Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter Imad Royal has worked with a broad spectrum of artists, from hip-hop mainstays Rico Nasty and Doja Cat to ‘00s pop-punk favourites Panic! at the Disco.
In the latest edition of the company’s Apollo Creators video series, Royal invited Universal Audio into his LA-based studio to dive into his creative process. In the interview, Royal charts his journey from hardcore drummer and alt-R&B solo artist to one of pop and hip-hop’s most exciting producers/songwriters, making platinum-selling records with artists like viral multi-hypenate Oliver Tree and mullet-sporting chart-topper Benson Boone.
Royal explains that whichever artist he’s working with, he attempts to build an intimate creative relationship that makes him feel like more of a “bandmate” than a producer. “My motto when I’m working with artists is: ‘I’m joining your band. I’m in your band now’. I’m not your producer, I’m your bandmate,” he says. “It allows me to care in a much deeper way. It allows me to invest in the project in a much deeper way. I like to really fall into the project that I’m working on.”
“My motto when I’m working with artists is: I’m not your producer, I’m your bandmate”
The role of a producer, Royal says, is to identify what makes an artist who they are and capture that in a song’s production. “For artists like Keshi and Oliver Tree, the production is a huge part of their identity. If they’re going to feel connected to the music, I know that that’s an important part. Your DNA is embedded in this, so we have to run with it: I’m looking for an artist in their most authentic form.”
Royal reveals that he’s been working with Universal Audio’s Apollo interfaces for almost a decade, starting out with the X8p and Apollo Twin. He’s since grown fond of the company’s 6176 compressor, which he likes to use for DI’d electric and bass guitar, and a number of UA plugins, including the Studer A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder.
“I’m a big preset guy. I like to get results pretty quickly, and a lot of the time the presets are as advertised,” Royal admits. “If a preset’s called Fat Bass, there’s a 90% chance it’s actually a fat bass! On the Studer, for instance, the Drum Bus preset, it’s perfect. It’s so good. I put it on every time, and for me that’s enough. I’m like ‘cool, we did it’, because I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole.”
Whatever genre he’s working in, Royal says that his creative decisions are always guided by instinct. “I’m driven by my internal alarm system,” he explains. “Meaning, until my alarm system is activated, we’re not here yet. That has never changed. I believe in my excitement around a record as my barometer of whether it’s good or not.”
“I’m not afraid to fail, I’m not afraid to lose. I’m not afraid to get it wrong,” Royal continues, describing the freedom he finds in taking a fearless attitude to music-making. “If an artist wants to move on from me and work with another producer, that doesn’t scare me. I just love knowing that I left it all out there and hopefully pushed an artist to new heights.
“Not having that fear of failure allows me to be free. My worst case scenario is a song that doesn’t come out… ‘alright, cool.’ We’ll make more!”
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