Producer Interview: Wolfgang Gartner – Part 1

Producer Interview: Wolfgang Gartner – Part 1

29 February, 2008 | 5.30AM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog, Technology
• Written by: francispreve

One of the most unique aspects of the club music world is the fact that many artists and producers routinely shed their skin and assume new identities as the seasons change.

It’s happened time and again, Eric Prydz uses several aliases, Deadmau5 has a few side projects like BSOD, Bodyrox includes Jon Pearn from Full Intention.

The list is virtually endless.

Wolfgang Gartner is an alias for a well-known house producer whose work has received both critical acclaim and mass appeal worldwide. 

By changing his name, image and style, Wolfgang Gartner is now able to explore new sounds without the albatross of public expectation interfering with his growth.

Last fall, he released the ‘Shapes EP’, which featured three tracks that straddle the line between electro and funky progressive.

Then, at the beginning of February, the EP for InStereo Recordings, ‘Classixx EP’ included two Wolfgang Gartner remixes.

This week, Gartner’s new label, Kindergarten, released two new originals – ‘Sesso Buono’ and ‘Front To Back’ on the ‘Hot For Teacher EP’, which further refines his new sound.

So, we got him to share his perspective on the state of the industry, along with a boatload of truly useful insights into his production process.

In doing this interview, one thing became clear: Wolfgang has a lot to say and it was nearly impossible to edit his wisdom into a single piece.

We’re going to break with tradition here and publish the interview in two parts.

Here’s the first installment.

Clearly, Wolfgang Gartner is not your real name and you’re obviously dressed in costume in your picture. Are you willing to reveal your true identity?

Right now, I think it’s best not to reveal my real name just yet.

I’ll just say that I’ve been putting out records for years and I don’t want my past musical ventures to close anybody’s mind to this new project.

I also don’t want to offend any of my previous fans by switching styles so dramatically on them.

I figured an alias was the best way to go.

Are you going to use this alias forever?

This will be the Wolfgang Gartner project, and I will release certain styles of music under this name that I think are fitting, and sort of develop an artist style.

Your sound seems to bounce between hard electro and funky tech, with touches of progressive which clearly shows some range. Who are your influences right now?

Oh man, so many influences, old and new.

There’s the obvious heavy hitters like Deadmau5 and Prydz, Toolroom, the Swedish House Mafia, and all the stuff that seems to do so well on Beatport.

I am also really into a lot of more “rock” oriented dance, for lack of a proper genre name to place it under; artists like Midnight Juggernauts, Chromeo, Bag Raiders, Bang Gang, Justice – a lot of the tracks that get placed in the electronica section on Beatport.

Then there is this stuff that seems to be getting branded as “fidget house” — artists like Switch, Sinden, Crookers and Herve, most of which seems to be coming out of the UK.

And what I grew up on and still hold dear to my heart which is good old fashioned house music like Derrick Carter, DJ Sneak, Mark Farina and DJ Heather; these are the DJs that I grew up on that shaped my earlier musical tastes.

I’m also liking a lot of techno and minimal stuff that’s coming out now.

Some people doing very interesting cross-genre stuff… basically anything that’s good!

How long have you been producing music?

For about 15 years.

I started making house and techno in 1993, so I have 15 years experience with the electronic side of it with drum machines and synths and stuff.

Before that, I was writing songs with lyrics on the piano.

None of this stuff was ever released.

I only started releasing music in the 21st century, after years of pounding away and sending demos.

Wow, that’s quite a while. With that experience in mind, what are your thoughts on the current climate of dance music and where it’s headed?

I think dance music is in a very exciting place right now.

Everybody has something different to say on this, and my personal view has no doubt changed over the past couple of years.

The more I think about it, the more I think this digital revolution we are in could be the best thing that ever happened to music; it’s all so accessible now.

There are certainly negative sides to that, but overall I find it to be quite inspiring to be able to hear so much music and to be able to buy it for so cheap.

When all this digital business hit back in 2002 or around there, all the artists and labels were freaking out because they thought they wouldn’t be able to make a living anymore.

