Xylo Aria - Music Production for Women - Music Production Podcast #428

podcast
Written By Brian Funk

Xylo Aria is a singer, producer, and entrepreneur. Xylo founded Music Production for Women (MPW) to help empower and educate women music-makers. Her new album Dream will be released summer 2026.

I’ve been following Xylo’s work for some time now and it was great to speak to her about her work. We discussed building community and the creation of her new album. Xylo has collected a lot of wisdom in her journey and shares it with us today. 

Music Production for Women is running SoundLab, a virtual event on July 14th and 21st, 2026 to help attendees unlock the skills of producing and mixing music. Sign up here: https://musicproductionforwomen.com/soundlab2026

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Episode Transcript:

Brian Funk (00:00.91)

All right, Xylo, welcome aboard. Great to have you.

Xylo Aria (00:03.848)

Great to be here, Brian. Thanks so much for having me.

Brian Funk (00:07.148)

Yeah, it's nice to have you. It's fun to turn the tables on you for your podcast. MPW the podcast.

Xylo Aria (00:11.556)

It is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's good to be on this side.

Brian Funk (00:16.972)

Yeah. You're doing awesome work. like I told you before we started, I I've seen your stuff pop up here and there in my journeys over the internet. And you're always sending out a positive message, supportive message. which is really important, believe it or not, you know, like working on music and trying to create stuff as much as I love it. It's also the one of the hugest sources of stress and

Frustration sometimes in my life where sometimes you feel like a wizard and you can do anything and other times it's like who do I think I am?

Xylo Aria (00:55.294)

for sure, for sure. But I'm I'm glad that comes across, you know, on the other side of the world and through through what we're doing. So yeah, thank you.

Brian Funk (01:01.486)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (01:06.648)

Do you wanna give us the the quick pitch about music production for women and tell us you know, how you got that started and all of that kind of stuff. So for people that might not know.

Xylo Aria (01:18.138)

Yeah, yeah. So I started MPW in twenty nineteen to empower more women to produce for themselves and produce music. And I guess it was all based on my own experience as a singer songwriter and unfortunately having some kind of not so great experiences with the producers I was working with and then kind of getting fed up with the whole thing and deciding that

I need to do this myself to have control over the process. And in that that learning process felt a little kind of isolating. I felt like the odd person out a lot of the time in those rooms, but getting to the point where I was producing for myself, I was like, my gosh, like where has this been all my life? And why did it take me so long to to explore this more? And reflecting on that, I was

Brian Funk (02:08.75)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (02:16.914)

thinking about all the things that would have made it easier and more enjoyable a process for me to to get into production and basically created MPW based on what I wish existed when when I got started. So yeah, so everything's built around, you know, community, encouragement, support and around not overcomplicating technical things that I think

don't often need to be overcomplicated.

Brian Funk (02:51.124)

I'm glad you bring that up because I think as I've learned more, I've realized sometimes it's way simpler than you think. You well like an EQ, having seventeen nodes of peaks and valleys, a lot of times it's just a little soft bump. Does the does the job the best. It's funny how we d we just complicate it like crazy.

Xylo Aria (02:53.192)

Ha ha

Xylo Aria (03:02.524)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (03:11.27)

Yeah.

For sure. I

Xylo Aria (03:18.632)

Yeah, I guess that comes with building confidence, isn't it? When you feel like you need to be doing more and justifying having the EQ and you have a hi a bunch of things going on, it's only when you know, even speaking to much more experienced producers and I saw very simple, you know, way they use the EQ, I was like, maybe that's all you need. But maybe that needs confidence that you need to build over time.

Brian Funk (03:26.67)

Hm.

Brian Funk (03:40.878)

Mm-hmm.

Brian Funk (03:45.282)

Yeah, maybe. When I first started doing my live electronic stuff using Ableton Live, I'm I came from playing in bands, playing guitar, rock and b rock and roll type stuff. And that's where I was playing also and I guess this is about like two thousand ten. So the laptop on the stage was kind of like getting the side eye all the time. And a lot of like, You playing dubstep bro? Like that kind of comment, like

Xylo Aria (04:07.389)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (04:11.966)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (04:13.814)

Like kind of talking down to me. So I felt like I had to be doing a lot. So I was always turning a knob and moving a fader. But I'd listen back and I'd be like, this is just chaos. And doing less took a bit of confidence because I was trying to show people like I'm not just checking my email. I'm actually doing something up here. But had to lay back the music really improved a lot from that.

Xylo Aria (04:17.926)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (04:32.264)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (04:40.255)

Mm, mm, yeah, for sure. I mean it is tricky from a live performance perspective. 'cause you yeah, you do feel that pressure to be showing what you're doing. Yeah.

Brian Funk (04:51.906)

Yeah. Yeah, if you hit a drum, right? Like everyone understands what you did. When you twist a knob or push a button, like a lot of times no one even knows what it did.

Xylo Aria (04:56.466)

Yeah. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (05:01.928)

What? Yeah. Yeah yeah, exactly.

Brian Funk (05:07.276)

I think what you said though is a reason a lot of people I think it's why I got into recording myself as well, was yeah, like that control and going and having stuff get recorded for you and realizing it didn't sound the way you wanted it to or people that were more experienced would tell you, No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not how we do it. You just we do it this way And you're like, But my guitar is supposed to be loud or or a loud rock band and like, No no no no no no

Xylo Aria (05:14.022)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (05:24.134)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (05:34.414)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (05:37.07)

Not as much of that or yeah.

Xylo Aria (05:37.959)

Yeah, for sure. Mm. Yeah, like there were times where I paid, you know, like a couple of grand to have a song produced and then never released it because it was just not what I was going for. And yeah, I guess that having that skill just gives you that control, to be able to

realize your sound, even though it takes a while. Takes a while to get there and a lot of frustration to get to that point. But yeah, I think it's it just gives a lot of freedom.

