Quinn Oulton: “I had 24-hour access to a beautifully treated room and I suddenly realised everything I was missing”Fresh out of the Royal College of Music, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Quinn Oulton has taken his career by the horns. Grown from his basement set up in Brighton, the jazz-turned-R&B and alt-pop devotee has garnered 500,000 monthly listeners and myriad streams on his debut album, Alexithymia. Now, his latest release Lead You To Water has seen him perform alongside the likes of Elijah Fox, Reuben James and Jamie Cullum with tons of mainstream radio support.
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He takes us through the setup that led to collaborations with brands such as Yamaha, BOSS, BandLab and Klevgrand, and the gear that allows him to cultivate the intimacy his work is known for.

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Image: Press
You’ve just launched a new EP, Lead You To Water, which follows the release of your debut album in 2022. What lessons did you learn from your album that you wanted to bring forward for this new release?
I started working on the debut album when COVID hit, so I had a chance to completely dive into every single musical influence and genre that I loved. But for the new EP, I wanted to take the opposite approach, building on what I’d learnt from making the album.
The challenge for the Lead You To Water EP was to create something truly cohesive, that feels like each track is linked to the next, and recognisable as a collection. I forced myself to limit my sonic palette and to perfect a smaller number of production techniques: quality over quantity.
Lead You To Water EP by Quinn Oulton
How has studying jazz at an advanced level informed your approach to composition and songwriting?
In studying jazz there was definitely an obsession and idolisation of musicians who could do what others couldn’t. It was only towards the end of my studies that I met some people who felt like they were truly pushing themselves artistically, and allowing that to trump their technical limits for the sake of their songs. That really spoke to me. Currently, I’m obsessed with refining a song down to the fewest elements that can fully serve the song, and really refining each of those sounds (and how they interact/relate to each other) to be as effective as possible. To be honest, I still feel like there’s a hell of a lot going on in the EP that is a bit indulgent, but it’s hard to kick the habit!
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Tell us a bit about your studio.
I’ve just moved into a brand new space in Brighton, having moved out of London for the first time in my life. I’ve got a trapdoor under my living room now that leads down to a very nice little basement that I’ve set up as my studio. There are no neighbours on either side which is great, though the ceiling definitely needs some insulation for the sake of my partner’s sanity! I’m starting to have friends and collaborators visit for a day or two at a time, working on both my own and other artist’s projects. I definitely feel the pressure easing compared to being in London.
What’s your latest gear or plugin purchase?
In the past, I was a bit of a habitual spender when it came to studio stuff, and found that I’d try something once, maybe get one or two ideas from it, then put it down and never touch it again. I rely on immediacy so much when writing/producing that new stuff seems to just get in the way. The only thing I’ve bought recently was a beautiful, old and pretty cheap 1940s Archtop Hofner guitar. I fell in love with it in the shop, and since then I reach for it any time I’m writing or producing. The new EP is entirely built around my voice and this guitar, and it’s really helped to distinctly characterise my new music.
My latest plugin purchase was Sky Keys which was on sale for, like, £25. It’s an insanely powerful software instrument with incredibly usable and quirky presets sampling old and new synths/instruments. I used it a lot on the new EP, and love the reverse feature!
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What’s the best free plugin you own?
My recent free find is Place It! by Soundly. It’s a super simple convolution reverb and speaker emulation which I think was built mainly with TV/movie sound design in mind. There are 40 rooms, and speaker emulation of things like a laptop, or a phone earpiece speaker. There’s also a virtual wall you can slide up and down the middle to simulate room separation from the source. Like a lot of people at the moment, I’m obsessed with perceived space, and am always looking for ways to mess with the listener’s perception of where things are. It can be so strangely emotive if used carefully.
What’s been the biggest investment in your career/studio?
I’ve always slightly glamourised the idea of having a super DIY space, but earlier this year I spent two months as a resident artist at Brewery Studios in Berlin. I had 24-hour access to a beautifully treated room with incredible speakers, and I suddenly realised everything I was missing. No more London buses every two minutes in the background, and truly balanced, pleasing reflections that actually add to the ambience of a recording. In those two months, my ears improved so much, and coming back to my crappy bedroom studio to finish off the EP was painful.
So for the first time ever I’ve properly sound-treated my new space, and it’s made such a big difference.
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Your EP includes many organic and raw elements such as lightly produced vocal and acoustic instruments, while also integrating more digital techniques such as sampling and looping. How do you work to combine the two?
I grew up playing a lot of acoustic instruments, so that comes fairly naturally when writing and producing. Even though I listened to quite a lot of hip-hop and some electronic music as a teenager, I didn’t really dive into those styles until much later on. I have so much respect for producers who have the ears to sound select perfect drum samples. I can spend a huge amount of time trying sounds, and replacing them over and over until it finally doesn’t sound wrong to me anymore. But patience pays off and I think the reward is huge. There is a lot of pairing and subtly morphing between acoustic sounds and samples, which feels like a nice way to pay respects to the different influences from my formative years.
Your mixes feel very intimate, often evoking a calming and relaxing feeling. What techniques are you using to create such emotions for the listener?
One big part of the intimacy in my music is how I learnt to sing. I had pretty much never sung until I started writing and producing my own music.
My voice has changed massively since my early stuff, and a key part of my sound is that I learnt to sing using my trusty Rode NT1-A mic. It is super bright and detailed, and I really leaned into it when developing my tone. I have a very quiet voice and have developed a nice amount of harmonic detail or ‘richness’ over the years. This makes it feel like I’m singing right next to the listener, and helps with that perceived intimacy.
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How do you see your sound and studio evolving in the next two years?
The next step is to get some bigger monitors to go with my newly treated room. I’ve had the same M-Audio BX5s forever now. They’ve served me well, but I’m ready for something more nuanced to match my new space and my newly tuned ears since working with a pair of ATCs during my time in Berlin.
Do you have a dream piece of gear?
This is a pretty boring one, but a nice upright piano would keep me happy for a long while. I’ve never had a good-sounding piano of my own, and whenever I spend time with one I see myself improving so much faster than with any kind of digital piano.
What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
One thing I saw recently on YouTube was a guy debunking the trend of not turning up your preamps to the max before clipping (for DI boxes routed into amp simulators) due to the amp sim having an optimum input gain of around half. Maybe a really noisy signal is part of your artistry, or maybe it’s just laziness!
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Who gave you the biggest lesson in your career? Can you tell us about how it impacted you?
One thing that stands out to me was something my friend said to me years ago. At that point I’d had a few people reach out looking to manage me, resulting in some pretty terrible experiences. I was desperately trying to find that perfect big shot to fast-track me to success. She said that if you’re going to work with a manager, it has to be someone you really fundamentally love and trust as a person, ahead of any sort of clout or business accolades.
During COVID lockdown my partner quit her job as a paralegal and decided to help me plan for a release I was working on. Four years later, she’s now my full-time manager. We have grown in the business together, and every win for either one of us is a win for the other. I think the idea of building a team that genuinely cares for both your career and your well-being is so valuable.
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