Interview with Molecular -His approach to Drum & Bass as a producer & DJ

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1. What motivated you to start with Drum & Bass?

Before I got into music production, I had a big passion for any kind of electronic music (such as techno, dubstep, house). As a kid, I found it amazing how a computer or an electronic device could make such sounds… Suddenly I’m downloading FL Studio and starting to make some random beats. Later discovered Drum & Bass through Noisia and The Qemists, which really made me fall in love with Drum & Bass and actually give it a go.

2. What’s your most favorite production plugin that you’re regularly using?

I have been using a LOT of Serum (pretty much everything) and Operator (native to Ableton Live) for actually making sounds. I also use a lot of Addictive Keys 2 (for anything keys) and Addictive Drums 2 from time to time to get that real drum sound feel.

As for FX units, I use pretty much everything from the Plugin Alliance bundle; it’s just too good, Saturator (Ableton Live native) also, Decapitator from Soundtoys, and Neutron 3, which is such a weapon.

3. What DAW, studio monitors, and studio headphones do you use?

I have Ableton Live, Adam Audio A7X, currently got no production headphones, so I am using the Sennheiser HD25, which are totally not ideal, I’d say, but it’s keeping the job done so far.

4. What’s the biggest decision you’ve made over the past year? And why?

Actually organizing a schedule and using calendars/agendas… That and organizing my DAW so that I have all the tools I need to start writing creatively when I open Live. I use all my favorite plugins assigned to different categories, such as EQ, Reverb, Utility, Saturation/Distortion.

I also keep a very organized library of my own sounds that I make every single month. I have sessions where I just jam/do sound design, and then I have sessions where I am actually making music. I also got a whiteboard where I have all my deadlines and TO-DO list where it is just impossible to ignore it. The organization is key, and since I started focusing on that, my workflow improved a lot, so I made my music and got many releases confirmed for the future thanks to that.

5. The Covid-19 dramatically affects the music industry; what do you think about it?

It makes me very sad to know that it has been a while since almost everything related to the music industry has been shut down; lots of different markets are losing from this, be it the clubs, bars, venues, labels, promoters, artists, sound engineers, and everyone involved in making this music world work for us.

Having gigs as an artist also boost a lot of the momentum you gain when having a lot of releases lined up for, say something like 6 months, where you can play yourself and other artists, meet new people, have a good time, get noticed, etc.

However, I also think that this whole situation drives us to make more and more and search for new possibilities being that seated down events during the afternoon or artists having their Patreon accounts. I really hope this is done by summer 2021 so we can get to raving again and enjoying music really loud.

6. What drives you the most?

I think it’s the sound really, having a good or a bad day only influences the beginning of the session. Sometimes having a terrible day won’t let me have a quick start on a session, and I can demotivate, but I just keep on pushing until I find that drive.

Once there’s the click, I get inside the rabbit hole, and hours pass by very quickly. It’s really a mixed feeling situation whereas I find being very happy and very sunny days inspire me a lot to go to the studio, but when I get there, I’m just vibing (maybe not even making anything useful) whereas when I’m having a bad day, I can have a slow start when starting a session but then all that energy flows to the project.

7. What’s your most favorite activity when you are out of the studio?

I love to hang out with friends, and I also love to eat good food and try new foods, which is good because my girlfriend shares the exact same perspective on food, haha. So basically, yeah, having people around and being socially active is very important. Sometimes it’s also good to just stay home and watch some good shows or play video games, but it’s just a matter of finding the right balance between all that.

8. Where do you get your project ideas from?

Mostly from dub reggae/soul/funk stuff, regarding electronic music I get inspiration from house/techno and obviously drum & bass

9. What’s your favorite production trick or technique that you’re using in your tracks pretty often?

Soft clipping, tape saturation, and distortion/compression/saturation in parallel; all of these things just make everything sound loud and good.

11. If I would give you 100.000$, what would you do? Start a business or develop your talent and get it to the next level?

A mix of both, I would probably spend half and start a business in something music-related and spend the other half on building a mega studio, haha, but let’s not think about that too much 😀

12. Where do you see yourself in the next few years?

Hopefully having gigs around Europe or even around the world, playing music in clubs, maybe who knows to live just from the music. That surely is my main goal at the moment (although the times are very unclear); I’m also finishing my Uni course in Management, which I’ll then most likely get a Masters in Digital Marketing. All of this is going on the side with the music.