Brian Funk (06:14.157)

That's how you get there, I think, too, is with that freedom to explore and try things out and make the mistakes and maybe even do the things wrong and get the desirable results. And that, you know, the professional or the experienced person would never allow you to do that. You you can't let that meter go in the red, like no, but when you do it without knowing any better, you're like, that's cool.

Xylo Aria (06:26.256)

Mm, mm.

Xylo Aria (06:32.902)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (06:40.942)

Yeah, yeah. That is something that I kind of miss like as you get more familiar with your tools. Like the le there's less chance of those creative accidents. They happen still, but like I I kind of enjoyed that more of not knowing exactly what this was gonna do, but doing it anyway, 'cause I had no rules to follow and being like, that's that's cool. Yeah.

Brian Funk (06:54.861)

Mm.

Brian Funk (07:06.795)

Yeah. That that is the joy, I guess. I I find and you probably do too, that when you work with people that are learning, you see them do these things and it reminds you like, yeah, that's that's what happens when you do that, but it works here. Those fresh perspectives. I that's a big thing I get out of teaching for myself.

Xylo Aria (07:17.406)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (07:23.898)

Yeah, yeah.

Xylo Aria (07:28.494)

Mm, mm. Yeah, for sure. It is nice to see people on that part of the journey. yeah.

Brian Funk (07:39.552)

Now you talked about community. That's definitely a very important thing for everybody else. how did you get started building one? I think we all struggle with that. You know, we want I want community, but like, you know, where do I go? Especially 'cause now when we're in the computer it music has gotten very solitary. Whereas it used to always be you would have to play with other people, but now we're we can do it all on your own, which is great. But

Xylo Aria (07:52.787)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (08:00.443)

Mm.

Yeah.

Brian Funk (08:06.911)

It can make finding others and building community a little tricky. I wonder just how you got there, started, what inspired you?

Xylo Aria (08:10.854)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (08:15.578)

Yeah, yeah. So it was at the I was living in London at the time, like when I first started MPW and before kind of r really officially starting it, I I I wanted that community myself and I didn't feel like I had it. So like I went to loads of different networking events and things like that to meet people. but then I actually

started a meetup group for producers and just organized a couple of meetups and yeah, sometimes three people would show up and sometimes a few more people would show up and that was lovely actually kind of meeting people without really any intention for that time. And

Brian Funk (09:05.207)

Mm-hmm.

Xylo Aria (09:11.45)

And at at that time I was speaking to like in in those settings with a lot of other kind of female musicians and things and about their experiences and in production or getting into production, et cetera. And I then it confirmed the need for a platform like MPW. initially when I was first thinking about my own experiences, you know, you think

i is it just me that these scenarios happen to that I feel really strongly about this platform and whether it should exist or not? But then having that confirmation from other people saying, actually, I would love that that kind of increased the drive to to create it and then and then creating and starting MPW the first couple of

workshops that I did were super, super small and intimate, and in person, which was really lovely. And then I my visa was ending in the UK and I was very sad about that. I really wanted to stay. But knowing that that was coming up and I couldn't stay meant that I had to make everything online because I knew that I'd have to leave. And you know, I guess everything happens

For a reason, I I do believe, but like that made MPW COVID proof, you know, before COVID happened, because that was in twenty nineteen. So yeah, just in time. And so then everything shifted online where we started having, you know, monthly group kind of coaching sessions and and things like that. Just for a a place for people to show up every month and just kind of hang out with other similar people.

Brian Funk (10:46.901)

Hm. Right.

Brian Funk (10:51.204)

just in time. Hm.

Xylo Aria (11:10.29)

and then we yeah, started like our courses and things and there the the Discord is quite a big part of it and now like moving things to WhatsApp and things like that as well, so that there are multiple different ways for people to connect, whether it's in the class, after the class, like in the breakout rooms or in WhatsApp groups or Discord groups, etc. so that's

Yeah, that's how I went about it and I think it's working. you know, it it doesn't have the live element as much now. like we do some run some live workshops throughout the year in different places. but most of it is online, which does make it tricky, but it also gives me flexibility to be able to run MPW without being tied to a place and then also

Brian Funk (12:05.046)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (12:08.392)

flexibility for me to have a great team in different parts of the world. Like we have now five five of us and we're in four different continents. So it makes that something that we can do rather than being tied to a location.

Brian Funk (12:25.856)

Hm. Wow, that's great. So it it's grown and spread and are the other people you're working with are they like also members? Like with is that how they got into it?

Xylo Aria (12:37.49)

the most recent person who joined our team was a student of ours two or three years ago. So it's it's nice for her to be on the other side of it. But yeah, the the first person who joined my team, Carmel, she had been on the mailing list for a long time and I think she just really enjoyed the content and things. And she's been an absolute gem that I would be completely lost without and I'm so grateful for her.

Brian Funk (12:46.593)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (13:03.404)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (13:05.534)

and then yeah, one person that we that's on our team just applied for for a a job with us like just through social media, we we put that out. and then the the other person on the team just started doing a couple of bits and pieces of admin for us and then yeah, we thought she was a great fit and ended up joining full time. Yeah.

Brian Funk (13:30.506)

Hm. That's great when the people involved believe in the mission like that, that they're

Xylo Aria (13:36.11)

yeah. It's you know, for me it's it's vital for for the the business that I'm running. Like if there was someone that kind of didn't really care about the mission, it just wouldn't be the right fit.

