WMDM: Hey! Thanks for all the powerful music you’ve contributed to the We Make Dance Music community. People love your sound. What are your musical inspirations?
Thanks a lot! I'm glad people like them as much as I like producing them. My music inspiration stems primarily from listening to other peoples’ music. Most of my tracks started with an idea I got while listening to my earphones on the bus or on a walk. When I'm listening to music I'm usually dissecting the track in my head and thinking solely about how it was made and how I could do the things that they did. I then take these ideas into the studio and start working on something fresh. Emotions also play a big part in my inspiration - how I'm feeling at the time of beginning the track makes a big difference. Sometimes I just want to make some super chilled deep house, other times I want to make some aggressive dubstep or huge electro track. It’s cool that people dig variety in the EDM scene.
WMDM: How would you describe your sound? What do you look to accomplish when you set out to make a new song?
I don't think I really have an established sound yet, because I am such a huge fan of all genres. Most people have a typical genre they produce with typical patches they use whereas I really haven't found mine yet. I was a Dubstep producer for 3 years before I started to primarily listen to more EDM-style music. My current favorites to produce are Deep House, Progressive House/Trance, and Big Room House. I think if I had to describe my sound I would say it's very versatile. I like what I like - it’s based more on how it makes me feel than some label people put on it.
WMDM: Based on what you’ve heard recently and what you’ve witnessed over the past 5 years, what direction do you see the EDM scene going? What genres will become even bigger?
I think it's pretty obvious that EDM is what's next when it comes to the entire music industry in general. Music styles change over time and even when Rock came about everybody questioned it as a style of music, so it's great we got the jumpstart on the production game because there are probably going to be a lot more producers from here on out, which means a lot more music too. But genre wise, Deep House is enormous here in the UK, everybody and their mums are listening to it/producing it, so I think Deep House is going to become much bigger internationally because it's got such a distinct sound - it's like the mature older brother of Big Room House.
But then again, people are starting to get tired of the Big Room sound now, so if Deep House is not the next big thing I think Progressive Trance will make a comeback. It's great to dance to and there are some unbelievable tracks in that genre. I know I will be releasing some Progressive House/Trance templates sooner rather than later - there’s one in the works at the moment that should be done soon - stay tuned.
WMDM: Tell us a little bit about your daily life. What does your average day look like as a producer?
I'm currently an 18 year old IT apprentice. All of my aspiration and goals aim towards making production a career for myself, but I need a backup just in case. So a typical weekday for me would be to go to work around 8am, do my work as I should while browsing some EDM Production forums/community’s like Dubstepforum and /r/Edmproduction. Then when I get home I make myself a coffee and I start working on music straight away, unless I have some other plans to do something else. Producing is all I do in my spare time. I'm not really into watching TV or playing games unless I'm on a producing break - I just make music. It's all I do, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
WMDM: What words of advice or inspiration do you have for other EDM producers or novices who are looking to break into the industry?
Do it. Download some demos and see what you can do. You have nothing to lose. It will be a challenge for the first while, but keep going. Even the biggest producers started making really terrible music at one point, but eventually you start to get better, you learn the ropes and once you create your first good track the pride will overwhelm you. It's an amazing feeling to know that you took silence and you turned it into music. A lot of people give up relatively fast because it's obviously a long and difficult road. It took me over a year before I really started to get the hang of producing full tracks and another year or two before my tracks started to sound semi-ok, but if I gave up I wouldn't be making music at all. And I know one day I will be much better than I am today, because I am dedicated to being the best I can be. And this is the same mindset you should have. It doesn't matter if you have no music experience or don't play any instruments, you will learn everything you need to learn along the way.
I don’t want people to give up because then we’ll never experience the music they could have potentially made. This is why I love the concept of templates - it gives people the opportunity to work with something complete so they don’t give up. Instead of guessing what a proper track looks like, they see a model and can build from there. I wish I had these when I first started.
WMDM: Why do you love EDM?
The music, the community, the people, the live events, the opportunities. I love everything about EDM. Everybody says that EDM is dying but it’s the opposite All new types of music faced ridicule when they started and now EDM is receiving that very same hate. But the truth is, people love it and it’s currently rising as one of the most popular styles of music; people are actually starting to know the names and faces of EDM producers; more people are getting into production by the day and every new producer has the opportunity to create something wonderful and unique, that’s why I love EDM. It’s the only thing that draws crowds of hundreds of thousands of people in every country around the world and it’s this moment where people come together to dance and have fun and forget about things that normally divide people. It’s inclusive and people really connect with it because it’s such an open, accepting culture.
WMDM: Who is your greatest musical inspirations and why?
My biggest musical inspirations are Kaskade, Diplo, 3lau, Skrillex, Deorro, pretty much any producer that produces because they love music and not solely for money. I love these guys because you always hear them say about how they love to create music and we shouldn’t turn music into politics. I completely agree - creating music is such a great thing to do and it’s a buzzkill that there are people out there who hate on it purely because it wasn’t made with acoustic instruments. It’s a generational thing and people will get over it through time.
WMDM: What legacy to you hope to leave behind with your music in 20 years?
It’s a pretty cliché thing to say but I think I really want to be like Skrillex, not in terms of his sound or popularity but his ability to create any genre and you still know it’s a Skrillex track. In 20 years I want to have created some amazing music, I want to have a good career going and I really hope I’ve made one album at the minimum. I hope to leave behind as much production knowledge as possible so the generation below me has the opportunity to create new genres of music and have the tools to do it without recreating the wheel. EDM is about sharing and I understand why some producer don’t want to let people know how they produce, but this is cause they are scared of the pressure to keep innovating and developing new sounds. If you’re truly passionate, this is not even a consideration. If Tesla opened their patents to the world, I think it’s reasonable for me to share some music templates, no?
WMDM: What is something that you could tell us about yourself that would surprise us/ that we’d never guess?
My favorite genre is progressive trance. I’ve never uploaded a trance template and I probably never will but the reason it’s my favorite is because trance usually lasts longer (time wise). An amazing trance track can stay popular for years and people will still listen to it. Trance music usually makes the listener feel something, and that’s what I want to do. I want to create music that makes people feel. I love big room and electro and dubstep and all those other genres a lot but there’s nothing I like more than producing something that makes people remember the song forever. I want people to associate good, happy memories with my music.
WMDM: If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
Deorro, hands down. His sound is incredible, he seems like such a great guy, and he has proven time and time again that he can make amazing music and still surprise people. Deorro is probably my favorite producer in the world and I would give my left arm to collaborate with him.
WMDM: When was the moment you fell in love with Dance Music?
When I was about 12, I listened to all kinds of music but I was always listening to music. My first brush with electronic music was when Bring Me the Horizon the Metal band brought out the album Suicide Season Cut Up. It was an album consisting of a remix of each track on the album. I bought the album on special offer with absolutely no idea what to expect, I was on a car journey, I plugged in my earphones in and heard Death Breath the Toxic Avenger remix and was blown away. This album is also the first time I heard a Skrillex track although I had no idea who Skrillex was until a long time after this. After hearing it I went out of my way to find more of it, and eventually ended up producing it.
WMDM: Anything else to say to the audience, your fans, etc.?
Don’t stop producing. Right when you see someone’s face light up when they hear your music, it is all worth it. I promise you will fall in love with this feeling. If anyone has a request for a certain sound or template they want, I’m happy to do it (if it’s a good idea of course). Getting feedback from people is what helped me grow so far as an artist, so the more I can understand what people want and what they like, the better for everyone.
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