What is the one thing you simply couldn’t live without? Do you have any addictions or routines you must go through every day?
I make my bed every morning as soon as I’m up. Apparently its a sign of depression.
Are you into film? Did you ever wish to do a soundtrack for a film? And if you could pick one that’s already made to do a soundtrack for, which film would it be?
I am a big fan of films and documentaries. I had to score a film some students made on the Film course at my university as part of my degree and I really enjoyed it. A lot more freedom to express emotions with sound compared to the structure and boundaries of Techno.
Would you rather live in a utopia as a normal person or in a dystopia being the supreme ruler?
Utopia as a normal person
In our opinion all of your records are on point, our residents play a lot of your tracks, what’s next for Reflec? Album?
My production over the last year has taken a little bit of back seat for various reasons so the output has been minimal. Over the past couple of months I’ve really been getting back into it and it feels good and unforced which is nice, as I have struggled with writers block a lot in the past. I’m writing some tracks that will hopefully end up being an new EP soon so have to wait and see. Also working on a new Works Unit EP. As for writing an album, maybe in the next few years…
If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?
Probably attempt to utilize it in a productive manner by trying to be more creative more often.
Being a producer is not as easy as somebody may think. What is the hardest thing for you in your creative process?
Trying to not be boring and obvious is the hardest thing with making tracks I find. Its probably why I don’t finish a lot of my projects because I get paranoid they just sound generic and boring and have been done a million times.
You definitely have a unique sounding production, what’s the core of your studio setup? Are you a hardware man with taste for analogue synths, or you’re into digital innovations and mainly software approach?
My studio set up is basically a mixture of some hardware and some software. I enjoy twisting parameters on synths and messing with stuff physically with my hands, rather than clicking the mouse in the box. Also its a no brainer that you can’t beat the richness of the sounds out of analogue gear. Thats not to say you can’t make wicked sounds out of the soft synths though either! I basically do all the drums in the box with samples and a sampler in Ableton, I have a TR-8 but I find drum machines quite restrictive. Everything else is out of Predator (favorite soft synth) a Prophet 6 and the TB3. I have loads of Boss pedals as well that are cool, also a Doepher Dark Time which I use a lot. I have a few other bits as well but this is my core set up.
Do you have an “old person” habit? And if you do, what is it?
Making my bed in the morning.
When playing an event, do you plan your set in advance, or you improvise completely by selecting the tracks on the spot?
If i haven’t had a gig in a while and I have a vague idea what the situation is going to be like i.e playing after a certain act for a certain promoter or party, then I will get the first 10/20 mins planned out as I still get nervous. I don’t always do this, its more of a back up plan, most of the time I just improvise. I keep folders to like 100/120 tracks for a 3 hour set so you have to work with what you have chosen that week out of your promos and what you’ve bought otherwise it can be quite overwhelming shuffling through 1000+ tracks; too much choice.