Addicted to Darkness _ Interview with David Meiser
The words hard and dark are synonymous with David Meiser.
His techno is ruthless, his mixes are brutal and he’s in charge of our next mix on Fnoob, which will be aired on 29th June 2012 @ 2200GMT.
Before the onslaught: we convene.
Hi David.. So – what attracted you to DJ’ing initially?
I liked the possibility of manipulating music with my own hands. It is all about having the control.
First electronic music influences in my life were not exactly Techno related. Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers were of the first vinyls I had on my shelves.
And we now have another excellent mix for subsekt – Will you tell us how you approached it?
The session is made with Ableton Live + MIDI Controller (APC 40). This is the environment I have been using regularly since I start producing a couple of years ago.
You’re a man of mystery in a way, as you have a strong reputation for quality techno, but there’s very little information about you personally. Why have you decided to go that way?
People love speaking about themselves. Words are only ‘words’. I prefer facts. The only way to make people focus on facts is by not giving any more than that.
I see – so how long have you been producing for?
I started seriously a couple of years ago. I had a lot of ideas about what I really wanted to listen to and I knew that the only way I could achieve that, was making it by myself.
What happened along the way then? How did you graduate to such a skilled producer?
The most difficult part is to find the right tools. There are too many hardware and software possibilities out there. You cannot correctly choose the right ones so early on in the process. Producing electronic music is different from any other music production in the sense that when you produce rock music, for example, you have defined the instruments (guitar, drums, etc). All you have to focus on is composing the actual notes and the rhythm. However, when you produce electronic music, you don’t even have the instrument defined. You can create infinite new instruments by manipulating just a single synthesizer.
Once you get the right tools the formula is simple: research, research and research.
What’s you set up like now David? Sounds like you a mix of hardware & software in your studio?
I produce 100% with software. You have no limits when using software. This is an advantage and a disadvantage, as sometimes one can get completely lost with the infinite possibilities which appear in front of you. Finding the balance between controlling the information available, while taking advantage of the possibilities, is a major challenge.
That ties in with the article that you wrote recently “Can I touch the Sound? Analog Versus Digital Sound”.. where you discussed the differences between analog & digital sound. What was your motivation for doing that?
DJ’s love talking about whether vinyl is better than digital or vice versa. I tried to explain it scientifically to see if that question makes sense or not. However, this is only a small part of overall sound quality. It is more important ask questions like “is this track well produced?” or “is that one mastered well?”.
Have you got any releases coming soon that we should be looking out for? Anything else that you would like to tell us?
George Lanham is doing a remix of one of my last tracks “Addiction to Darkness”. Both original + remix will form part of an upcoming EP. I’m really happy to work with George as he is one of the very few producers who stays completely loyal to Techno.
What do you think the future holds for the Techno scene in Spain?
Techno scene in Spain is now better than ever. There’s a huge pool of talented producers who are beginning to emerge. Here’s a few names for those who want to check them out: Hyo, Kwartz, Drugstore, Bran Lanen, Structural Form, Macwolf, H. Paul, Zair, RFS, Raszia, Unam Zetineb, Deepnoise, Aphonico, Asedub, N.A.M, Snap-9A….
The future of Techno is Spain in the way we know today –hard, industrial and dark– is guaranteed. This is what keeps the spirit alive in us.
David Meiser is our next mix on Fnoob, which will be aired on 29th June 2012 @ 2200GMT.
Facebook Event https://www.facebook.com/events/163040613828174/
Listen live : http://fnoob.com/radio/
DL will be available from subsekt Soundcloud after transmission: http://soundcloud.com/subsekt
http://soundcloud.com/davidmeiser
http://www.facebook.com/david.meiser.9
Music production and history are my biggest passions in life.
Though people often say that Techno is faceless and should be about the music blah, blah, blah.. I believe in the need to document the people and stories behind it. Techno is a very small world in reality and I think it needs a proper resource.
I hope that everyone who is interested in Techno finds this blog accessible in terms of the way that it is written. I personally prefer to hear the artists voice as loud as the music and never enjoy synopsised and pasteurised versions of old conversation; the sort that's peppered with the occasional quote here and there.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[…] with David Meiser for subsekt blog: http://blog.subsekt.com/?p=960 subsekt on […]