1 on 1 with V1NZ

1 on 1 with V1NZ

5 August, 2009 | 6.20AM

• Written by: elektrax
• Filed under: Music News : proper nyc, thanatos, v1nz

V1NZ got his start in New York City. Outlaw parties held in warehouses and parks along with events at Roseland Ballroom quickly turned his interest from bands such as Sonic Youth and Nine Inch Nails, to Jeff Mills, Surgeon, and other pioneers in the techno scene.

He comes highly recommended by none other than Proper NYC label manager and one of the best proper-minimal techno producers around, Steve Stoll.

When we first heard his music it became clear that Vin shares the same vision as our labels and loves techno music as much as we do.

How and when did you first get into producing electronic music in general - and what motivated this commencement?

It all started back in the late nineties. Growing up in the heart of NYC when the rave/underground party scene was really starting to make a presence with a large number of promoters eager to throw parties. These guys were throwing parties all over the city; be it in clubs, warehouses, empty parks, and other venues scattered across the 5 boroughs. After this I started to attend more parties and saw the likes of Jeff Mills, Adam Beyer, Dylan Drazen, and The Advent to name a few. I then really started to read more about this stuff and soon enough I couldn’t resist sketching out my own rhythms.
Of course at the time my setup was quite limited. I was running a Roland R-70 drum machine through a grunge distortion pedal into a guitar amplifier (leftover from my previous stint with a band in high school).

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What production aliases do you currently work under, and how would you define their separate styles?

Everything thus far has been released under V1NZ…. As far as styles go it really does depend on the label/remixer/remixee I am working with. Although everything does fall under techno for sure!

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What is your current studio setup?

I’ve worked with Logic for years as my sequencer. Recently I am starting to use Ableton a bit more. I tend to use Ableton and Rewire along with Logic when working on remixes. As far as outboard gear goes I really love to throw down patches from the Novation K Station. Something about that real time hands on sound sculpting. But I have to admit that I have been using a large number of software synthesizers (both free and purchased) . SURGE by Vember Audio is pretty nasty.

I have a lovely spectrum analyzer that is rack mounted that I keep an eye constantly when in the mixdown/master process. Everything comes out into an Allen And Heath mixer before hitting my BX8 monitors.

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How did you get involved with Elektrax Music and the Sydney label Elektrax Recordings, run by DJ Hi-Shock?

I was introduced to Elektrax by Steve Stoll. Steve introduced me to Simon and it all went forward from there. I checked out all of the artists and sounds on the Elektrax website (spectacular design btw); and with news of the new minimalistic-futuristic-deep-techno toned sub-label Android Muziq; I knew this was something I really, truly wanted to be a part of.

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What about Proper NYC? How did you get those tunes out on Steve Stoll’s label?

I shot Steve an email and asked him to take a listen to my tracks. Steve hit me back with some proper feedback and information regarding my first release and things moved forward from there.

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What are your thoughts on the digital download phenomenon (positives and negatives)?

I think its great that we can search through near infinite supply of music out there on the Internet and discover new artists/sounds that we might have missed otherwise. It’s great to have immediate access to music in this way.

Some say this has resulted in less income for artists than when vinyl was pressed back in the day. But the result has been much more interesting live performances at clubs and festivals.

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How does digital download suit your own needs and directions?

I come from a production background. So for me being able to grab tracks and tie them together and cut them up and create new sonic sculptures in similar methods used when writing a track is really helpful as I continue to move forward and continue to plan out and develop my live performance.

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Do you think digital download and digital files will eventually replace vinyl for DJs?

Well, in a way yes. I think that this has been happening for quite some time now. Technology is constantly changing/improving. I’m still not sure that vinyl will disappear like the dinosaurs did but I do think with the constant improvements in software such as Trakktor, Ableton, Serrato , etc digital is really becoming the primary medium of live performance.

