French producer Ramyen has launched Mellow Records with a debut EP titled Our Story, a release that immediately signals the label’s direction as a platform built around instinct, feeling, and emerging French talent. The EP arrives with credentials behind it — Ramyen has previously released on Rose Avenue and Knee Deep In Sound — and channels that experience into a house-focused format centred on groove, vocal energy, and a defined club identity.
The title track leads with direct vocal house energy, built around a rolling bassline, focused synth work, and a vocal that provides both warmth and connection. The arrangement is deliberately stripped back, designed to translate in larger rooms without sacrificing the intimacy that defines quality house music. The EP also includes „Jack Italiano,“ a darker and more percussive second original, alongside a remix from Alonz that steers the title track into funkier territory.
As part of a How It Was Made breakdown, Ramyen detailed the specific tools used to construct „Our Story,“ offering a transparent look at a production process that prioritises feel over complexity. The signal chain is concise: Arturia’s JUP-8 V for bass, UAD’s Pultec EQP-1A Legacy for mixing, a carefully selected acapella for emotional lift, and Kickstart by Nicky Romero for sidechain compression.
The JUP-8 V — Arturia’s emulation of the Roland Jupiter-8 — provided the EP’s foundational bass sound. Ramyen used the „Play House“ preset with minimal adjustment, crediting the plugin’s analog warmth as the source of the track’s groovy, driving feel. For mixing, the UAD Pultec EQP-1A Legacy was applied to bring definition to stacked elements, brightening the mix in a way Ramyen describes as musical and natural rather than aggressive — a quality that matters when a record is destined for loud club systems.
The vocal element came from a sourced acapella, EQ’d to sit naturally within the arrangement rather than sitting on top of it. Ramyen notes that a well-placed vocal changes the energy of a house record entirely, making it more uplifting and more accessible to a dancefloor audience. Sidechain compression via Kickstart was applied to the bass, locking it rhythmically to the kick drum — a technique Ramyen describes as non-negotiable for achieving a proper club sound.
The broader philosophy behind the production is straightforward: find a bass sound that grooves, place the vocal correctly, make the kick and bass work together, and resist the urge to overcomplicate. Ramyen’s closing advice — „if it grooves at 2 am in your studio, it’s probably good“ — reflects the instinct-first ethos that Mellow Records appears to be building its identity around. With Our Story, both the artist and the label make a focused and confident opening statement.
Source: Magnetic Magazine