Brian Funk (13:48.811)

Hmm. Yeah, just sort of clocking in. You know. Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah, but to be but it's nice to be part of something you're building that you're working on though too. I think I I know that I feel that way like as a teacher. It's nice to feel like you're in a when you're working towards something. I've

Xylo Aria (13:52.793)

Yeah, yeah. Then you know, get a corporate job. There's plenty of those. Yeah. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (14:05.158)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (14:14.206)

Mm.

Brian Funk (14:16.604)

said like jokingly, like I don't get paid enough not to care, you know. Like I I have to get that out of it as well. Like that's part of what I'm trying to do, right? Like so and same thing with some of the teaching with music production to just see some of the people like kind of stick around and, you know, show up in other places.

Xylo Aria (14:20.395)

Y okay. Mm. Mm.

Xylo Aria (14:28.37)

Mm. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (14:41.052)

Mm.

Brian Funk (14:42.828)

You know, those are the people that are fired up. Those are people that tend to go places doing this 'cause it I guess you kinda need that here in in the the music world. It's not really like other professions where you get your degree, you get your whatever, and now you can get the job, like in in music and even I say this to my students through Berkeley online, like I don't even have the degree you guys are going for. So I'm I'm I'm teaching this class, not because I'm

Xylo Aria (15:08.421)

Mm, that's a good point, yeah.

Brian Funk (15:12.63)

qualified really. Just it's the like just working at it and you know, there's no we never get like as artists like a permission slip or a or some like final like okay you made it, now you're an artist

Xylo Aria (15:17.543)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (15:23.014)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (15:27.706)

Yeah, yeah. That's such a good point, isn't it? And I think that that's probably a contributor to all the imposter syndrome that we experience in this industry, 'cause everyone's like, can I call myself an artist or a producer? Or, you know, d does someone else have to call me that or how does that work?

Brian Funk (15:38.54)

Mm.

Brian Funk (15:48.075)

Yeah, when do you become a musician? When do you become a music producer? Like when are you allowed to say that? You almost just have to just act like one or something. And that's like you said, that imposter syndrome will eventually kick in. Like that it's a nasty one.

Xylo Aria (15:53.31)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (16:00.412)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (16:04.604)

Mm, mm. Yeah, it is, it is. For sure.

Brian Funk (16:12.488)

One of the comforts though in in doing this podcast especially is finding out and not that I wish this upon other people, but pretty much everybody goes through that. Like people you would never expect, like, really? With that Grammy sitting on the shelf behind you? Like you feel that way?

Xylo Aria (16:30.504)

Crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. That that's it's a good thing to mention and I've definitely experienced that as well and and it and then it that's a good thing to pass on to students as well, that like, you know, if you're experiencing it right now, it's so okay because everyone does, including, like you said, Grammy Winning producers, engineers, etc.

Brian Funk (16:54.144)

Yeah. some of some people have said even like once I got that award or once I got that recognition or that I did that track with whoever, th that was when it really kicked in. 'Cause I had this success and it's like, well, maybe it's just a fluke. At least when before I had that I was still like kind of aspiring and now it's like, now you gotta be that.

Xylo Aria (17:10.781)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (17:15.513)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (17:19.268)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a that's a interesting observation.

Brian Funk (17:28.97)

That's part of why I like what you're doing, that you're coming out there and letting people know that it's all right to go through that stuff and that it's really part of it. I think it it helps fuel it, I guess, wouldn't you think? Like helps motivate you a little bit.

Xylo Aria (17:47.037)

Yeah, I I think it does. I guess for some people maybe it's gets to the point where it's crippling and that's no good. But yeah, I'd hope for most people it it acts as a motivator.

Brian Funk (18:05.705)

I've been crippled.

Xylo Aria (18:06.974)

yeah, I'm sure we all have. Including me.

Brian Funk (18:14.227)

Well, you have some evidence though coming out soon that you're able to get through it. You've got a an album, Dream coming out.

Xylo Aria (18:22.878)

Y yes, yeah. So it's something you know, we were talking about this earlier that when you're in this space you can be surrounded by music, but then the time and the energy and the focus to create it can can fall to the bottom of the priority list and this album has been a works for many years. So I'm so excited to finally

get it out and I have been working on some newer stuff and I'm really feeling the backlog now, you know, of I just I can't really get super creative right now because I feel like there's all this all this stuff that just needs to get out there and so I'm looking forward to it. Really, really love so many tracks. I mean all of them, I guess we all love our music that we want to share. So I'm

excited excited to get it get it out and into the world and trying to as well disconnect with what happens once it's out. You know, we we can obviously put together our marketing plan or whatever, but know that the end result of the responses from people is just out of our control then. Easier said than done.

Brian Funk (19:51.53)

Yes. Yeah, that's a great point because once you put it out, that's not in your hands really. Like you said, you can promote it, you can try to get people to hear it, which is also sometimes very difficult too. the biggest response I'm used to and many of the people I know is just crickets, just nothing. Just all right, I worked real hard, here it is and

Xylo Aria (19:52.252)

Yeah. Mm.

Xylo Aria (20:15.516)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk (20:21.195)

The video of my dog chasing her tail got way more likes than all this hard work I put into this album.

Xylo Aria (20:30.494)

I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's something that I think I I wish there was a better way to handle it, you know? Like, 'cause it is it is that's the kind of hardest part of the whole thing, I think.

Brian Funk (20:39.563)

Mm.

Brian Funk (20:49.769)

I gotta imagine though, having the community you're building and that you've created over these years, there's a little bit at least of a built in audience of people that will probably check it out just because they're aware of what you're doing and enjoy the overall it's one of the important things of having a community is you have people you can actually share it with.

