Artist Showcase: Arres

Hi friends! Today we have another interview, this time with a fellow portuguese producer, Arres!

I am deeply proud. Seriously, I am. I'm proud because there's good electronic made in Portugal. I'm not talking about bangers, although there are many Portuguese producers who know how to do them. I'm talking about tasteful, smooth music that you can present to anyone and they'll surely love it. You don't have to be a producer to appreciate it, but as one, I know how hard it is to find this kind of harmony between sounds. Arres makes it sound like all his instruments are samples are soul mates. They just belong together. It takes talent to do that. Real talent.  

Brix'd - How did you come up with your name?

Arres - My name is simply the reverse of my last name (Serra).

When did you start producing and how bad was your first song?

I started producing in 2003, and my first song was some very bad techno.

What’s the weirdest song you have ever done?

Oh, I think that is a hard question to answer, i have a lot of tracks where i try to mix different genres but maybe im gonna go with this one "divisão do prazer. 

Have you ever been high while producing? Were you enlightened?

Yes, and yes.

What do you seriously hate the most on the production process?

Maybe its the finalization (equalize, compressing, rendering), when you get stuck in that part you may feel something around hate, but its the best part too if everything went well, so its a love/ hate process.

What’s your record for hours spent producing in a row?

I don´t know for sure, but i think its something around 6 or 7 hours, but that happens rarely, usually i try to make pauses of hours or even days, so i don´t get "hypnotized" with the repetitions and start to feel the song annoying.

What song makes you climb walls and scream like Tarzan?

That depends on the spirit of the moment, it would be unfair to choose one, when i have so many influences, but suddenly im going to choose Radiohead´s idioteque has one of those many influences

What’s your favorite sample ever?

I really dont know, i used a lot of samples, i think it depends of the harmony i wanna put in the track, each track asks for the favourite sample.

What do you use to create music? What is your favorite tool?

Ableton Live, the tool i use the most is Simpler.

Do you drink, eat, smoke or inhale something to inspire you? What gets you going?

No i dont do any of those to get inspired, but it happens sometimes without the intention.

What new artists do you recommend to our readers?

There is good things going on, but im gonna say this one "simple / easysimple ".

Now for the songs. Let the tunes flow, kick back and relax.

I've only put 3 here, but Arres has many more. Be sure to visit his soundcloud page and listen to his other songs, they're worth it.

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Like I said before, I'm proud, proud that producers at this level exist in Portugal. Congratulations Arres. You deserve it.

SoulBrix out

Artist Showcase: Lucky One

What's up, how ya'll doing? In today's Artist Showcase, we have Lucky One!

Are you feeling mellow? Do you want to chill out to some laid back, exquisite beats? You should listen to lucky one's songs. The production value of this man is seriously outstanding! So many nice textures that flow perfectly along some nice, old school beats. I challenge you to put one of his tracks on, especially "Time", and just kick back, close your eyes, and enjoy the ride. It's like food for your ears. The dishes your mom cooks. It makes you feel warm inside. But who is lucky one? Let's hear it:

Brix'd - How did you come up with your name?

Lucky One - My forename is Luc. Some friends used to call me Lucky Luke. Luck is a fascinating word to me and lucky one a fascinating concept ;-)

When did you start producing and how bad was your first song?

I cannot remember when I did my first track, it was on a 486 PC using a lame demo version of a product called Musik Maker. The track was certainly really bad, but as it was my first track I was finding it fantastic.

What’s the weirdest song you have ever done?

One evening with a friend, we sampled Spring from Vivaldi. I murdered the loop with delays and distortions, and my friend added awesome drum loops. I still love the result, check by yourself :)

Have you ever been high while producing? Were you enlightened?

Sure, I cannot say this never happened ;-) Hopefully, I found long ago that this is not necessary for me to find inspiration. I work a lot better and faster when I am clean!

What do you seriously hate the most on the production process?

I simply love everything. I love the creative process and I also dig the technical aspects. It’s a very long process with many steps, but each one pleases me its own way. The only frustration is when I don’t have enough time to progress as much as I would like on a new track.

What’s your record for hours spent producing in a row?

More than 6, less than 12, I don’t especially count.

What song makes you climb walls and scream like Tarzan?

Stigma from Noisia. This track is quite extreme and very far from what I produce, but it just makes me crazy :p

What’s your favorite sample ever?

The Arab female vocal on Prodigy –Smack my bitch up. That was some kind of revelation for me when I first heard this track (live!) and this is what made me start learning electronic music. I still believe that track is a genius sampling work.

What do you use to create music? What is your favorite tool?

I always start with my guitar or my Moog synth. My DAW is Ableton Live and my favorite plugins providers are fabfilter and PSP. I use NI Massive and Razor a lot too. I have some midi gear and a pair of KRK Rockit RP6 G2.

Do you drink, eat, smoke or inhale something to inspire you? What gets you going?

I sometimes go for a good belgian trappist beer, but as I said earlier I don’t need anything to find inspiration. It comes automatically whenever I pick my instruments.

What new artists do you recommend to our readers?

These are maybe not new artists, but some I discovered recently are Phon.o from Monketytowns, Royalston from Hospital Records, and J.Views. My “gods” are Modeselektor, Noisia, Trentemoller, kollektiv turmstrasse, Extrawelt and many more.

Cool fellow, right? Now, for the songs! All of them are free downloads, so no excuses here - just download them all.

Feast on those textures, they're reaaaaally great :D.

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Thanks for the interview Lucky One, I really do hope you're lucky and achieve all your goals, whatever they may be. Never stop producing good music!

For more Lucky One music, check out his soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/lucky-one and facebook page http://www.facebook.com/luckyoneMusic.

SoulBrix out

New Daft Punk stuff on the way!

Apparently, this was aired during the 3/3 Saturday Night Live show. Even though it is so short, it’s amaaazing. RAPE THAT REPLAY BUTTON!

Sample of the Week #1

This is the first "Sample of the Week", a place where I post samples that electronic artists use on their songs. Sampling is a big part of the electronic genre, and the art of grabbing bits of existing songs to create something new is very tricky to learn, but really amazing when it works.

This week, let's listen to this Fat Boy Slim's great song, "Don't let the man out you down"

Notice the voice sample used right at the beggining. That sample was extracted from the Joe Cocker's song "Something", release on 1969 in the album "Cocker!". The sample starts at 1:01.




Cool, isn't it?