I can hear some trancey sounds in the track, do you make any attempts to fit within a genre?
No, I don’t think so. Trance has some really good elements; it has more progressive builds now than I would say progressive house has at the moment. I love that progression, and how a track kind of builds and builds, then you have one big climax instead of many drops that kind of follow a formula. But I usually just start out making a beat and then just go from there, building it up to kind of see where it goes. I think the best tracks are the ones that can keep up the energy level and the interest without having to repeat yourself too many times, you know. Phantom is kind of in between the two extremes, I think it’s a really nice track to play because it can be a link between deeper tracks and the higher energy more accessible stuff, so I think it’s really good that way.
Phantom is your fourth release on Pryda Friends, how is it going with the label?
Obviously it’s a huge huge honour to be a part of Pryda Friends. When I started out, Pryda Friends wasn’t really a label where other people got a chance (especially not young producers who were new to the scene), it was more like a side-label when he did some collaboration tracks with Axwell and Felix Da Housecat, and I think he did a remix of Sebastien Leger. So it was kind of just a side thing for him, to have Pryda Recordings clean with just his own music. Then after Jeremy signed to it, I was like ‘fuck yeah, I need to try and get on this.’ Seeing as the quality of the label and Eric’s stuff and Jeremy’s stuff is just so good, I wasn’t sure it was going to work, but I got lucky and they picked up on my email and it just went from there. Now it’s really really good because I have direct contact with them, so I can just send my ideas to Eric and see if he likes them. Rather than just making a full track and making it perfect and then sending it over and hoping someone will listen to it, this is much easier and the workflow is much better. I feel really happy that I can make my own style, I don’t have to adjust in any way. It’s a good position to be in.
What is the most important part of developing as a producer?
From my own personal experience, it’s patience. It’s very difficult to not rush anything and I mean that in many ways … rushing the tracks you’re working on, and also rushing your style. I wouldn’t release anything unless you’re absolutely one hundred percent happy with it. Also, you have to push your creativity as much as possible. What I mean by that is, don’t rush anything and make it sound like everything else. I think you career will have much more longevity, you’re creating something sustainable instead of just riding a wave. It seems like people are much more interested in getting the quick fame and the quick buck, and don’t realize that if you want to be doing this for many years, you have to kind of create your own sound. It’s just so clear when you look at the guys who have been doing this a long time, they all have their own style. It’s difficult obviously to get your own sound, but be patient and work on it, that’s my advice. I’m doing that myself, I’m trying to create my own sound and it’s difficult, but you need to have patience … that’s my advice. Also, don’t mess around with too many plugins, stay true to a couple plugins that you know really well. Both myself and Eric just use the plugins that come with Logic, and that goes a long way.
What is the most important part of your studio setup in terms of achieving your desired sound?
For me, the most important thing in the studio is monitors. I recently just got my dream moni- tors of all time, they’re really expensive obviously, but the way I work has totally changed. I invested in this guy named Thomas Barefoot, he started out with a studio in America where he handmade everything and now it’s just taken off. A lot of the biggest producers in the world have them, they’re called Barefoot MM27 and they are amazing. It’s so much easier to work when you hear everything clearly, so having the right speakers is definitely something more people should put their money into instead of loads of plugins and gadgets.
What about the track itself, what do you see as the most important aspect of produc- tion?
When it comes to what’s important in the track, it’s different from genre to genre. Techno, you want a good groove, progressive house you want that hook. In the end for me, it’s not just about the melody, it’s about the organic sound of the track. I want to be able to put my headphones on and go like ‘yeah, that sounds really fucking cool and advanced’ and you can tell all the time that the producer has put into details. It makes it more interesting to listen to, and you won’t get tired of the track so fast.
So when you’re making music, are you thinking about the dance floor or how it sounds on headphones?
In the beginning, I usually used to produce with just headphones. The good thing about it is you get that cool sound picture that comes from headphones; but the bad thing about it is that you put too much stuff in the track so it won’t sound good in the club. You can’t really mix a good kick drum and bass in headphones, so in the beginning for me that was a huge problem. And when you have speakers that don’t really reflect the low frequencies well, that’s a huge problem. Before, I had studio monitors that were really good, but they didn’t have that perfect low fre- quency response, which is kind of a big deal when you’re making house music.
LISTEN NOW
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94