started out in this industry together but at the time (2012) he was a major-label recording artist.

It was also my first time working with Styalz Fuego, who’s gone from someone I’d only heard about and respected from a distance, to a mentor to a frequent collaborator to one of the homies. We basically got thrown in a studio together from the label, given a small timeframe, and somehow the 3 of us just made a whole record together.

All the songs were the by-product of us just recreating types of beats that we all loved, without worrying about how it would fit into the landscape of Australian music at the time, and then we went all IN. String sections, additional vocalists and instrumentalists, some co-writers, a stack of alternate arrangements of songs, re-writes, all-nighters, clearing samples… Then mixing it all ourselves.

Most of which was completely new to me at the time so I learnt a lot during that process. It was super fun though, I felt like I levelled up as a producer when I came out of that project. And we compromised nothing on the art itself so I’m still really proud of how it sounds seven years later.

You’ve sporadically released your own tracks while working on other people’s music – do you prefer producing for yourself or for others?

I’ll admit it's super satisfying producing for myself, but it’s also a curse because you become hypercritical of everything you do… and you constantly feel the pressure of maintaining a certain standard in terms of the quality of your work. Producing for other artists is dope though because its easier to get perspective on music when you collaborate, so there’s little less second-guessing and more just “how do we make the song really great” as opposed to producing for yourself where it's like “is the production good ENOUGH?!”. Short answer; myself - no diss to any of my artists though!

READ MORE: Meet UNO Stereo, The Producer That's Worked With Some Of Your Faves

Is there any production trends that you think we’ll see more of going forward, and do you pay attention to the trends in production going on around you?

I’m a bit of a music nerd in general so I really try to stay up to date with every new production trend that I notice creeping in… sometimes I may not agree with certain styles or trends, but I have to try and analyse and appreciate them regardless, to know why they work, and why kids love the shit.

I guess the undeniable trend atm is to make songs really short and cut out any filler to only capitalise on the hooks - like repeating the same 2-bar melody for 2 minutes straight type thing. Which is cool and all but I’m not sure the amount of truly “iconic” beats are getting around as much as they should. I’d love to see basslines make a comeback, sounds crazy I know but if we’re being honest most urban records these days live and die by the 808.

I think sample-based trap records will start channelling early 2000’s vibes a lot more. Drums might start to go back to sounding unique and definable like they were in that era as well. I’d say the most inevitable trend will just be the union of producers and sample-makers.

Now that there are so many super talented people out there making these incredible sample loops for the beat guys to chop up, it’s only going to become more and more common to see producers team up and sacrifice a bit of ego for the sake of making dope shit.

Are there any particular artists that you’d love to produce for?

Brent Faiyaz for sure. Love what Lucky Daye is doing. Also, there’s this UK soul singer Celeste, she has an insane voice which would be super interesting work with. In terms of the rap world I mean there would be no bigger honour than working with Kendrick or Cole.

Finally, what do you have planned for the next few months?

Make more music! Now that I’m finally in the momentum of releasing things I know I just want to stay consistent and stack up the catalogue. And of course, try to balance my production work for other artists in between that. There’s a B Wise album I’m in the middle of producing that I’m really psyched on. A bunch of local artists that haven’t even officially released anything yet that I want to develop a unique sound for. Oh and maybe get to the point of not being terrible at DJ’ing!