Koby Berman has a 4.8 rating on RateMyProfessors.com.
A native of Metro Detroit, the producer now resides in L.A. where he works under celebrated record producer, Rich Costey. At his day job, Koby utilizes his virtuoso engineering skills, working on tracks by artists like HAIM and Noah Cyrus. On the side, he’s building out his own catalog. Two EPs produced by him are due out this summer, including one for the face of the Clubhouse app.
Prior to heading out west, Koby received his Bachelor’s from Tulane, with double majors in Music Composition and Mathematics and a minor in Public Health. Shortly thereafter, he received his Master’s in Music Composition and had a stint as an instructor (garnering him the high student rating). He also has a luxury knit sweater with Aphex Twin’s face monogrammed on it and a tattoo of Princess Yue from Avatar: The Last Airbender on his thigh.
I got a chance to speak with the promising producer about his philosophies, his misapprehension of technique, and what he plans to do next. Check out our Spotify for his personally curated playlist, koby’s semi sadboi playlist.
How has COVID altered your creative process?
At first, I think COVID disrupted it because we all had to acclimate to working during it. Musically, I was used to going in the studio with artists or doing sessions in-person so I had to figure out how to transition into something that maintained that same energy. It was definitely a pretty big adjustment, especially with collaborative projects. But at this point, I feel equipped to handle whatever. I’m more equipped to maintain a solid workflow, no matter what external factors are happening.
Are you guys still doing remote studio sessions right now or are you all going in?
Well my boss, Rich Costey, moved to Vermont, so I'm only working remotely with him for now. A lot of it is figuring out how to work from the cloud. I can open a session here and then Rich can open one in Vermont, or he could open the same session as me, and then I'll open one of his. It’s been a lot of figuring out ways to do this stuff where it's not a massive headache, so it’s fluid. I've been working with my friend, Kim Tee, remotely for years at this point, regardless of COVID, just because she lives in Minneapolis.
At this point, I'm only doing the in-studio sessions with the people that are inside my small bubble. I also just personally prefer to work with fewer people. The past couple of years, I've been doing EPs and longer projects so if you're in my close group of people, I'm probably seeing you and we're probably working on something a little more substantial.
As of late, the tools and software needed to become a producer have become really accessible. There are also a ton of websites that offer sample packs. At this point, anyone can really just choose to become a music producer. Do you think having a background in music composition and theory is still advantageous?
I think Timbaland put it best. He said something along the lines of ‘everybody has my sample pack right now, but it's my taste that allows me to put together the piece and produce the way that I would’.
Everybody has access to the same tools as far as, like, samples on the internet. Obviously I can buy this freaking thing or do one or two specific things that I could emulate in the computer if I wanted to.
Knowing theory is definitely very helpful however, it's just more tools in the toolkit. It's nice being able to connect on an artistic level, a technical level, and a musical level with artists. Not only can I help them make their voice sound cool, but I can also give feedback on whether this would be the right key for them to sing in, or provide a chord that is a little more expressive or a little more robust than the chord that was there prior. However, at this point, it's still just tools in my toolkit.
Getting my Master's in Composition was like coming from an ivory tower technique background, where that was all I was exposed to.
The past two years I've been trying to hone in on music that pushes against those instincts and to be sensitive to how things feel, regardless of if they're recorded perfectly or if they're musically perfect or if the production is technically perfect.
I've really been trying to prioritize ‘feel’ as the most important thing. At this point, since it's been a few years since grad school, I’ve been trying to maintain balance. I want to be able to put on the hat of ‘the technical guy who fixes things when necessary’ but also be able to fluidly remove myself from the technique and just be ‘the taste guide’, who recognizes when something feels good and should be used, even if there's a wrong note or even if it doesn't sound perfect. The balance with that is where I strive to be.
Is that how you approach listening to music too? You're not focusing on whether or not something makes perfect sense theoretically, but you're thinking about how it makes you feel.
Exactly. Especially after grad school, I would listen with such an analytical ear. I had to consciously force myself to stop listening like a college or a Master's graduate and start listening like I was a teenager or a kid.
Music was so exciting to me as a kid and, I'm sure I liked the way that the chords sounded, but it was mostly the way the music made me feel. It wasn't the little technical stuff. It wasn't, “oh, the vocal tuning here is really what made this song hit.” It's just such a bigger picture way of looking at things. So now, when listening, I think the biggest thing for me is what does it seem like the intention of this artist or the art is? And is that being achieved?
