Hello, congratulations on the release of your new album! Tell us about the creative process — what inspired you to create this release?
First of all I wanted to express my thanks to Global Sect for this opportunity and for believing in this project 🙂
The main idea behind this release, as its name implies and to keep things short, was to express the very real feeling of not fitting in anywhere since forever, learning why, and coming to terms with it.
Free streaming, buy CDs, digital and merch:
https://globalsect.bandcamp.com/album/proxeeus-the-outsider
How do you go about making your music? Tell us about your sequencer, synthesizers, and favorite VSTs.
Let’s talk goodies and setup!
I’ve been an avid Ableton Live enthusiast since V8, currently using 11.3 and will probably migrate to v12 once I finish preparing my new computer, that’s for the “brains” part of the setup.
Regarding synths, for the Proxeeus project in particular, it has always been a mix of hardware + software.
Now, most of the tracks on the 1st CD of this album were made back then with a Behringer Deepmind 6, a Roland SH-101, a Korg MS-20, a xoxbox, with an Ensoniq DP-4 for the FX unit, recorded on a Mackie Mixer VLZ 1604.
Then on the VST side of things you have stuff like Sylenth, Alchemy, Vital, Pro-Q, ABL3 and a myriad of random, weird Max4Live devices.
These days though (ie: the last 3-4 years or so), I’m mostly 100% ITB (especially for my other projects), because I can’t be arsed to deal with hardware anymore : nothing kills my mood more than having latency issues, MIDI routing issues, audio routing issues, driver compatibility issues and shit like that… and that’s not even factoring in 40 y/o+ gear needing maintenance every 6 months (looking at you, SH101, you cost me a fortune). It was all fun and games…up to a certain point 🙂
Regarding my favorite VSTs, I’d say Vital these days, I absolutely went crazy about Wavetable synthesis (going as far as writing custom, tailor-made apps for myself to procedurally/randomly generate them to infinity and beyond, implementing different types of algorithms to physically model them, and import/use them with any kind of WT-enabled synth).
Serum2 just got released and I haven’t had the opportunity to dive in yet but it’s HIGH on my priority list, it looks simply bonkers; and feel it’ll be part of my toolbox soon enough.
Synplant 1 & 2 are absolutely amazing to create any kind of weird FX too.
So yeah that’s 2 or 3 “main VSTs” tops, I drastically cut back on a lot of equipment to eliminate the bloat in the arsenal, and focus on what matters: getting shit done 🙂
You’ve released many tracks across various labels and in different genres. What’s the secret behind your high productivity? How much time does it usually take you to create one track?
My secret, Captain?
I have a desperate, visceral NEED to create stuff, and always had, since I was around 12 years old and started fucking around with computer programming (which set me on the path of my actual career), or imagining stupid shit for hypothetical roleplaying game campaigns/rulesets I might run one day with hypothetical people, writing design docs for hypothetical video game ideas… shit like that. (I actually spent most of my time in my head back then, being labelled “a fucking weirdo” pretty early on, the cause not fully discovered/explained to me for another 30 solid years – spoiler, it’s about a certain spectrum, and not the audio one. That, if I were to guess, most certainly fueled that creativity frenzy, as a mean of escapism).
Music-making as a whole entered the picture pretty “late” in my life (I mean, compared to people mastering drums and guitar by age 6. I learned what a scale was at 25-26 years old, and back then, personally, “Midi” was still french for lunch time), I never thought I’d dabble in it to begin with, and that’s the only creative (as in “artistic”) domain where I was able to hang-in tight and have the patience to explore enough in order to get a clue or three: coincidentally, that’s one of the very few domains I can dive in pretty hardcore without feeling boredom, ever. There’s always something new to learn and/or try.
tl;dr – why such productivity? Because I can’t help it.
Regarding how long it takes me to write a track, you’re going to love this one…….…”it depends”.
On average, I’ll say a solid week from the first beat to a complete unit of finished work, ready for mastering.
I had times where it took me the double, triple of that (for a variety of reasons: real life fucking with me, difficulty commiting to creative decisions…whatever), and times where I completed two entire tracks in an afternoon.
But yeah let’s say a week on average.
We’re always amazed by the depth and literary beauty of your track titles. It seems like you’re a reader—if so, name your Top 7 literary works that left the biggest impression on you.
Thank you ! 🙂
I certainly like reading, but I’m not a bookworm either, apologies in advance if I can’t find 7 titles that I’m satisfied with.
In absolutely no particular order, I’ll start with a bundle of three: “L’Etranger” and “Le Mythe de Sisyphe” both written by Albert Camus, and in a completely unrelated genre, “The Thing on the Doorstep” by good old Lovecraft, simply because those three books have the best incipits of all time:
“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.” and “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.” for the first two, and “It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer.”
Those are the very first sentences of each book.
I mean, come on. Who the fuck starts a book like that, I just sat down …?
Next, I’ll probably mention “Dune”, by Frank Herbert. The whole discourse about the absolute danger of religions and the risks of blindly following messianic figures is something that immediately struck a chord when I read it years ago, all the while being still pretty alarmingly relevant today.
Then, on a completely unrelated subject, “Fundamental Algorithms” by Donald E. Knuth, which is a pretty important book for anybody even remotely interested in computer programming.
I’ll probably finish with “The Metamorphosis” from Kafka because, well…it’s weird.
Six out of seven. Not bad !
