subsekt

Yeah this is a good topic. Good to see your details too 1nfinitezer0! Should know the people we remix if we can!

I feel I need to reflect on these questions as techno production is a huge outlet and I am now realizing strongly reflects my state over months or years of time...

0. What drives you to make music, which itch are you scratching with producing music?

This seems to alternate between two main things. One is a release of tension, i.e. if I am pissed off about some circumstances with work or something, in which case I drift into darker, heavier and faster material. The other is a chasing of groove and texture, in which case the sound is lighter, slower and more focused on overall feel than intensity. I will go well out of my way to clock in even just an hour or two at the studio on weeknights, and can easily do long marathon sessions on Saturdays until the equipment has heated up the space considerably. I'm just now realizing I want to make my "sound" this latter case and not the angry one since I'd rather just avoid the circumstances in life that cause me to make music that sounds like that. I have recordings like the one in my signature that can be the memorabilia of that period of my life I hope to never return to again.

1. What is your art really about?
At this point I'll try to focus exclusively on the direction I'm trying to firmly take here and comment only on that. Like 1nfinitezer0 I place a major focus on texture and I think Texturalism will be a 21st century convergent art movement, with techno and ambient at the forefront on the music side of things. Depth is another one though I like to maintain a bit more intensity than some of the deep/dub techno I otherwise really enjoy listening to but wouldn't enjoy on a dancefloor as much as in a living room. I prefer to make music that would make me want to dance, or at least I try to. I don't think I am as successful if the music is going in that dark direction unless I'm playing for people who also have steam to burn. The drummer in my alt rock band also drums for a metal band and we definitely see eye to eye on this. But like I said I would rather avoid the need to release energy in this way because when I make music that includes samples of lost children trying to find their mommy then at other times I find it disturbing.

2. Where is it going?
This is the question that is anchoring me at this very moment. I want to establish my sound as I finish my latest PA this summer. In my PAs of the past few years I am swapping out almost all the tunes every time, and with most PAs having about 16 tunes it is a lot of work to completely gut it each time. So I want to take my time and find my sound so that I can keep using material I don't get sick of, and stop producing so quickly that I don't pay attention to details like phase cancellation in the low end, cluttering the mix in any area of spectrum, or using too many layers in general and muddying the overall feel/mix. I want the sound to be intentional and to generate grooves that grow on people over time, so the tracks can stand better on their own and don't need to overlap with other tracks in the mix quite as long as I used to mix them to maintain a certain intensity in the energy.

Also I've only ever played one live PA where I really felt like I crafted a convincing flow that developed and concluded over the whole hour so I want to do that again with the more established sound of '17.

3. What stands in your way to get there?
Based on how progress is going on the new PA, I don't think anything really is at this point. The proof is in the results though I guess, so hopefully towards mid-summer I can show some private tracks and demo mixes and solicit the kind of feedback I'm hoping for, especially if people are willing to compare it to my old releases and mixes.

I took a long break from production and performance from '04 to '14 and became extremely rusty at all aspects. It seems to have taken me a few years to settle back in to modern production techniques like software DAW vs hardware sequencer and VSTs. I am hoping to eventually be able to get feedback that says the tracks are engaging and unique, they sound original and don't copy anyone, deeper and more authentic than your typical hollow Bumload tech-house kind of crap, which I fully admit some of my stuff from '15 kind of sounded like.

With some people saying techno became boring because all the mainstream stuff sounds the same, I don't want to add more #$@#$ to that pile... so either do it right or don't do it at all..

PS: My latest release is here but I felt the sound is still just halfway to where I want to go. Sorry that there are no full length previews for this EP on Soundcloud or Bandcamp at the moment..

http://www.junodownload.com/products/qu ... 441327-02/

Ugh, I think I'll just quote my previous post, as new words, and more accurate descriptions came to my brain.
I would say I'm still during (probably endless) process of discovering. At the moment it seems for me I'm discovering new things about myself, rather than discovering about the world surrounding me, and you. Some feelings and thoughts, that existed inside me for quite long time (or perhaps been in me always) are shaping recently in forms which are easier to describe and communicate with others. That is why, my anwser on this (brilliant) topic will be an evolving one.

