Put simply, workflow (in any creative discipline) is the process of creating, producing and developing your art. In a music production context this can be affected by factors such as genre, personal taste as well as access to specific software and hardware – as well as how you interact with them [1]. For me workflow is one of the most interesting aspects of my production because I find myself affected heavily by the space where I create the music, as well as the specific set up within that.
Burial’s workflow is undoubtedly rooted within sampling, it is a well known fact among burial fans that many of his drum sounds are sampled from video games – specifically the Metal Gear Solid series. For his drums especially, Burial seems to use an approach that relates more to the musique concrete workflow as apposed to (seemingly) more straight forward, mainstream ‘sampling’. While the definition of musique concrete has become more abstract throughout its development, the important factor is that you can take any sound source from any origin and blend them together in a more musical fashion [2]. The example here is that for much of his drums on his most well known album ‘Untrue’ Burial utilises sounds like bullet casings hitting the ground as percussive elements in the track ‘Near Dark’ as well as the main theme from Metal Gear Solid 2 in the song ‘Archangel’ [3].
In my opinion, one of the most important aspects of Burial’s workflow is the program he worked within, Soundforge. Different to almost every other producer, Soundforge is not even a DAW – with its most relevant feature being the absence of a timing grid. As a result of this Burial would work using only his internal feel as apposed to any sort of quantisation, resulting in very loose drum patterns that feel both very ‘wonky’ but also very symmetrical all at once. In an interview with The Wire in December of 2012 Burial said this about how he programs his drums:
‘I’ve seen people using sequencers and I’ve tried hard to use them but it’s blocks in different colours and I’m only used to just seeing the waves. I don’t need to listen much to the drums because I know they look nice, like a fishbone, rigged up to be kind of skitty, sharp.‘ [4]
[1] www.evercast.us. (n.d.). How to create a highly productive music production workflow | Evercast Blog. [online] Available at: https://www.evercast.us/blog/music-production-workflow#:~:text=A%20music%20production%20workflow%20is [Accessed 19 Nov. 2023].
[2] Teruggi, D. (2015). Musique Concrète Today: Its reach, evolution of concepts and role in musical thought. Organised Sound, 20(1), pp.51–59. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/s1355771814000429.
[4] Fisher, M. (2012). Burial: Unedited Transcript – The Wire. [online] The Wire Magazine – Adventures In Modern Music. Available at: https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/interviews/burial_unedited-transcript.