Xylo Aria (21:10.126)

Yeah. It's funny, like I feel like MPW isn't the space for me to share my music, you know? Like I I maybe this is a is not the right way to look at it, but I don't want it to be like a tooting my own horn sort of space, where I'm like, here's what I'm doing, check out my music. but it's I see it more of a celebration for

my students music. so I don't really shout about it in the MPW sphere, but I don't know, maybe maybe that's not the right way to look at it, but that's how I feel anyway.

Brian Funk (21:53.564)

I don't know the answer. I would imagine there's people that would enjoy hearing about it, but I can understand what you're saying too. You don't want it to come across as this self promoting kind of thing, which I think is always a thing artists deal with is that kind of line of w being the artist and then becoming like like sleazy salesperson kind of thing.

Xylo Aria (21:55.263)

Ha ha

Xylo Aria (22:05.51)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (22:20.43)

Yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk (22:20.895)

Where that feels uncomfortable.

Xylo Aria (22:24.208)

Mm mm mm. Yeah, it's a tricky one.

Brian Funk (22:29.535)

I hear ya. I always tell people to do it though. I think you have to toot your horn. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (22:34.342)

Yeah, perhaps I should maybe for this one this will be a special special one with the album.

Brian Funk (22:42.513)

It it's a huge accomplishment, you know. So but of course I I get what you're saying too, right? 'Cause I have similar feelings.

Xylo Aria (22:44.486)

Yeah, yeah.

Xylo Aria (22:51.418)

Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Funk (22:54.911)

That's a that's the whole concept of I guess of like releasing music is also and I hear I heard this, it was Derek Sivers that said this. Was like letting go of it. And like not just like putting it out, but like it's not yours anymore. It's out of your head like the bird flying from the nest kind of thing. let it it it does its own thing that as you said

Xylo Aria (23:08.742)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (23:14.95)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (23:19.121)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk (23:24.393)

We don't have a lot of control over.

Xylo Aria (23:26.522)

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And and I have heard that kind of you know, analogy before where you it's not yours anymore, you know, it's it's it it belongs to the world. and then you also, if you can see it that way, let go of the whatever attachment you might feel to people's responses, etcetera.

Brian Funk (23:39.275)

Hm.

Xylo Aria (23:56.607)

'cause it's it's it doesn't belong to you anymore. But yeah. Again, I think those things sometimes are easier said than done. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk (24:06.046)

Definitely. The only way I know how to ease that a little bit is just to kinda keep making more. And I I just saw actually on your Instagram you had Keppy from How to Write Songs. who I've had on a few times now too. She's great. I I love what they do. but she was like, Yeah, just write a lot, write a lot And then nothing becomes precious. It's not

Xylo Aria (24:15.343)

Yeah, yeah.

Xylo Aria (24:20.816)

Yeah, yeah. yeah, Keppy's great. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (24:30.886)

Mm.

Brian Funk (24:31.76)

Something you can you know, you always know there's something new coming out, there's something tomorrow, something the next day.

Xylo Aria (24:37.754)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a that's a good point. And I have heard that from Keppy before and yeah, then it's you know, finding the the time for it for the writing very consistently. But yeah, it sounds like a good way to get around it.

Brian Funk (24:49.449)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, like we s went back to before making music that's to be the hardest thing to get to. Well, we have to wear so many hats, right? and I imagine that's probably something you talk a lot about in the community when you

Xylo Aria (24:57.816)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Brian Funk (25:12.062)

decide to be like a music producer, you're writing the songs you're producing, you're playing them probably half the time. You're recording them, engineering, mixing, maybe even all all the steps, mastering and all that. it gets hard to stay in one's own. Sometimes it'd be nice if you just had to do this or just had to do that.

Xylo Aria (25:21.106)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (25:33.831)

Yeah. For sure, for sure, you know, and and it's something that you know, there's the like what advice do you give to someone on the ideal thing that should be do that they should be doing or what's the best thing for them? Because I think, like you said, there is a lot to do and it's not for everyone and I think that's the thing that some people

either don't grasp fully or aren't willing to admit to themselves that you know that the artist path is not for everyone and unless you are willing to you know do the social media stuff like be super active and all of that outside of the creativity that is required then

you know, perhaps doing it more for the joy of it or for other reasons rather than this this goal of being a commercially successful artist is a better goal for you, but it's harder hard to admit that sometimes, you know, that I'm I'm not willing to do all the business stuff that's that has to be done to commercialise this thing. and it's okay to just do it 'cause

Brian Funk (26:55.902)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (27:00.784)

It's fun and 'cause I enjoy it and 'cause it's a yeah, it's a great thing to do. Mm.

Brian Funk (27:07.858)

Mm.

I've had that conversation with my band that are playing and my band is two other guys also with day jobs. So they're they don't need to rely on music to fund them and to be their career. And we were kinda one day being like, you know, this is actually kinda nice that it doesn't matter if we record these songs we've been working on, it doesn't matter if we release them. We're doing it only because we want to.

Xylo Aria (27:18.344)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (27:39.773)

and we'll if we press we pressed some records, we did like a hundred vinyls and we were like, we know at least three people want them. Meaning us. So we do that and even now that like there's these on demand vinyl places now, which is so cool. We we made three prints of our EP and that that was it. And then and like if people want they can order but

Xylo Aria (27:40.059)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (27:49.256)

Yeah, great.

Xylo Aria (28:04.542)

Great. That's perfect, actually. Yeah.

Brian Funk (28:09.79)

No one does. But we d we're not none of us want us have to be the one to like push it and okay, we gotta do our marketing plan or or we gotta book things and that has been points of stress when I was younger in bands, when we back when I thought that's what I wanted out of my life. Like you'd be like, How come I'm the only one calling and emailing and you'd have these like bickering things with your friends that you're playing music with and

Xylo Aria (28:16.915)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (28:30.046)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (28:36.378)

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Brian Funk (28:39.462)

Some of those bands r didn't survive because of that. And it I think now the goal is just to keep doing it. That that's really it. And that's helped a lot with songwriting and ideas and whether or not I'm okay with how that bass part or drum part goes, whereas in the past it'd be a little more like, Come on, you gotta play.

