Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of?
Probably my collaboration with Kevin Cornine on the track Estela. It was my first release and we finished the track in about a week. It got to 5th on the Beatport Trance Releases chart, and established a good relationship with the label, Progressive Vibes, that I've released a couple more tracks on since.
What's the biggest misconception about Producing?
That it's always fun and glamorous. There's this misconception that you just sit down and create awesome music with ease all the time. That's just not the case. There are hours and hours of making crap and being dissatisfied with what you're doing, and every now and again you get a breakthrough which is great. But it takes real grit and perseverance to get to the point that you can even release music. And even then a lot of it is a grind, it's trial and error as you work through 10 different ideas before one finally pays off.
How would you describe your style?
My style is very melody driven, uplifting and euphoric. I like to try and tell a story with all the different elements and the structure of the track. I won't even start creating a track until I've made a melody that really grabs me.
What type of music do you usually Produce?
Uplifting trance. But I am starting to dabble in tech trance and will likely create some trancy techno at some stage. I love the harder stuff but have been focusing on the uplifting side.
Analog or digital and why?
I love analog, but digital is much easier and quicker to work with. I have a few analog synths, but don't use them very often. I find that once you start trying to use hardware everything seems to take a lot longer to do. That said, this is something I'm looking to change. I'd like to start bringing my analog/hardware synths into my productions more to try and give them a unique vibe. Everyone has Spire, Sylenth and Serum which probably form the bulk of uplifting trance sounds, so I'd like to try and bring something else into it to give my music an edge.
What do you like most about Electronic music?
How it's always changing and evolving. Like recently you see a lot of music that is looking back to the early 2000's scene, which is awesome. But it definitely has a modern edge to it, so is doing something new at the same time. If you compare the sound now to 2 or 3 years ago it has changed completely. I love how dynamic it is, you never really know where it's going to go next.
How long have you been making music?
In terms of trance music production about 2-3 years. But I played piano and clarinet as a child and music has always been a part of my life. I used to DJ at clubs when I was younger but only recently started seriously working on music production.
What's your typical work process?
I always start with a melody. I'll often work through 5-6 melodies before I settle on one that I think is good enough to make a track out of. From there it's working on the kick and bass, which needs to work for both the drop and the intro, and then building out the track from there. I tend to build out a template of the track, making sure I'm happy with the flow and "story" of the track, before I get into the finer details of production, mix down etc.
Tell us about your studio setup.
My studio is pretty simple. I have an older iMac (buying a new one soon), with Ableton. I have loads of software but things I use a lot are Spire, Sylenth, Serum and Zebra, Fab Filter, Soundtoys, Waves and stock Ableton plugins. I have Novation Summit, Behringer Deepmind 12 and TD-3. But I haven't been using the hardware much these days as I've been focusing on developing my sound and finishing tracks consistently, and hardware tends to be a distraction. I do intend to bring hardware into my productions as I get quicker at finishing tracks.
Can you share one production tip?
Don't overthink it at the creation stage. This is something I've struggled with myself in the past but am getting better at. But I think that as you're coming up with ideas just run with it, don't be too judgemental about what you're doing, and just see what you come up with. If you start trying to perfect things too early on you'll stifle your creativity and get stuck. You need to just let go and let
your creativity take the wheel.
What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
OK so there are loads. In terms of the really established artists the big two for me probably are John O'Callaghan and Aly and Fila, and I'm also a big fan of Sean Tyas and Alex M.O.R.P.H. But I like to follow a lot of producers who have come to the scene more recently, as they're an inspiration for myself in terms of where I'm at with my journey. Some include Allen Watts, Asteroid, Factor B being a fellow Australian to break into the uplifting scene. A couple of newer ones I'm following are Casepeat and Jan De Vice. There are heaps more but they're the ones that jump to
mind first.
What are some upcoming events or projects you are excited about?
I have a bunch of collaboration projects in the mix, with Kevin Cornine and Quantum Solar in particular. Some of these are going down a more tech trance path so I'm excited to see how these
turn out.
Where can we find out more about your music?
I'm still pretty new to the scene so there isn't heaps just yet, but there is a lot more to come! Can find me at the following:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexspeckmann/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/spekman
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