For Episode 20 of the UNSUNG podcast, MixedByJocelin and Matt Soczywko were joined by British songwriting & production duo LDN Noise at Abbey Road Studios.
Comprising Greg Bonnick and Hayden Chapman, the two met via a mutual friend, originally producing garage and UK electronic genres popular at the time. After digital downloads started to displace revenue generated from physical sales of vinyl and CDs, Greg’s dance music label began to struggle financially. He pivoted out of making niche UK genres like Garage and 2-step and started studying songwriting and looking into producing more commercial music with Hayden. They had a string of early successes working on music for UK chart-toppers like Cheryl Cole, Sugababes, and Tinie Tempah, while also working on more underground acts/genres like Skepta and Grime.
Then, around 2012, the UK music scene started to run thin on the ground; there weren’t many acts to pitch songs for. The boys had landed a big track with Chris Brown that same year but struggled to get much music placed until their songwriter friend Andrew Jackson introduced them to a brand-new genre emerging from South Korea called K-pop. Returning from LA frustrated after a big writing trip, they decided to double down on this brand-new genre and quickly found success in K-pop, finding their broad musical taste and diverse musical ability a perfect fit for the multi-genre twists and turns found in K-pop’s DNA.
Today, LDN Noise has written songs and produced music for some of the biggest acts in K-pop and the world, including: Chris Brown, Nick Jonas, Red Velvet, Exo, NCT Dream, NCT 127, Skepta, Enhypen, Twice, and many, many more.
In this episode, the boys discuss how they typically work together, how they met, their early productions, their transition into songwriting, and the commercial evolution of UK Rap in the 2010s, Grime’s second wave, the highs and lows of various musical genres, the impact of diverse musical experiences, their success in K-pop, covering its defining features, the potential dark sides of the scene, and the importance of work ethic and talent in the music industry, how they initially got into K-pop, what inspires them when writing in the genre, how they developed the skillset to produce its many diverse styles, their preferred DAW, the different sound characteristics of DAWs, the plugins they regularly use. They wrap up with a quick-fire round, what’s next for LDN Noise, and some invaluable advice for aspiring music makers.
