Processed _ Interview With Mono.xID
What advice would you give people who are on the cusp of a first release or who are thinking about approaching labels? I think you could probably give some decent insight as you’ve been close to it recently enough?
To be honest, I really don’t know. I was just making tracks and I’ve never sent any demo’s, just had a soundcloud page ,and someday I had some requests from a couple of labels with some help from a friend. From there it was easier to get in contact with other like-minded people. It might sound cliched but I think it’s important to develop some kind of a signature sound and don’t have too much expectations. I believe if you work hard, it’ll pay off someday and you’ll get noticed. Just take your time, learn the craft, develop some secret tricks and always try to finish tracks to get a better understanding of arrangement and structures.
Why is all of this musical attention happening now for you? What elements do you think have come together for you right now?
Good question, next one haha. I really don’t know if it’s attention yet. I think when you have a nice first release which getting some plays at partys/podcasts you’ll get noticed by other labels and artists and so it’ll progress naturally. I have no clue. For me it’s just like people, which I follow for a long time and which I have nothing but respect for, are playing my tracks and give me nice feedback. This is way more than I’ve ever expected when i started out to make music.
What is your production set-up like at the moment Patrick? Are you an ITB type of guy or do you have some hardware toys?
I’m 100% ITB. My set-up is still very basic. Crappy computer with Live 9 and some plug-ins, crappy soundcard, AKAI MPK 25 MIDI keyboard, APC 40 and Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro cans and that’s it. I don’t own any hardware synths or drum machines and stuff like that. Actually I only need a PC and a mouse and I’m fine. Besides Elektron hardware or some FX units I’m not interested at all in any hardware and I don’t get the “analog hype”. I played around with some vintage synths and more modern machines at a mates studio but I wasn’t impressed that much. Sure, some of them were nice sounding but I figured out it wouldn’t add much to the way i work and I would have to learn all this gear. I just have no time to do so.
Honestly, I don’t hear much difference between hardware synths and modern day VST’s especially when a synth sound is processed to death. I’m definitely no gear junkie and I feel I can do everything I want with my crappy set-up. I’d rather spend a grand for a nice holiday to see some foreign countries than buying a vintage moog synth haha. Funny thing is that I get a lot of messages and people say that my tracks sound like they were made on analog gear (whatever that means). When I tell them that I made all these tracks on a nearly broken 6 year old windows notebook with headphones they think I’m taking the piss haha. Hardware purists can nail me to the cross now haha.
Are there any plugins or otherwise etc.. that are central to your productions? What would make you cry if we took it away & smashed it in- front of your face?
I guess my most important production tools are my Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro headphones. I just know them inside out and I hope they’ll never discontinue the production of these cans. Apart from that I couldn’t live without my Lexicon Reverb vst’s, Izotope Trash 2, D16 Group and Audio Damage plug-ins and all the Brainworx stuff.
Oh, and Ableton’s Operator synth is bad ass. I use it for nearly everything and almost every synth sound or bassline was made with operator. It’s my most used synth for sure.
You’re saving up for Opal Monitors aren’t you? How is that going? You must be getting close anytime now mate?
Oh, please don’t ask. Yeah I was saving up for them and I was almost there. But then life just kicks you in the balls with a smile. Which means our car broke down and as I have family, the car had priority. The repair took most of the saved money. Now I hate every second I have to sit in that goddamn car. But that’s life I guess. To be honest, after I calmed down a bit over this whole situation it’s all good as I still have the same set-up as I ever had and I still can make music after all which is way more important to me than some decent speakers. But someday I’ll get these fuckers for sure. A guy I know got the Opal’s and I had the chance to check some of my mixes on them and I just loved how they sound.
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.