So you majored in Mathematics and Music Composition and minored in Public Health. What do you think the relationship between math and music is?
The biggest thing that math has done for me is given me a toolbox on how to think logically.
I don’t use specific things in math for calculating musical intervals or chords or anything like that, but I think it's great for understanding the technicalities. With those logical skills in your repertoire, if any problem happens, especially from the technical side, you can use that type of reasoning to go in, diagnose, and fix what the problem is. I say that math skills are more life skills than anything, but that being said, they definitely apply to music.
Why music?
There’s something interesting to me about music in that it doesn't really exist anywhere. After you listen to a piece of music, you can't touch it, it's gone. However, somewhere in whatever period of time that you're listening to it, there's some combination of things -- of chorus, melody, or rhythm -- that is emotionally moving or communicates to people.
It's always affected me very strongly emotionally. It’s always resonated deeply with me in that sense.
Also, just trying to solve the mystery of what happened in these few minutes, from a technical, emotional, and case perspective, that makes this song speak more clearly than this other song? Or if the same chords are played on another instrument and it sounds slightly different, why can that affect you?
So, I think part of it is that I've always just been someone who gets emotionally affected by music. It's not really a choice, it just happens. The other part is solving the mystery of what is happening within these few moments of time that is causing these sounds to be so emotionally moving.
What do you see yourself doing next?
I'd say right now, my short-term goal is to ride my momentum as a producer or an artist or a singer in the music industry and see how far I can take that. I guess as far as projects are concerned, I'm working on some more stuff with my friend, Kim Tee. Her and I are trying to start a little production duo and then maybe try to branch out and produce for others.
The Axel Mansoor EP and the Ashlynn Malia EP are done at this point so they're coming out in a couple of months. I’m also working on a couple things with Rich [Costey]. Other than that, I want to explore what my own production and vocal identity is. Maybe I'll try to assemble a solo project eventually, but moreso, during my free time I want to dig deep and try different things, to keep learning, to keep figuring out exactly where I fit in the scheme of everything.
I’d want my solo project to make sense of all the different stuff I listen to. Something that combines indie, RnB, hip-hop, singer-songwriter … I'm super into classical music, super into film scoring music. I’d try to incorporate all of those elements. It would explore how those fit together in my world.
Would you ever want to compose music for film?
That was my original goal when I came to L.A. After my first year in grad school, I interned with this composer here. I thought it was super cool, however a philosophy that I hold myself to is that a big reason why I make music is to communicate with my peers and people that think the same way as me.
My friends, COVID aside, would be going to shows and listening to music while they're out doing stuff, and that's the world where I want to be. That world allows me to participate with my community. Here is where my community is at, here is how I'm participating, and here is how I'm affecting them. I'm just creatively along the ride with my peers.
Maybe in 10 years, when I'm not going to as many shows or I’m spending more nights in and watching movies, stuff along those lines, I might want to transition my sound into what that reality would mean for me. That's my truth. And I want to be contributing to that. I feel like the most authentic way to do it is to live it.
So the intention wasn't there with the film scoring?
I think it's really cool. I just don't think it's quite for me yet. There isn’t the same passion. I don't listen to film music the same way that I listen to a song by Frank Ocean.
Who are your favorite producers at the moment?
Rick Rubin is a big one. Rostam, even though I worked for him … massive man crush on that dude. Jack Antonoff. Metro Boomin, I think he's super, super good. Jon Brion. My boss Rich, he's one of my favorites as well, Rich Costey.
The reason why I love these people, or this philosophy of production, is because these producers can both work in the trenches and do things from a very technical standpoint, but then also guide big picture projects to completion. They know like, ‘Oh, I want to get drums on this track, but maybe I'm not the right person to do it however I know this guy who's an amazing drummer and this engineer that's going to make them sound great.’ On top of that, all the dudes that I just mentioned to you do a lot of different genres, which I would like to do as well.
They're attracted to music because it's good, not because it’s in their genre or their comfort zone. I'm sure that certain guys have tendencies to do certain things, but they're not like ‘I'm “this genre” producer, I'm a hip hop beat maker, I only do indie bands.’ They allow themselves to be open to whatever project comes their way. They make it happen.
They’re excited by music that's good rather than pigeonhole themselves. It would be cool if I had a career like that. So yeah, Rick Rubin, Rostam, Jack Antonoff, Jim-E Stack, Metro Boomin, Jon Brion ...
Aphex Twin.
Aphex Twin, obviously. I don't know if I want to have his career, but I think he's really cool. I would love to work with him.
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