Rendered _ Interview with Ronny Pries

Did you ever imagine when you got that Commodore 64 when you were 8 years old that you would have the set-up that you have now? How many times more powerful is your computer now? Did you see those Commodore 64x’s? Imagine sending a few of those back in time haha.

Hahahaha, of course not – the outlook of an eight-years old equals the outlook of a one day old flea at dusk! No wait – lousy analogy. The flea knows exactly what it’s here for. But I hope you get the idea.

How many times more powerful? Oh my, is that even a fair comparison? I know I’d gently hug my C64 right now if I still had it and tell it that it’s a great little machine.

Lets not ask about how you parted company haha. Right then, now that you are concentrating on _rohformat again, what direction do you think that it will take? I know you can turn your hand to pretty much any style, but you seem to love equally the dubby and jackin’ sides of Techno. Is it time to choose one, or can such different styles co-exist?

I always released anything that triggered my nerves and I’ll keep it this way. It’s tough to really come to terms with my vision of the labels sound, but I have a certain idea about it. Or rather, the tracks have to have a certain quality or value to me. It’s no matter whether it’s Dubtechno or loud, kicking shit, just as long as I feel it.

Well, then again you shouldn’t expect Tech-House or stuff like that.

I know you have made a lot of comparisons to the current “hard synth” techno and some of your back catalog.. and every track you pull out is wicked. Will you do us a list of some of those lost classics?

I’d love to link some of the tracks from the tracked days but converting & remastering those ~250 tracks ain’t easy nor fast… So here are some of my faves from the early mp3 days (2000-2006).

Nice! Is rohformat moving away from free forever? Am I right in thinking that you were multiformat and a mixed free/paid label even a few years ago?

_rf046 will be Bauri’s ‘Acidravemonkey’ with a few remixes. Eagerly looking forward to this one. It already undressed Nihad Tule two years ago and it perfectly fits the sound at the moment. I’ve also got a release by a new guy in the bag, the Ronin album will be re-issued in a remastered fashion with additional tracks. There might be some free tracks occasionally but for me the path as free, Creative Commons-licensed netlabel has ended for various reasons.

Well in that case, what is the verdict of releasing good quality free music on free labels? Is it worth it? Can it exist today when people have no value on what they are even downloading illegally?

My verdict is staggeringly simple: it doesn’t get you anywhere unless you invest a lot of time and energy into getting over the stupid ‘it doesn’t cost anything so it’s not worth anything’-barrier.

Sounds harsh and I know there are some exceptions to the rule. Maybe Bandcamp as platform for serious music will help free netlabels, maybe it won’t. I just fail to see why one shouldn’t ask the reasonable price of a dime for track to support the artist and the label to keep going. Last but not least, netlabels have their expenses. Why shouldn’t they be covered?

To be honest, I’ve stopped trying to make sense about where all this is going. I’ll always embrace free netlabels and play their tracks if they’re good, but I don’t see a movement amongst renowned DJs doing the same yet.

Well, I think that’s pretty much us now Mate. Actually, what does your Son make of you? Does he share your interest in music and technology? He’s obviously at an age now where he might read this interview…

Good question – he’s a caring, straight thinker as well I’d say, but that’s as far as the story goes. His taste in music is far from defined and his interest in technology materialises itself in an iPod. He plays games too. On the bright side, he’s building stuff in Minecraft so there seems to be a creative spark as well.

 

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