We have been producing for almost 15 years now. We are self-taught but we have good sound engineers friends who often give us valuable advice on how to improve the quality of our sound. We chose the self-taught path in a punky way because we think this helps to generate a very personal and recognizable sound.
Years ago we used Acid Pro by Sony but it had limitations. So then we moved on PreSonus Studio One 5 because it is a much more modern program and suitable for the needs of a contemporary electronic music producer
Our music is characterized by a very analogue sound, which is why our favourite gears are analogue synthesizers, in particular, the monophonic Moog Voyager that we use for basslines. This is enhanced by guitar pedals such as distortion, reverb and wah-wah which give to our sound a dirty and organic touch. While for the melodies and chords we prefer the polyphonic Dave Smith Prophet 8.
As far as virtual instruments are concerned, in recent years we have used a lot of Massive by Native Instrument and Serum by Xfer. Lately, we have been really enjoying Phase Plant by Kilohearts and Spire by Reveal Sound. With Phase Plant it's simply incredible what you can do, infinite possibilities of sound design but the approach is not exactly user friendly. While for Spire the opposite, intuitive and powerful. We're using it for 90's trance sounds, it's perfect for that.
As for the effects we really like are Waves and FabFilter, while to manipulate the voices we really like using Manipulator by Polyverse Music developed in collaboration with Infected Mushroom. It's an amazing plugin that's great for robotizing voices the way we like it.
We often take inspiration from the punk of the 1970s mixed with many contaminations, sometimes from the nordic electronic music from groups like Röyksopp and The Knife. Most of the time, when we get inspiration from a melody or a bassline, we record it by humming it in the smartphone recorder in order to fix it there without forgetting it. Then, when we are in the studio we play it with the instruments and then start building the actual track. It is mostly a path where we pursue that emotion that we want to translate into music.
Once the work is finished, we listen to it in different situations: in the car, with the headphones on the beach or at a friend's house, in order to understand if that emotion and atmosphere has been created as we want. We usually edit our tracks later several times before reaching the optimal result. The same applies to post-production (mix and mastering) which is done entirely by us in our studio.
We are always looking for new inspirations that often start after having seen several videos on the net. One of our favourite tutorial channel on YouTube is You Suck at Producing. We are also part of an Italian group on Facebook named 'Synth Cafè'. It is a group with many passionate people where we talk about everything related to a possible purchase of new gear, in particular, synthesizers or simply to ask for advice on some technical issues.
We started using the mid and side equalization correctly after watching this interesting tutorial:
Years ago we only used virtual instruments, then thanks to the advice of an artist friend we switched to analogue synthesizers. From that moment on it was never the same, our sound transformed and became much more personal and dirty. If we had known, we would have started using them from the beginning.
Over the years we have had to face several not indifferent artistic blocks. These were caused by unsatisfactory music trends and the evolution of the music industry. We often found ourselves confused because the trends did not coincide with the sound we were proposing, giving us disappointing results. At a certain point, we realized that we had to remain whole and coherent with ourselves and that we could not let us be carried away by the current of trends like a flag at the wind, it was unacceptable.
So we created our underground music niche which gave us much more satisfaction because it gave us energy and new personal inspirations. Other problems came when we were commissioned several remixes with deadlines of only two weeks. Having so little time to finish a track causes anxiety and blocks creativity but luckily every time we delivered the works on time.
We personally like to get very open sounds in the stereo. We use various techniques taken from rock and metal including the use of different types of distortions on the basslines for the left and right channel. This allows us to use a lot of space in the stereo leaving the kick and the snare in mono free from constrains which gives to our tracks a lot of power.
We do not use online tools but we recommend trying to use this plugin: the Coherence Meter by Hornet Plugins developed with The Buildzer. It analyzes your final mix and tells you if the frequencies are in the right place and if it all sounds harmoniously and consistently. We often use it at the end of the creative process, it helped us a lot.
Fortunately for us, we have several friends who are sound engineers, who taught us a lot and avoided classic self-taught mistakes, especially in post-production. So, when we're not sure about something we know who to ask.
Definitely Fuck The System from 2013. It was a great success both for the sound and for the borderline video clip. It is a hymn to anarchy in which many people have found themselves. The moral, however, is to face life without being influenced by the system but at the same time not to overdo it in a stupid way because in this case, you risk your skin.
RepostExchange is brilliant and has helped us a lot to reach the ears of many more people. Without them, it would not have been possible to expand our music like wildfire on SoundCloud. It also put us in contact with artists similar to our style in order to exchange ideas which generated mutual inspiration. It is a large community that we hope will get bigger and bigger.
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This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