Xylo Aria (28:49.032)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (28:55.518)

Hm.

Xylo Aria (29:00.477)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Just that's great. Like if you can get to the point of creating without the pressure of it, you know, that's what creativity is actually about. And I I was listening to a podcast with Rick Rubin who he was talking about when you create without any expectation for that project or whatever, that's art. But when you're creating with

the aim of it being a commercial success, then that's commerce and it's not really art anymore 'cause you're not allowing yourself to fully express whatever you want to express, which I thought was very interesting. So it's yeah, lovely if you can create from that space of no pressure.

Brian Funk (29:56.766)

Yeah, that's an interesting point. 'cause I think about myself whenever I'm trying to be clever or you know, make something that I think some people will like or find impressive or, you know, whatever, intelligent. I I never really finish those projects or I get stuck and then I give up and frustrated or or just even things that I liked suddenly

Xylo Aria (30:05.606)

Hmm.

Xylo Aria (30:11.592)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (30:19.59)

Mm.

Brian Funk (30:26.607)

I don't like it 'cause it's not doing anything, you know, musically intelligent, you know. But but so much of the stuff I love is so simple anyway. I I have so much more fun when I can let go of that stuff.

Xylo Aria (30:34.278)

Mm, mm.

Xylo Aria (30:38.547)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (30:44.316)

Yeah, for sure. I I think we all do, but it's just sometimes harder to let go. yeah.

Brian Funk (30:51.721)

It definitely is. So I know you're in an Ableton Live user and person, you know your s your way around. So I kinda wanted to ask you a little bit just about your your album and like the production and anything like processes or tools that you leaned on or found interesting in the making of the new one?

Xylo Aria (31:09.693)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (31:19.046)

Yeah. Mm trying to think like if there's something I it I feel like the songs have been created over such a space of time that I can see the progression when I open up the older songs, you know, how I've used Ableton. So that's kind of interesting. But yeah, generally I think I like creating atmosphere.

Brian Funk (31:32.435)

Right.

Xylo Aria (31:47.237)

with my voice in a lot of the songs. You know, it will obviously there'll be the the vocal melody and that's fine, but it will kind of feature as a pad or a synth or something like that where I've used it in in different ways. and yeah, I like using some weird sounds like there's a sound pack of just life stuff of

construction sites or I don't know traffic noise or something like that. But I I think it's fun to have some sounds that you can't really place what they are and to use them in in different ways in the creative process and yeah and yeah lots of lots of kind of

Brian Funk (32:18.584)

cool. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (32:43.774)

parallel processing on vocals, like, you know, variety of different delays, reverbs, compressors and yeah, lots of vocal tracks as well as parallel parallel processing as well. So yeah. Yeah.

Brian Funk (33:06.931)

So like when you're making like kind of like pads out of your voice, is it you're just stacking tracks, layering like the different notes of maybe a chord or something?

Xylo Aria (33:18.04)

Yeah, o often I'll just kind of like vibe with it and then I'll come up with some sort of a like a humming melody in the back and then I may use it as it is or I may just use chunks of it to turn that into kind of longer notes or something like that and and then often I'll just harmonise those a few times recording something on top of it.

to create like a a richness. 'cause I'm not a I'm not really an instrumentalist, like I can play a little bit of guitar and keys, but the voice for me is where I feel more comfortable expressing myself. So it's easier for me to create some chords with my voice.

Brian Funk (34:00.457)

Mm.

Brian Funk (34:09.405)

That's cool. I would love to be there with my voice. I use my voice a lot, but you know, I th I'm definitely feel I can just play the note on the guitar way better than I can sing the note. but I d I do enjoy like a lot of that.

Xylo Aria (34:10.684)

Yeah.

Well, I'm sure you can. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (34:27.214)

All right. Yeah.

Brian Funk (34:33.417)

Playing around and processing voices and just seeing where I can take them. I d I just think the the human voice has just got so much to it. And each person's voice is so unique. I mean, you can recognize a person's voice in a sentence out of nowhere. so to be able to

Xylo Aria (34:37.798)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (34:50.31)

Mm, mm.

Brian Funk (34:56.571)

integrate that into the music a lot, I I think brings a lot of life and humanity, which it's it sounds like you're into too, with especially with like some of the sounds you were mentioning, like the construction or abstract noises. I think that's really important now especially where to have real stuff going on. There's so much, you know, other ways to do music now that isn't that way.

Xylo Aria (35:06.322)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (35:14.066)

Hm.

Xylo Aria (35:17.768)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (35:23.838)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk (35:26.605)

I really appreciate those types of things in music it more than ever, hearing like that's like really your voice being chopped up and played around with and rather than either whether it's AI of course or just like even just all the access we have to loops and samples. It's really nice to hear people taking their own voice and integrating it.

Xylo Aria (35:30.621)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (35:37.67)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (35:45.501)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (35:49.766)

Mm.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And it can spark different creativity as well. Like there was one challenge that I gave myself. Like I just spoke a sentence I I don't remember what it was, but that wasn't important. But I decided the only samples or the only tools that I'm gonna use to create this song is gonna be from this sentence. And that was

So fun. Like I created the kick and the snare. Then I probably I think I ended up layering the kick 'cause it just didn't have enough low end and stuff. But just using that to create all the sounds, I had a great time and and it just really brought out creativity that I wouldn't have kind of tapped into otherwise.

