Deetron
We caught up with Deetron on the verge of the release of his new Balance album, and just before his gig at the ADE this year. Deetron is a Swiss DJ and producer that has made his name in the melodic techno scene, and with his new mix album he brings us two different styles of mixing, the old school vinyl and the new digital sequencing.
Hello, how is today treating you, and where in the world are you?
I’m currently at home getting things ready for a gig at ADE in Amsterdam this weekend.
You have just mixed the new Balance mix album, tell us about that. Why you chose to make the two separate mixes in different ways.
It’s great when you’re given the opportunity and the freedom to do a mix spread over two CD’s. I wanted the mix to showcase the full spectrum of my DJing, representing sets from different times and places as well as the digital and analogue approach to it.
How long did it take you to choose the tracks for the album?
The whole process took about 4-5 months, starting from the first selection up until the clearance of all the tracks which were finally used. Some of the tracks were approved at the very last minute on the day of the delivery deadline.
You are a very prolific producer, tell us about your last release, and do you have any new releases coming up?
My last single release called Starblazer came out on Rejected this Summer and I have a new single coming up on Music Man very soon.
Tell us about your usual production day – what programs do you use to make music, and where do your inspirations come from?
I usually get started on a hook, a bassline or a percussion element and start to make sketches in Ableton. Later on I export the tracks and make my arrangements and mixdowns in Cubase. My inspirations come from various things I believe, places I visit, my surrounding, music which I listen to, nature and so on.
Do you think that producing has changed in the last few years, with more and more artists coming through, do you think that the market is beginning to get over saturated?
For sure, I’ve made quite a lot of changes to my setup in the studio. Whereas I used to work with analog equipment mainly up until a few years ago, large parts of my production are digital now. I do sample a lot as well, work with a handful of analog synths and the mixdown is done on a real mixer still. I do believe that some analog machines can simply not be replaced by their digital clones. Because of the new media for music and the the huge amount of digital labels the market is flooded with new releases every week. Therefore people have to work a lot harder these days in order to stand out of the masses which is also a good thing of course.
How has the internet helped or hindered your career? It connects but it also means that a lot of music is “pirated”… this must have affected the production industry, how have you seen the changes during your time in the electronic music industry?
So far I haven’t had my own label so luckily I never had to deal with those issues myself. Obviously the piracy affects everybody working on music these days. It’s really frustrating to find download links for your new releases sometimes even before they are officially released. The internet helped me a lot in the sense of collaborations with other people though. It is so easy to exchange files these days and stay connected which is a huge advantage obviously.
You have remixed a lot of artists, do you have a particular favourite remix of yours and why?
My current favorite is the remix I made for Gerd on Clone which will be released very soon. I really enjoyed working with the vocals of the original and it gets really great response when I play it out.
How did you start and why did you get into electronic music DJing?
I’ve been surrounded by music from when I was very young as my father is a professional musician and my mother teaches piano lessons. So I was able to take profit of my father’s huge record collection. Later on I got into Hip-Hop and went on via Hip-House to more 4 to the floor oriented music. The track which really won me over was E-Dancer’s “Pump the move”, when I first heard it I was completely blown away by its raw energy.
When you go to different countries, do you get time to visit the cities or are you too busy to take things in?
I usually tend to spend some extra time when I travel, especially when it’s long distance. Travelling is a big passion for me so I am really happy to be able to combine that with my job.
How do you see things developing for the DJ or live performer? You are at the forefront, on the front lines as were, where do you see things going? New technology, new ways to perform, does the club and audience demand more, will they? Does an artist have to do something more than just play music these days?
Obviously things are heading in the digital direction but I personally believe in the classic way of deejaying as an artform. Things have become too streamline and clean with the whole digital approach to deejaying, I think it’s important that it sounds rough at times and mistakes can happen, it just adds to the live feel in my point of view.
In the age of digital files, how do you organize your music on your laptop or pen drive? When it came to vinyl you can remind yourself of tunes with the sleeve artwork or colour. It’s not the same with digital files.
My file organisation is a rather messy affair but I have started to organise at least the promos by date. My harddrive is just about to be completely full with music so I guess I’ll have to figure out a more efficient way to organise things very soon.
How do you keep up with all the new releases these days? You must get music sent to you all the time; do you manage to listen to it all?
Yes I do listen to almost everything. I have a full day per week reserved for the promos, I think it’s my duty to go through all the music and to be up to date with what’s happening. On top of that I still buy a lot of records as well.
Is there a tune that you particularly love at the moment, and can’t leave out of your sets?
I’m very much into the new track by Scuba called Adrenalin. Really love the euphoric atmosphere of it.
What do you do to chill out and relax?
My wife and I just had a son so I really enjoy being with them and relaxing with the family. Other than that I love cooking, tennis matches plus I’m a bit of a nature lover, I like to take long walks along the river or in the woods.
If you were not working in the electronic music business – what would you do for a living?
I’d most likely have my own restaurant.
What else do you have coming up?
I have quite some remixes coming up for Gerd on Clone, Miguel Migs on OM, PBR Streetgang on Hot Creations and Simon Garcia on Perspectiv.
