IN CONVERSATION WITH …MILES COPELAND

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Music producer Miles Copeland, who produces the soundtrack for Jasper Conran’s runway show during London Fashion Week, stopped by the studio this week to progress the concept for the forthcoming womenswear show. We took the opportunity to ask about his process for selecting the music, his background in the industry and his top tips for aspiring producers.

How do you form the concept for the music at a Jasper Conran show? 
When I first meet up with Jasper, he already has a strong idea about how he wants the show to be - whether he wants it to be more up tempo or down tempo and what the general vibe is. The tricky part is taking the vibe of what the actual collection will be and turning that into music.

What's your process for selecting the music? 
I go away from this meeting with Jasper and I think about the music I know, plus the music we have searched through. It’s a weird black art really; you have a conversation with somebody and then try your hardest to interpret those ideas into music. I give Jasper about five or six tracks to listen to and from those he might pick one or two which he likes. From that initial selection I know what he’s feeling and I know where we are going.

How do you source the music? 
I've got a library of music; I've been collecting music since I was 16. With the internet it's now much easier to have a database to search through, making it simpler than it was say ten years ago, but it has also made it more difficult as everyone knows you can get anything (supposedly), but it’s not as simple as that. It’s all in the searching!

What's your background? 
I started working at a record label in my early twenties and from there I've moved around different areas of the music industry. I started doing fashion shows about 12 years ago. My first was Nichol Fahri then Paul Smith, the list is endless and it changes from season to season. I have been doing Jasper's shows for about 7 years - it always feels like coming home as they are a great team to work with.

What would be your top tips for someone aspiring to get into music production? 
Love what you're doing, have a great knowledge of music and get as much experience as possible. You just need a few connections along the way so expect to do your first few jobs for nothing to get experience, meet people and create introductions. It will start by costing you money but eventually it can turn into a business. By doing that I've built a production company doing sound design and music production and I have a band and a record label, all under the same umbrella.