Brian Funk (36:20.033)

well.

Brian Funk (36:33.577)

Mm.

Brian Funk (36:41.725)

So you're like pitching them, reversing them, time stretching, all that kind of stuff to get new stuff out of it?

Xylo Aria (36:46.099)

Yeah. Yeah. All that stuff adding, you know, random effects and yeah, making them longer, shorter and yeah. Yeah.

Brian Funk (36:51.187)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (36:56.709)

I love that kind of stuff. in the Berkeley class I do, which is the sampling, Ableton Live Sampling class, one of the assignments for the week is to just go about your day and record sounds and make something with that. And it can be abstract or you can actually try to like make instruments and things and melodies. And every single person that does it is different and

Xylo Aria (36:57.982)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (37:05.16)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (37:10.334)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (37:25.852)

Mm.

Brian Funk (37:26.597)

Even if they only got some a lot of times people don't get past breakfast 'cause they find all these sounds like the coffee machine, the egg, the pan, like the door to the bathroom. Like you you just realize there's so much material everywhere. But even when they only get that far, their shower sounds different than the other person's shower and their their kitchen has a different reverb than the other person's. And it's always unique and it it's always

Xylo Aria (37:31.878)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (37:40.274)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (37:46.791)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (37:51.686)

Mm.

Mm.

Brian Funk (37:55.965)

Very interesting to hear 'cause you get all those different natural reverbs in the recordings and recording qualities and I'm always blown away with what people do with that. What is the what track is that gonna be on the album? So we can Okay.

Xylo Aria (38:04.968)

Mm, mm mm.

Xylo Aria (38:11.24)

Really cool. That's actually not on the album at all. So that was yeah, it's that's one of those like mid album random projects that I don't think fits in with the album. But once the album is out, hopefully I can, you know, go back to those other ones and look at finalizing them and getting them out. Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Funk (38:21.734)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (38:27.442)

That you can

Right.

Brian Funk (38:35.27)

That is a great part about releasing the album 'cause it clears the the path for all that other stuff. Hmm. that's fun. So that's a lot to look forward to then from you. A lot of cool stuff.

Xylo Aria (38:38.078)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure, yeah, yeah.

Xylo Aria (38:51.152)

Yeah, yeah. It'll be fun, yeah.

Brian Funk (38:55.868)

Yeah. do you play any of that live? Do you turn that into anything?

Xylo Aria (39:01.392)

I used to, yeah. So I used to play live around Melbourne and then in London when I was there as well. But yeah, I just I I feel like I enjoy that less these days. I I don't know why. I guess the process of booking gigs and and and things and you know, promoting them, etcetera, like I just

I feel like I don't get enough joy from the performance to make all the other part worth it, you know? So yeah, I think I enjoy the creation more. Yeah.

Brian Funk (39:35.784)

Yeah. I gotcha.

Brian Funk (39:45.937)

Mm-hmm. I think I'm the same way. I don't the thousands of shows. I just don't have the I think I just used my entire life supply of, hey, come see me play requests, you know. I have none in me anymore. Like I I we'll play out once in a while with the band and sometimes little like one off things.

Xylo Aria (39:49.724)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (40:05.392)

Yeah Yeah.

Xylo Aria (40:15.079)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (40:16.082)

But it has to really fall in my lap and almost not depend on at all on who I bring. 'Cause I just like can't ask people anymore. I don't know. Maybe it was when when you're younger and your friends are all going out anyway, you just say, Well, just come to this place instead 'cause we'll be playing. It's a little bit easier, but

Xylo Aria (40:18.641)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (40:23.262)

Mm. Yeah, for sure, yeah.

Mm.

Xylo Aria (40:36.431)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (40:39.398)

I maybe I also just know how much it takes out of me to get myself out of the house to go anywhere anymore. I don't wanna put that on anyone.

Xylo Aria (40:44.638)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure, for sure. I think that yeah, the the stage of life everyone around us is at definitely I think impacts that.

Brian Funk (40:59.526)

Yeah. I I almost can't even believe when anybody wants me to actually physically be somewhere. Like you outta your mind. Yeah. Well, I guess, you know, if you ever get the bug again you can, but there's like you said about just all the other stuff, there's really no there's no need, you know, you gotta find your own way to enjoy what you're doing.

Xylo Aria (41:05.758)

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Xylo Aria (41:26.47)

Hm.

Brian Funk (41:26.588)

Then to put like something extra like that on will only take it away anyway.

Xylo Aria (41:29.096)

Yeah.

Yeah. I guess that's again the thing of like, you know, what's the aim for you from this? Like if you are looking to chase that artist route and stuff, obviously playing live is a huge part of that to connect with an audience and and that kind of thing. But for me that's not the thing anymore. That's not what I'm chasing. So if I if I'm not loving it then I'm like I don't have to do it.

Brian Funk (41:43.228)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (42:01.114)

Sometimes we I don't know, like polluted, I guess, where you might start off like, you just enjoy playing your guitar, say, and just letting it go off into the ether, and then you decide it has to become a a project and then you gotta release it and finish it and tour it or whatever and almost like the whole time you're doing it

Xylo Aria (42:11.846)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (42:23.698)

Mm.

Brian Funk (42:26.99)

is 'cause you wanna one day be able to get back to just sitting around and just playing your guitar for nobody. Like just to get full circle. It's like why even start that? 'Cause I mean, I I'm definitely been guilty of it too. even like promoting it. They're like you have to finish your music, you have to complete projects, music producers produce music. but you don't, you know, you really don't. Like

Xylo Aria (42:37.438)

Journey, yeah.

