French producer Boston Bun, aka Thibaud Noyer, has had a career that includes releases on the legendary Ed Banger Records plus remixes for artists such as Disciples, Riton, Tensnake and Mark Ronson.
Earlier this year he signed to Future Classic, first releasing the track Maybe // Yes Ft. Poté. More recently, he’s dropped his latest single, Nobody // Me – an infectious work of chopped vocals and rushing synths, which Noyer has been kind enough to break down the making of in the video below.
We caught up with Noyer in London earlier in 2024 to talk about his studio and creative process.
"My studio setup has changed recently, I moved things around a bit,” Noyer told us. “I have a few synths. I have a REV 2, the OB 6, and a Moog Matriarch as well. I also have an MPC, a Dreadbox Nymphs and some effects pedals from Dreadbox that I really like too.
"What I’ve done recently is I’ve set up my studio in a way that I have my computer and my monitors on one side, but I don't have any gear plugged in too close to me. Then I’ve set up a table way behind me with all the hardware stuff. I'll start to play with everything and record without watching the laptop screen. It's a new way for me to work, but so far I really like it."
As seen in our track breakdown video Noyer is a long-time Ableton user.
"When I started to make music, it just made sense that I do it with Ableton,” he explains. “I never had that much music knowledge, and it felt like the easiest way to do it.
“Recently, after all these years on Ableton, I started to use Push 3. I have the standalone version with a computer inside of it, so you don't need your laptop. I wasn't using Push before, because I felt more comfortable with my mouse and keyboard. But with this one, I can take the Push when I go on tour, or on holidays. It's amazing. I love it.”
Alongside his recent releases, 2024 has seen Noyer debut his first Boston Bun live set. While the current setup sees him making use of various hardware instruments and controllers, Push 3 doesn’t yet feature. “I tried to put it in my live sets, but I didn't find a way yet,” he explains. “For producing and just throwing ideas, it's really, really good."
“I was pretty sure they would never have kept that song as it is, because Miley’s vocals are so different."
Despite having some enviable synth at his disposal, Noyer isn’t the type to crave the latest hardware, preferring to spend his studio budget elsewhere.
"Honestly, I'm not a gear nerd,” he tells us. “Some of my friends are literally spending their days and all their money on gear. I don't feel like that. Most of the time I'm happy to have, like, a generic sound and something quite recognisable – I really like my OB 6, for instance – but what I love is having as many pedal effects as I can.
"They bring things to life and can make something really special. Lately, I've been using the Dreadbox ones. [If I could add anything to my studio] it wouldn't be, like, a really expensive and rare synth, but it would be as many pedal effects as I can."
Remix secrets
When we sat down with Noyer, he also shared his top advice for how to approach remixes of another artist’s work.
“I will say most of the time for remixes, just keep the vocals," he explains.”I will often try to keep the vocals but take them somewhere else. The problem is, of course, most of the time labels or artists, they don't really like that. And that makes sense. But for the Miley Cyrus track I remixed [Nothing Breaks Like A Heart, with Mark Ronson] somehow it worked. Thank you, Mark, for that.
“I was pretty sure they would never have kept that song as it is, because Miley’s vocals are so different. The crazy thing is, two years ago she was playing stadiums in the US, and she was playing my remix. She was singing on my remix. I didn't expect that at all. I feel like with that remix, I found the thing that defined my music much more than on other remixes.”
Boston Bun breaks down the stems of Nobody // Me
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