SIDEPIECE — the duo of Dylan Ragland and Ricky Mears — are back with “Lick” via Toolroom Records, dropping April 18th just in time for Miami. It’s everything they’ve become known for: high-impact grooves, sharp vocal moments, and enough swing to flip a dance floor on contact. But behind the confidence of their sound is a process that’s still evolving — and one that’s grounded in something deceptively simple: how they listen.
In this interview, they reflect on how their relationship with listening has changed over the years — not just as DJs, but as producers, collaborators, and fans. They talk about tuning out distractions, letting go of hypercritical habits, and learning to reconnect with music emotionally rather than analytically. The takeaway? The way you listen shapes what you make — and how long you last.
With “Lick” setting up another big year for SIDEPIECE, this conversation shows a more reflective side of the project — one still learning, still questioning, and still showing up to let the music speak.
How did your understanding of listening change as you became a producer?
You go through waves the longer you make music.
You start out trying to notice everything and pick it apart, but then eventually you learn how to listen to the whole song how it’s meant and enjoy it for all its parts. It can be hard not to hyperfocus on specific stuff sometimes at first.
What have you learned about the difference between hearing and actually listening?
A lot of times mood can help you actually listen. If you have a lot on your mind, or you’re stressed out, you may need to listen to be able to calm yourself or relax — but sometimes your bad mood actually can affect you so you’re not really present to listen to something how it’s supposed to be heard.
What role does listening play in shaping your creative direction before you ever open a DAW?
I think its main role is for true inspiration. Sometimes when you just hear something you may want to copy it, but listening can help inspire you to create your own version that will take bits and pieces and merge with your own ideas.
How has your approach to listening evolved over time — and what drove that evolution?
Learning to truly enjoy listening to music again after making it for 10+ years is what has changed most.
We have both been creating, listening, mixing, and working on music for a long time, so it has been many years of having to go find a space and enjoy just listening to good music without worrying about creating, copying, or learning from it.
When you’re trying to grow creatively, what kind of listening actually moves the needle?
Listening without thinking “Wow this is awesome, I need to make something exactly like this.” We’re just as guilty of this as all musicians, but now we try and keep our music for SIDEPIECE as true to itself as possible — because in the past we’ve made the mistake of listening to other people’s opinions or our own doubts on what styles to pursue. It basically just takes time to become secure and confident in your own (musical) skin!
How do you know when you’re listening with intention versus passively absorbing?
You can tell when you actually feel something real — like a memory, or emotion — that actually makes you stop what you’re doing and just listen.
We all have a tendency of listening to music while doing a million things like working out, studying, but I find my best listening is when I’m just alone either for a run, on an airplane, and able to be unbothered and truly enjoy listening.
What do you think most newer producers misunderstand about the act of listening?
There is a way to change the mindset from “What can this music do for me” and “how can I take inspiration from it” and start listening with an intention like “How does this make me feel” or “this reminds me of when I was a kid.” Because now you’re going to get the inspiration from your own life and feelings and not exactly from what the artist themselves created.
There’s a fine balance between truly appreciating and enjoying art before expecting something from it — especially inspiration.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