While some labels and artists have indeed dropped out and were affected by the digital revolution, a lot of us have found that if you embrace this new business model it can actually work out very well, and without a lot of the headaches that plagued the “old” distribution methods, like vinyl.

I will say that I lost a lot of hair trying to put out vinyl records but I’ve yet to lose one on a digital download.

As far as the actual music is concerned, dance music is a funny thing; it’s all really the same when you step outside and look at the big picture — at least with house music.

All of these sub-genres we’ve got like electro house, tech house, deep house — they are all just slight variations on this one groove that has been around since the 1980s, and are all basically just disco beats.

I can appreciate that trance and drum & bass, for example, are a completely different vibe, but I still find all of the genre separations in house music a tad funny.

At least simplify it a little bit! (laughs)

What do you think are the downsides and/or pitfalls to our scene right now?

I think if there is one thing that is really hurting dance music right now, it is genre-partisanship.

People and DJs get so locked into this one narrow sound and groove that they don’t want to hear anything else.

By all means, be passionate about a sound that moves you, but you’ve also got to be able to appreciate what else is out there and not close your mind off to it.

For as long as I can remember it has been like this, but I feel like it’s getting worse.

I feel like dance music was really thriving here in America 10 or 15 years ago, but right now it seems to be at its lowest point ever.

You still hear it on the radio in the UK and the rest of the world, and it still seems to be a relevant and popular sound, but in America that really isn’t the case.

It’s sad for me because this is my home.

I go out to these other countries to DJ, and see how passionate they are about this music and how they embrace it as a part of their society, and come home to the USA to hear crunk top 40 on the radio and play to empty rooms.

I for one am looking forward to watching the next wave emerge.

In a nutshell, it’s young people being united by a particular style of music.

A subculture is formed around it, with clothing styles, lingo and everything, and it becomes a movement.

America needs another unifying musical movement.

Your newest EP, ‘Hot For Teacher’, has a funky, floor-friendly vibe. What was the inspiration and production process for these tracks?

These two tracks were worked on over a long period of time.

I initially made both of them a few months ago, and since then, I’ve gone back into the studio with both to revamp and remix (in the literal sense) and get them sounding as good as possible.

I’m sure people will hear elements of the producers who have been influencing me lately, that seems to be something that just happens when I make music — despite the fact that I don’t sample anybody else’s sounds or drum hits I still manage to work in little elements that were inspired by other producers although I created them myself.

‘Front To Back’ was meant to be a sort of funk-influenced take on the current electro sound.

For me, dance music is all about the bassline, and this track reiterates that view.

I wanted it to be all synthesizers and electronic noises, but I also wanted to inject some retro funk into those noises, which I believe I’ve accomplished, especially in the bassline.

If you really analyze this bassline, it’s a line that has been used with many slight variations since the 1970s, but it’s just one of those simple patterns that has stood the test of time.

And the second track, ‘Sesso Buono’?

With ‘Sesso Buono’, I wanted to go for something that still had a strong bassline and would rock a floor, but was more musical and melodic.

For some reason, these more melodic tracks come easier to me, so this whole track only took me about 2 days from start to finish.

That’s compared to something like ‘Front To Back’, which I probably spent a solid 40 or 50 hours on, stretched over a week.

Both of these tracks really stood up to the vision that I had for each of them, and I think the contrast makes for a really well rounded EP package.

Your previous release, the ‘Shapes EP’, has a lot of definitively electro sounds, what synths are you using?

My main guys are the Moog Little Phatty, Roland V-Synth and the Juno 106.

Then I also have an old Korg N264 which I use for some random stuff, and an E-mu Emax sampler that I use for drums sometimes.

I’ve gone through a ton of synths in my life, but these are the only ones still in use in my studio.

-

This weekend, we’ll have part two of this interview, with Wolfgang going deep into his production tricks and techniques.

• (1) Comments
• (1765) Views
• Check out Wolfgang Gartner on Beatport