How LUM translates field recordings into club-ready patterns with Maschine

LUM’s workflow starts long before the studio. Field recordings are a constant part of his life – captured in markets, jungles, ceremonies, and anywhere else sound hits with intention. Maschine+ gives those sounds a structure to live in without stripping them of their raw qualities.

In this conversation, Lum breaks down how those recordings become the backbone of his grooves, why he avoids overprocessing, and how tools like transient slicing and the audio module help him move quickly without leaving the moment, a precinct topic on his mind as he puts the finishing touches on his upcoming Los Tigres del Futuro album with Guti and other once in a one-time live performance of Homo Infinitus April 2026.

Jump to these sections:

• How LUM records and organizes field recordings before even writing a track
• How he preserves the raw energy of his recordings
• Why he doesn’t clean up raw sounds and instead builds grooves around them
• How he uses Maschine to jam, slice, and shape textures in real time
• Where he draws the ethical line on sampling ceremonial and vocal recordings
• Tools inside Maschine that keep his process fluid and intuitive

For LUM, it’s not as much about cleaning up or forcing recordings into club-friendly shapes as it is responding to what’s already there, and the central hub, the Maschine, makes it all happen.

Let’s unpack it a bit more.

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You’ve said Maschine is the centerpiece of your studio. How do field recordings enter your process before anything even hits the pads?

Field recordings usually start way before the track idea exists. I’m always recording – walking through the jungle, standing in a market, wherever I hear something interesting. I don’t go looking for perfect sounds, I just record what grabs me.

Later, I’ll sit with those recordings and listen for details – something rhythmic, weird, or just textured in a way that catches my ear.

Once I find something usable, I bring it into Maschine and start slicing. I don’t try to clean everything up too much. I like the mess, the irregularities.

Sometimes I’ll chop based on transients, other times I’ll just grab random bits and load them onto pads. From there, I start jamming and see what sticks. I don’t overthink the process – it’s about feeling it out.

Pro tip from LUM: Use Transient Slice Mode. It’s the fastest way to turn messy field recordings into playable rhythmic material.

How do you preserve the raw energy of the recording while still making it usable in a club track?

I don’t try to ‘fix’ the field recording. That’s the main thing. The raw stuff is often what gives the track personality. So instead of editing the recording to fit the club, I build the club groove around the recording.

I use Maschine to loop parts, trigger them in real-time, or stack them with percussive layers so they feel like part of the rhythm.

If something’s too loose or noisy, I’ll use EQ or transient shaping to tighten it slightly, but I never want it to sound sterile. The Replika delay plugin helps a lot – it gives space and depth without killing the raw edge. The idea is to balance control with chaos. The best club tracks have both.

Pro tip from LUM: EQ for clarity, not perfection. Leave the grit that gives the sample character.

When you build grooves out of field recordings, are you aiming for rhythm first – or vibe, texture, and feel?

I usually start with texture. I want something that pulls you in before the beat even lands. If a sound has an interesting feel, like a broken machine hum, or a breath with attitude, that’s more useful to me than a clean snare or clap. Once I have that vibe, I’ll start layering drums or percs to find a pulse.

Maschine makes it easy to test different combos fast. I’ll load sounds onto pads and just play – finger-drumming, triggering loops, muting on the fly. That’s how I find grooves. It’s like puzzle pieces, you move them until the picture shows up. It’s not about being precise. It’s about finding something that moves.

Pro tip from LUM: Map textures to pads and jam. Maschine’s layout makes it easy to perform your samples, not just arrange them.

Do you think of Maschine like an instrument or a translator when you’re reworking ceremonial audio into electronic form?

Honestly, I think of Maschine as a tool that adapts to how I want to work. Sometimes it’s an instrument, when I’m finger-drumming or performing live. Sometimes it’s a workstation where I slice samples and build loops. It’s flexible. That’s why I like it.

When I use ceremonial or raw vocal stuff, I’m not trying to make it mystical. I treat it like any other sample: with respect, but also with a producer’s mindset. I’m asking, ‘Does this hit right? Does it feel good when it’s looped? Can I make it groove?

Are there types of recordings you deliberately avoid sampling, either out of respect or context?

Yeah. If I record something and it feels too personal or specific to a moment, especially with people or voices, I’ll probably keep it for myself. I don’t want to turn every sound into a piece of content. Not everything needs to be part of a track. I have tons of samples I love that never made it into a song.

Also, if I don’t fully understand what’s happening in a recording, especially in a cultural or traditional context, I don’t use it. I’m not here to steal meaning or misrepresent something. I stick to what I connect with and understand directly.

What’s one technique inside Maschine that changed how you work with field recordings?

One thing that really changed how I work is Maschine’s Transient Slice Mode. I load in a long field recording and let Maschine cut it based on transients. That gives me little rhythmic fragments that are super usable. Then I map them to pads and just start hitting them to find patterns. Sometimes that becomes the whole groove.

Also, I use the audio module a lot, especially when I want to stretch or reverse something fast without jumping into another DAW. That speed helps me keep the creative flow going. I don’t like jumping between programs when I’m in the zone, so being able to mangle audio inside Maschine is a big plus.

Pro tip from LUM: Stretch, reverse, and pitch-shift directly in Maschine. The Audio module lets you experiment without breaking your workflow.

Start using your own field recordings in your music with Maschine

Big thanks to LUM for walking us through a process that’s equal parts instinct, ethics, and control. The takeaway here isn’t about getting perfect takes or pristine edits.

It’s about staying close to the source – letting the sound lead and shaping the groove around what’s already alive in the recording. Maschine+ gives him the tools to do that fast, without breaking the vibe.

Whether he’s chopping jungle ambience or looping a breath into a pulse, LUM’s method is a reminder that creative restraint is just as valuable as technical polish. And if you’re looking to build a workflow that honors spontaneity while staying club-ready, Maschine is a solid place to start.

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