Over the years of running our label, we’ve noticed that not all talented musicians enjoy performing live. But you regularly perform at parties and festivals. Which events stand out in your memory the most?
To be honest, an awful lot of them were pretty fucking memorable, and for all the wrong reasons.
Still, I’d say that in terms of big events, playing at ZNA Gathering in Portugal and Son Libre in France felt like pretty impressive accomplishments and were pretty big “Seals of Approval”, as far as I’m concerned.
Playing in Goa, India, for the first time in 2023 at VER was also pretty epic, if only for historical sake.
What kind of music inspires you? Tell us about your favorite music projects, regardless of genre.
Besides my obvious consumption of “psy” music (be it dark, forest, ambient, whatever you want to call it), I’ll admit that I obviously like to listen to completely unrelated genres to get inspired, even if it does not really appear in what I make, at all.
I really, (like really… REALLY) enjoy jazz, for example; or funk music. I also quite enjoy some bits of mid-90s rap/hip-hop (french or US or whatever), and can headbang to a couple of metal groups (Gojira, Meshuggah or Melechesh).
These days though, I’m diving back into Thievery Corporation’s full discography because it’s awesome.
So yeah, no hard rule there.
Do you enjoy computer or board games? If yes, which ones are your all-time favorites?
Yeah. Always been a pretty big fat nerd, and was an early adopter of “The Internet” (‘96 or so). I guess you could say I spent my childhood, teenage years, and early adult life “plugged-in” like Neo in the Matrix (escapism and all that, as mentioned earlier).
I’ve always played games since I was 6 years old, and even though my gaming habits have taken a pretty sharp nose-dive since my main hobby became music, I still am interested in the odd game release here or there.
My all-time favorites, in no particular order:
The classic adventure / point & click games such as The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, etc.
I was a pretty big MMORPG player back in the genre’s prime years (that is to say 1997-2010, then the entire genre fell into complete irrelevance), I religiously played Ultima Online, EverQuest and World of Warcraft respectively (and a shit-ton of others in between, but never has hardcore as those 3) and saw pretty much everything they had to offer.
I’m a strategy-game nut (especially turn-based), I also absolutely love games by Paradox such as Europa Universalis or Crusader Kings…but if I had to choose a “stuck on a desert island game”, it’d be Heroes of Might and Magic III.
HoMM3 for life, yo.
What’s your dream? Do you have any creative ambitions that go beyond what you’ve already achieved?
I always had multiple dreams:
- Be an astronaut. We all can guess how that turned out – let’s say I’m not writing this from the ISS.
- Be an illustrator. I’m fascinated by someone that can draw something with a pencil and a piece of paper. But I can’t draw for shit.
- Be a drummer. Man, I can listen to an 8h-long drum solo and still crave for more. Drums drive me crazy. I tried to learn drumming, bought me a kit and recorded 2 or 3 tracks while writing the sequel to “A Bullet through my Head” and realized it’d take me the rest of my lifetime to master anything on that instrument, so after 2 years I said “eh, fuck it”.
So yeah on the “dream” front, I can’t say that I achieved much.
If you’re up for it, share with us the 3 most important things you’ve learned about life.
- Learn to spot toxic behaviors in people, and cut those people from your life without hesitation (easier said than done, I know…)
- Whatever you do, rest assured that nobody actually gives a shit
- No, seriously: nobody cares.
Thanks so much for the interview! To wrap it up, give a couple of tips to aspiring musicians.
Thank you for your time ! Pleasure was all mine.
For aspiring musicians currently reading my ramblings, allow me to impart some 100% objective wisdom all the while repeating myself :
Nobody gives a shit. Do what you feel you must do.
On a more serious note (and this time I’m 100% dead-serious): finish your tracks. I mean it. Even if you think they suck, even if you’re not inspired, even if it’s 3m30s, it doesn’t matter : finish the damn track and move on to the next.
This is a habit that you need to train, daily, like a muscle, so that it becomes second nature. Committing to, and finishing tracks will put you into a completionist mindset, that will allow you to actually make progress and not get stuck in the usual trap most people fall in when they’re starting out (me included): the dreaded 8 bar loop.
So yeah. An intro, a middle, an ending. It’s done? Good. It sucks? Good, nobody gives a fuck anyway. On to the next, where you’ll start fresh, with your experience from the previous track(s). And at some point you’ll be looking back and say “hey, I actually made a ton of stuff”, and one year, two years from now, you’ll listen to your first productions, and your latest, and realize that yeah, you actually did make progress.
And a last piece of advice: “inspiration” (as in “yeah, I’ll get started as soon as inspiration comes a-knocking”) is a god-damned MYTH. It does NOT exist, and if you think it does, you’re lying to yourself and giving yourself excuses to not actually do any kind of meaningful shit.
The only thing that will lead to actual “inspiration” (as in “ideas”) will be to drag your ass DAILY to your computer/instruments/studio and work on stuff. Believe me, your next tune won’t write itself while you’re on your couch binging Netflix (not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you).
There is absolutely no secret and no shortcuts whatsoever. You need to continually make stuff, if you want to be inspired, get new ideas, and create. And yes, your first 100 tracks will probably amount to one big pile of steaming shit (mine did, at least).
The good news? Nobody cares, remember? That’s the beauty.
The rest? Compression? Hardware vs software? The best mastering FX chain? The best synths? The best DAW? Fucking bullshit: nobody cares.
Hope that helps.