Also; funny enough; answering this question I just got off of a 4 hour flight from Detroit; and I would have to say that travelling with my music all available on my laptop is most definitely less of a burden than if I were to carry around an equivalent number of tracks on CD and vinyl. I’m not sure that turntables will diminish in presence such to that of VCRs being replaced by DVD players. There are indeed venues in Europe and elsewhere that only allow DJs to spin records.

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Some people hate the idea of digital download, and say it’s not “real” music. We only release vinyl. What would you say to them?

Umm. Well I would say to those people that before that “real music” they have on their records got:
- cut to vinyl OR
- burned to CD
it was indeed a 24bit 44100khz WAV file. I understand the argument that vinyl provides a warm sound but with the way technology has advanced I don’t think most people can tell the difference when dancing their butts off at a club, party, festival, etc… Besides I don’t think the medium should dictate the quality of the music. There is plenty of crap music out there on vinyl that should not be considered better just because it’s cut to a physical record.
Lastly I remember when DJ’s started to use CDJ’s and that was looked down upon by DJ’s spinning records. So to me somebody using CD’s should not in anyway point the finger at somebody performing live using Ableton or Traktor. Beside music is something we hear and feel… Not something we visually observe.

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Which other artists/DJs do you currently enjoy working with or remix, and what’s the attraction of these particular people?

I like to work with techno artists who seek to provide proper, dark, bangin, minimalistic grooves. To name a few:
Max_M – M-Rec (Milan, Italy)
Thanatos (Milan, Italy)
Miro Pajic (Berlin, Germany)
Steve Stoll – Proper NYC – (USA)
Wyndell Long – Chicago –(USA)
I have worked remix projects with these guys and its really been great sharing ideas/sounds.

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Where would you like to take your music from here?

I want to continue what was started in the nineties as far as techno goes , preserving that hard dark vibe. I also would like to continue to push new directions as technology advances. I want to get my music to as many people as possible to heard; be it in the car, at the office, or on the dance floor!

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Tell us something about Dionysus EP on Elektrax Recordings, what vibes can we expect to hear?

All of these tracks aim to tell a story and carry the listener along.. I wanted to take each kick and bassline and combine to form a sonic wave to move people on the dance floor. There is a good deal of twisted synth parts complimenting some classic proper percussion. Lots of reverb and delay space created here.

Thanatos throws down a great bomb of a remix, which is sure to rock the night. Schematics was something I wrote to capture that vibe I felt back in the day in NYC at outlaw/warehouse parties in the Bronx.

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You are also releasing on Android Muziq, how different is your music on this label as opposed to Elektrax Recordings?

The music on Android Muziq project is toned down slower than the stuff on Elektrax Recordings. Yet still maintaining a dark vibe.. Android provides more sci-fi techy futuristic sounds… yet full of crisp percussion.. more of a minimalistic approach.

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A lot of proper techno producers refer to music released back in the 90’s. What do you think about those days and what labels did you like back then?

I absolutely loved that time period and that is truly what has inspired me since. Surgeon, Jeff Mills, Dylan Drazen, Adam Beyer (early Drumcode, Code Red), Frankie Bones, Heather Hart, Neil Landstrumm, The Advent, Joey Beltram, to name a few. During that time period a lot of what I heard came in the form of mixed cassette tapes of DJ sets… to name a few labels:
Axis, Proper NYC, Drumcode, Tresor , Counterbalance, Dynamic Tension, Code Red

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Techno artists like to say that they produce for the love of music, not for money and that these days digital releases are really more of a tool to promote their own name in order to score live gigs and tours because that’s where the real cash is…so here comes the final question…Why do you make techno music?

It really is great as an artist to come up with new ideas and create tracks and hear from people their thoughts on the tracks. Ultimately I love to get my stuff heard. It is nice to reap some rewards via sales/performances. After all we put a lot of time and effort into creating this music.

I make this music in an effort to get these creations out to the world and beyond. It’s great to build sounds and piece them together to build a musical collage and get people to dance as well as listen and enjoy. Its what I always wanted all these years when its 6AM and a bomb track comes on in that club and everyone jumps. I’ve always wanted to move people with sound.

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