A for Alpha on the power of sampling and the gear that makes her 90s heart soarBritish DJ and producer A For Alpha, AKA Abby Gray, has proved her admiration for the spirit of 90s underground. She offers a real fusion of past and present, paying homage to the decade’s legends while adding modern flare.

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Although still early on in her career, she’s supported heavyweight artists as a DJ, such as Annie Mac, Eats Everything and Chaos in the CBD. She also has a weekly residency on SWU.FM and runs her own label, Alpha’s Trip.
The producer takes us through the gear that allows her to stay true to the underground scene that gave her the drive to be the musician she is, and the techniques that she uses to emulate the sounds she knows all too well.
Image: Press
Congratulations on the release of your new EP HARD24! How do you think it echoes the iconic sound of the underground scene in the 90s while still sounding modern?
Thank you very much, it’s great to see the tracks out in the world!
I think it’s down to me being really inspired by this decade as it’s pretty much all I listen to. So, when it came to creating the EP those were the kind of ideas and sounds that I had in my head. I also have a very big collection of records from the 90s and I spent a lot of time sampling parts out of those tracks, which was a real snapshot of that time incorporated within the music.
I also spent a lot of time researching what equipment was used during the decade and found plugins and hardware that created this iconic sound which I used a lot during my production process. The tracks still sound modern because ultimately they were created within Ableton – I also use other plugins that I feel have quite a modern sound.
Akai MPC-2000XL. Image: Press
Your sound takes inspiration from the 90s underground scene. How is your studio set up to achieve this?
I have an MPC-2000XL which I love so much — it’s my baby! It’s a really iconic bit of gear from that time used to create a lot of house, garage and hip-hop. It’s been modded so you can put a memory card where the floppy disk used to be and load all your own samples.
I also have a Roland TR-09 which is based on the legendary 909 drum machine by Roland. I don’t use this as much as I used to, but I’d like to get it out more to get those classic-sounding house drums with the signature 909 swing.
The rest is all in the box on Ableton, as well as using other plugins. I used quite a lot of the Roland plugins on this release; you can get all their synths as plugins and there is some wicked-sounding stuff on them that instantly gives you the 90s vibe.
I also use D16’s Decimort for bit reduction, which gives such a great crunch to the drums and creates that 90s roughness. The GSatPlus is also a great saturator that helps to add the 90s sound.
Roland TR-09. Image: Press
Tell us a bit about your studio.
My studio is in Bristol, which is great because it’s a very creative and independent area. I use the studio to produce and prepare for my DJ sets but I also use it to run my own DJ and music production tuition business.
What’s your latest gear or plugin purchase?
My latest purchase is a plugin called FEM-BASO. It’s a vintage FM bass generator that has really cool-sounding bass on it. I bought it because it was recommended by one of my favourite producers, Burnski. I love using it, you can instantly get a great-sounding bass from it and it was very worth it, only £15!
Plugins used by A For Alpha. Image: Press
What’s the best free plugin you own?
There is an amazing free bundle of effects plugins by Kilohearts. I use the frequency shifter on every track, which gives the drums a nice gritty and dark feel which I think is quite a big characteristic of 90s tracks. I also use the trance gate on a lot of tunes, such as on the vocal samples in Dark Bongos and some of the FX in Let Me Hear Ya.
What’s been the biggest investment in your career/studio?
I would have to say my DJ setup. I have three XDJ-700s, a DJM-750Mk2, two Technics 1210Mk2 and about 1,000 records. As you can imagine, that’s cost quite a bit of money to build up over the years!
It’s been hugely worth it though; it’s really elevated me as a DJ. I can also record my vinyls so I can play them digitally as well if I need to. These older tracks are a very unique part of my sound as an artist, so it’s worth it.
A For Alpha’s DJ setup. Image: Press
Is there a particular tool or technique that you like to use that allows your sound to stay true to genres and style you take inspiration from, while being uniquely you?
Sampling is what allows me to achieve this; it’s the easiest way to stay true to the genre and style that I’m most inspired by. It’s not a unique process as it’s been used for decades, but the unique part would be what I choose to sample. For example, with vocals, I do a lot of extensive research into vocalists from the 90s tracks that I like.
How did you approach sampling more non-traditional instruments in your tracks, such as in Dark Bongos?
For the bongos, I found a loop sample in an old 90s sample pack. However, the loop was pretty full-on and busy with lots of drumming and layers of bongos. To strip it back while maintaining the original groove from the loop, I played around with transient shaping in Ableton which reduced some of the peaks of the audio and almost removed parts of the drums from the loop.
Do you have a dream piece of gear? What is it? Why?
A Roland SH-101 would be pretty cool! You can get some incredible bass sounds out of that thing.

What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
One myth that I’ve heard is that you have to create every preset yourself on synthesisers. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fun to create your own and it gives you a unique sound, but in my opinion, it’s all about the general vibe of the track, the end result is really the part that matters the most.
In my experience, creating the 90s sound is best done by sampling or using iconic patches from iconic synths, and so creating a new preset each time isn’t really going to help me achieve that sound.
Who gave you the biggest lesson in your career? Can you tell us about how it impacted you?
I’m going to shout out my old radio producer Paul here. He taught me lots about radio, of course, but he also taught me a lot about 90s tunes. Whether that be specific labels and artists, the best way to mix vinyl and the biggest part really, which is how to deal with the ups and downs of the industry. It’s maybe not something that is discussed a lot, but trying to break through as an artist can be really tough. You’re working 40-50 hours a week at your day job and then you’re trying to create and build your music career on the side. It can be really tough to balance it all and not feel super stressed and burnt out. Paul really helped me to deal with that struggle a lot and how to ultimately enjoy what I was doing, a huge lesson for me that I still embrace to this day.
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