Xylo Aria (42:50.47)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (42:55.014)

Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Funk (42:57.116)

You might and I I guess I realize too, sometimes I just like tinkering with the sounds and even I've talked to a couple of people that were, you know, out there on the internet and mostly like teaching and doing tutorials and a few of them said it at like at the same time to me, almost like it was something I need to hear, that they were like, you know

Xylo Aria (43:02.214)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (43:20.179)

Mm.

Brian Funk (43:22.834)

For me, like r I was like, When are you gonna release the music? You the track in your s your video is awesome. they're like, you know, that's releasing my music for me. It's it's in there. I put it in there and and that helped me a lot with unfinished stuff, like that kind of guilt that I have like, you know, the gigs and gigs of unfinished music on my computer.

Xylo Aria (43:33.362)

Mm. Yeah. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (43:41.126)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (43:48.678)

Mm.

Brian Funk (43:49.968)

I started putting those little ideas like behind these little podcast clips, you know, that so it's like the sixty second little short or something. Then just it's that like noodling stuff. I was like, it has a cool, mysterious vibe, it'll fit whatever this person is saying and And then I I feel much more at peace with those things that never got finished. 'Cause you can't finish it all really if you're if you

Xylo Aria (43:55.669)

cool. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (44:00.741)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (44:07.767)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that.

Xylo Aria (44:13.98)

Mm, yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk (44:18.779)

going at it like crazy. And I definitely admire people that some people claim that they finish everything they start. I don't I've I've heard them say it.

Xylo Aria (44:26.182)

Really? I don't know if I've met them.

Okay. Yeah. Good on him.

Brian Funk (44:36.527)

And and like, you know, finishing is definitely a skill, but sometimes finished doesn't mean released and, you know, produced into a four minute song with whatever.

Xylo Aria (44:39.582)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (44:47.31)

Mm, yeah.

Xylo Aria (44:52.19)

True, yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's a good good thing to come to terms with and it sounds like you have in in your own way of using it in different ways and and you don't even have to do that, I guess. Mm. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk (45:05.989)

Yeah. And that's today, you know. Tomorrow and be like, man That's that's part of I guess what keeps me into it too is you go through these phases. I do. I definitely go through different phases of what kind of productivity I feel like I need to be doing and

Xylo Aria (45:28.262)

Mm mm mm. Yeah.

Brian Funk (45:30.993)

I guess I don't need to be doing any of it. So

Xylo Aria (45:34.79)

No, yeah, yeah, that's it. That's it. I guess when it's when it's tied to your income then you n then you need to do it. But yeah.

Brian Funk (45:38.236)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (45:44.636)

Yeah, but to go back to the guitar playing, some people have told me like I I miss that, you know, like every time I pick up the guitar or sit at the piano I have to make a a song. I gotta be rehearsing for the gig or th that's a lot. You know, sometimes it's nice to just let music happen in the moment and

Xylo Aria (45:51.453)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (45:56.582)

Mm.

Mm.

Xylo Aria (46:05.276)

Yeah. Yeah.

Xylo Aria (46:11.547)

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Brian Funk (46:12.591)

And go like so much of our gear ha everything has a record button. Everything can be looped or saved. Sometimes it's nice to just not have that option or be free of it anyway.

Xylo Aria (46:15.902)

Mm, yeah.

Xylo Aria (46:28.655)

Mm, yeah, for sure. Just just play for no no other purpose. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk (46:35.143)

Mm.

Brian Funk (46:39.015)

Do you know when the album comes out? Do you have a release date yet?

Xylo Aria (46:43.088)

I don't actually I'm waiting for the last master to come in. That's true, actually. Like you need the release date. But yeah, and I'm just waiting for the last last master to come in and then I wanna give myself like a couple of months from then just to get everything together and just know that I've tried on the, you know, marketing front, making some bits for social media, etc. and

Brian Funk (46:44.943)

Do have a proper release date? What's going on?

Brian Funk (46:55.238)

Okay.

Xylo Aria (47:10.65)

Yeah, so I'm I'm thinking I don't know exactly when this is gonna come out, but probably somewhere end of July or start of August kind of time. Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Funk (47:22.459)

Nice. Yeah, that's a couple of months from now. Yeah, that's an exciting time, I guess, waiting for those final versions to come back and to hear it for the first time. Hmm.

Xylo Aria (47:31.844)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Playing it in the car and it sounds great. And it's yeah, great feeling.

Brian Funk (47:40.881)

Yeah. It is. It's you only get that once too.

Xylo Aria (47:45.119)

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Funk (47:47.976)

And as the producer and you know, y we don't really get that first time with our songs, the first experience 'cause we've been working on them and building up and we we know the twists and turns and surprises coming.

Xylo Aria (47:56.742)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (48:00.999)

Yeah.

Mm, mm mm. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But yeah, I think I would prefer that than being on the artist side where y you don't know what's you know, what someone's maybe created and whether it's w you know, exactly what you were hearing for the song. So mm.

Brian Funk (48:23.077)

Yeah. Yeah, that I can be really shocking, I guess. That's it it's great that you're pushing this out there for people too and just showing others that you can do it and have that control 'cause it can be like a helpless feeling, you know, like you you feel like and then you have to rely on others and it's

Xylo Aria (48:31.036)

Hm.

Xylo Aria (48:45.608)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (48:51.887)

You know, when you can have the responsibility of it, it's satisfying. It's it's a great power.

Xylo Aria (48:54.759)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (48:58.152)

For sure. Mm, mm mm. Yeah. Yeah, I was listening to a couple of the songs the other day and I was like, you know what, it's a great feeling knowing that I've crafted every single piece of sound on these tracks, you know. So it's yeah, it's good.

Brian Funk (49:17.873)

That is cool. Did you play everything? Do all the that's it's all you, huh? That's great.

