Eclectic musician and events extraordinaire, Tom Saison is ready to leave a different mark on the year as he prepares to unveil a series of new music releases. The first of which came when he shared his new song “Stay Long” which features Limpopo-born popstar, Una Rams. While the song has already made waves with listeners, we were eager to learn more about the making of the new single and particular notes from the studio which other producers could leverage.
We sat down with Tom Saison who took us through the makings of his new hit single, “Stay Long”.
Tell us about how you produced the melody and beat for “Stay Long”?
Saison: “So the piano is a very central part to my production and overall creative process. Whether I’m searching for melodies or ways to structure harmonies I often find a lot of my inspiration and momentum for a song while messing around with a few chords and beatboxing. Now taking a look at “Stay Long”, we have the opening phrases begin with my vocals and the choir but those are literally just doubles of the chord progression I played on keys. Once the keys were locked in I immediately knew the choir would need to follow them for texture and at the time I was thinking about how I could add variety later in the song. With the keys and choir done I went over to the beat and this really just came as I started beatboxing in the studio. The keys had already set the pace and so it just felt fitting to program some hard hitting drums. I think I chopped up a couple loops from splice to get the right mix. I just checked the project while answering this and the drums are literally a mix and match of everything I liked that day so breaking that down will take a while.”
For the producers/music heads, tell us about some of the equipment and software you use to produce.
Saison: “I’m constantly experimenting with different plugins and VSTs, and when it comes to hardware I don’t really lean on much unless I’m at a studio that isn’t my own where I’ll tap into different amps and compressors to make my vocal sound a bit more unique. From a digital POV, let me just say that it probably isn’t a Tom Saison production if you don’t see these in the mix: ValhallaSuperMassive, The God Particle, IOTA MINI (free and super slept on), Logic DAW (A lot of their stock sounds especially Alchemy for the sound design capacity.) Arturia KeysLab and Baby Audio’s Pitch Drift.”
What was the energy with Una Rams like in studio?
Saison: “Una and I have been making music together for close on a decade so the energy is always more along the lines of relaxed and comfortable. We are so used to one another and our different processes that I often don’t need to say too much to him while he’s writing. We understand one another’s direction pretty well so when I asked him to do something on “Stay Long” he’d pre-written a few lines but when he got into studio he kind of found a new groove. I simply gave him the room to do his thing and once we tracked everything down and I could hear the full picture, I was happy. Took no longer than two hours and we were ready to send the song for mixing. Quick and finessed would sum it up best.”
How many versions did you make before you got the right one?
Saison: “Haha, I think we have about five versions of it in total. We played with a few versions with more cinematic outro’s. I got extremely curious and made a dance/electronic version as well as a slowed down and more “sghubhu sound” type-pocket just to see how that’d sound. But in the end the first rendition is the closest to the version now on DSPs.”
How did you decide to write this story?
Saison: “I’d just gotten out of a fling with somebody, and I guess I was still reflecting on the way we’d spend time together. I always write from my own personal experiences and with “Stay Long” I felt like it was an opportunity for me to share a side of me I hadn’t before. I sometimes feel like my music paints me out to be an archive for hard times so I thought I’d flip the switch this time around. To be honest, a large part of my upcoming album will reflect the same sentiment. That’s why we chose “Stay Long” as the first single.”
For the average listener, what are some things we can pick up on when listening to the song?
Saison: “If you’d like to do a deep dive into what really makes the song special you should look out for these things: The chord progression is typically used in gospel which makes the song as a whole feel soulful. We have Trap hi-hats mixed with a hip-hop drum loop but the kick and snare are amapiano one shots. There’s actually no bass being played in the song. I just raised the bass frequencies in the electric piano and somehow it got the job done. Lastly, the soundbite between mine and Una’s verses is an actual VN from a group chat. Shout out the homie Tibo.