P0607r0n wrote:1. What is your art really about?
Escapism.
Hate I feel when I think of this world of ours.
Beauty of things that are all over us.

My art is to show why I would like to leave this world, and it is for the people to hear why this place is doomed. I hope it will help some people to clear their heads, clarify what we want to leave behind if we want to wander off to the place, where we can happily coexist, and progress towards new and unknown, without fear of being exploited.

P0607r0n wrote: 2. Where is it going?
The fact that "it is going" is very positive for me on it's own.
Infinite spiral
3. What stands in your way to get there?
Nothing, but myself.

I'm distracted by other things, and thought's, that's why I can't continue to write more at this very moment, I'll do so shortly.

Sure, I'll bite.

1. What is your art really about?
Escapism, texture, timbre, interesting rhythms... I'm not sure if there's any true higher purpose to it, but my brain has always been very perceptive to these types of sounds, and writing my own stuff gives me means to press those buttons in my own unique ways. Music for me is like putting my brain into a warm bubblebath--it is both sonically satisfying in its own right and is a very nice way to step out of regular life for a while. The area of overlap between those two points is where I'm trying to exist as an artist.

2. Where is it going?
Who knows? I try and balance my drive to create non-shitty stuff with the need to just let art be art without pressure, so I tend to just ride the waves of creativity whenever they happen to strike.

3. What stands in your way?
Time and energy, mainly. For me, getting deep into a writing headspace is a lot like betting, except with my mental spoons instead of cash. If I can come up with something which moves me, then I get a return on my investment and feel energized. If I strike out, then it's just throwing a finite resource down a black hole. So just as with actual gambling, I can't really bet what I can't afford to lose. And it's tough these days to find the expendable spoons.

I'll keep it simplez...

What is your art really about?
Finding a sense of purpose through sound, rhythm and texture.

Where is it going?
Expression

What stands in your way?
Fear

1. What drives you to make music, which itch are you scratching with producing music?

Is is an itch that we all have inherently as humans: to be creative. Even though at some points in my life I didn't feel like I was creative, there was a moment where I had that realization. It was in a period where I was going out regularly but was getting less satisfaction out of it. At some point, I decided that I wanted to stop being a consumer and become a creator instead. In all honesty getting used to Ableton was very hard for me in the beginning, I pirated the software but quitted because I felt like I wasn't learning fast enough and had a lot of self-doubts. At a later point, I started producing again after meeting a friend who actually studied music production. I created my first track within a month which was one of the best highs that I've ever felt. Granted, I was smoking a lot of weed at the time which got me into the zone all the time. I thought my track was the greatest thing ever until I quickly came tot he realization that the track was shit. That was the point that I decided to make a commitment to production. I went through some dark periods in my life and one of the only things that gave me any real satisfaction was producing music. It was then that I knew that this was more than just a hobby and I would be doing it untill the day I die, or lose my hearing.

2. What is your art really about?

My art is about nothing right now because I haven't arrived at a point where I feel like I am actually expressing my emotions with my tracks. At this moment I am adding tools to my toolbox to achieve a certain sound. Once I am able to create that sound I want to go to the next level and find my own artistic voice.

3. Where is it going?

My biggest dream would be to respected by the artist that I look up to, to be able to travel everywhere in the world and connect with people that have the same interest that I have.

4. What stands in your way to get there?

At this moment I'm figuring out how to balance working life with my production goals. In all honesty, I am unsure if a 9 to 5 working life will make it possible for me to achieve all of my goals. That's why I'm looking into ways to work remotely or part-time (In Online Marketing/copywriting). I don't think I'm a natural at producing so I will have to put in the hard work to achieve my goals.