Xylo Aria (49:22.67)

Yeah. Yeah. It's it's everything. There's no there's actually the one song has a rapper on it, which was really fun to to work on. but that's the only yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm. Yeah. Mm.

Brian Funk (49:32.207)

But was your decision to to bring that in. Like yeah. yeah, that's that's great. That's like I always loved that too when when I'm with artists that I that I listened to. They'd be like, that's so cool. They you know, they did all that. That it's so empowering. I think one of the first times I ever felt that was when I first heard like Paul McCartney's first album that he did.

Xylo Aria (49:48.878)

Mm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Mm, it is.

Xylo Aria (50:02.846)

Mm.

Brian Funk (50:02.87)

on his own and he was on a farm after the Beatles broke up. And I was just like, This is crazy. Like he did everything on this record and it's I mean it's so good and but to get to like hear him even I guess even the Beatles were like that too and that they took that under their control writing their own songs. But that was just the next level and

Xylo Aria (50:06.845)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (50:12.007)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (50:18.696)

Mm-hmm.

Xylo Aria (50:27.016)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (50:30.494)

Mm.

Brian Funk (50:30.67)

I was, you know, getting into recording myself at that time and listening to that. I like, man, something to aspire to.

Xylo Aria (50:37.296)

Yeah. Yeah. The ultimate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Funk (50:41.444)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (50:45.722)

Well, we should probably tell people where to go to find out more. I I have your website here. We got music production for women dot com and then there's Instagram and YouTube. I'll put everything in the in the notes. Is there some place in particular you like to tell people to go look or anything to check out?

Xylo Aria (51:09.166)

Well, if you yeah, if you are looking for music production for women, I guess the website has everything you need. if you want to connect with me, you can always find me on Instagram, under Xylo Aria. So, yeah, that's a good place to find myself and my music.

Brian Funk (51:33.354)

And I want to turn it seems like you like to do this, so I'm gonna do it to you. do you have a career tip? Some advice?

Xylo Aria (51:39.26)

Okay.

Xylo Aria (51:43.119)

Okay. I do do that. Yeah. Yeah. I I think you know, we spoke about this a little bit before, but just keep going, you know, and it's the hardest thing because I feel like it's it's a exponential curve, you know, with this stuff in in this industry where you don't see anything for a long time. And that can be the point where people can give up.

that's assuming you you want to make it a career, you know. If you don't want to, that's perfectly fine as well and and you don't have to do that. But if you do want to make a a career, I think in my mind, yeah, there's talent is part of it, but I think the biggest determination of whether someone turns this into a career is if they've stuck with it long enough. So just just keep at it.

Brian Funk (52:44.346)

I think I saw it in the like high school gym somewhere, but it said, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. And and I love that. and I've seen it like growing up, as for myself, even when I started playing guitar I was fourteen, I didn't know anything about music at all. I wasn't in band and anything and it it felt like everyone was so far ahead of me.

Xylo Aria (52:49.971)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (52:54.126)

Yeah. It's great, yeah.

Xylo Aria (53:05.544)

Hmm. Hmm.

Xylo Aria (53:12.05)

Hm.

Brian Funk (53:12.75)

you know, I just seemed almost impossible, but a lot of those people that I looked up to, that seemed like, you know, they're the best whatever in the high school musician, a lot of them don't do it anymore. They haven't they haven't taken that instrument out in a long time and yeah, I think that's a great piece of advice that you gotta just keep going.

Xylo Aria (53:28.326)

Mm.

Xylo Aria (53:37.096)

Yeah.

Brian Funk (53:38.329)

I I it's there is that like exponential thing, but sometimes there's also these like, I like I figured out how to like do this and you make like these jumps and then sometimes it just feels like you you never go up again. You just plateau forever and then once in a while there's just a new peak or or even you just look back. It's it's kinda like aging. Like you don't see yourself get older until you look at a picture or you know, in this case like listen to like an old track or something.

Xylo Aria (53:47.976)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (53:51.63)

Yeah, yeah.

Xylo Aria (53:56.699)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Xylo Aria (54:07.323)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian Funk (54:07.918)

And the and you realize your growth that way, but it's happening.

Xylo Aria (54:11.012)

Yeah, no for sure, for sure. Yeah, I don't know if kind of exponential was the best graphical representation, but it was more the start of it, you know, where you don't you don't really see anything happen for a while. But yeah.

Brian Funk (54:17.338)

No, no, I think

Brian Funk (54:21.19)

Yeah.

I think it is a good explanation 'cause y you just like you're grinding away like sometimes here we go. If you're lucky, I mean that's there's no guarantee you even get to that, but but there is there's stuff happens, you know, over time. We get better.

Xylo Aria (54:28.572)

Hm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Xylo Aria (54:41.786)

Mm, mm. Yeah. We do, we do. Even though we can't we can't see it in the moment.

Brian Funk (54:50.18)

Yeah. That's great advice. probably a great place to wrap up. thank you for taking the time to talk. It's great to finally talk to you too. it's got that like kind of funny, surreal thing where I've seen you talk and now we're talking and interacting. So it's been a a lot of fun for me.

Xylo Aria (54:55.186)

Yeah.

Xylo Aria (55:04.267)

I yeah. Yeah, yeah. For sure, yeah, and it's been an absolute pleasure, Brian. Thanks so much for for chatting with me and it's it's been lovely.

Brian Funk (55:16.056)

And people if you're listening to this podcast, that might mean you like to listen to other ones. So MPW the podcast. Check it out. A lot of great guests, people I've recognized, people I've had, and people I wanna learn more about. So check it out everybody.

Xylo Aria (55:32.156)

Mm, yeah, yeah. Thank you.

Brian Funk (55:36.23)

Thank you.

Brian Funk
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