TVLI: "I'm My Own Biggest Fan, and I'm Not Ashamed of It"

A military deployment isn't where most electronic music careers begin, but that's exactly where TVLI found his calling. What started as a way to fill the hours eventually became the creative outlet that helped him navigate life after service, ultimately evolving into a career built on curiosity, meticulous craftsmanship, and a desire to create music that lingers long after the final note fades.

Today, TVLI has carved out a sound that's entirely his own. Blending electronica, deep house, progressive, and melodic house, his productions are rich with intricate textures, cinematic atmospheres, and emotional depth while earning praise from electronic music pioneer BT and leading to collaborations with acclaimed vocalist Christian Burns. Whether through his carefully crafted studio work or immersive live performances, where music, lighting, and visuals become one experience, TVLI approaches every project with the same attention to detail and storytelling.

His latest 16-track album is perhaps the clearest expression of that philosophy. Rather than chasing trends or relying on oversized drops, the record unfolds like a carefully written story, balancing introspective moments with dancefloor energy while inviting listeners to experience it from beginning to end. We caught up with TVLI to discuss the making of the album, the stories behind its tracks, his love of analog hardware, and why sometimes the smallest production details make the biggest difference.

Q: Discovering music production during a military deployment is a pretty unique way to get started. When did you realize it was more than just a way to pass time and something you wanted to do for a living?

A: Getting adopted by BT and Christian Burns was probably the most monumental stepping stone I’ve had to date. Having your work recognized by people who have the credibility to do so created a mental shift for me to take myself a little more seriously. I still feel like I make garbage music all the time, but I make more garbage music than I used to, and with that comes slightly more good music also.

Getting out of the military leaves a lot of veterans with a common feeling of very little purpose in comparison to what you were previously a part of; something bigger than yourself. There aren’t a lot of jobs out there that really make you feel the same way as serving does; it’s hard to redirect personal goals and motivation. So I kept passing the time by making music for a few years and eventually I had enough material to start playing live sets. When I was working on my previous album “In Momentum” (Black Hole Recordings), my goal was to be able to play the album live and sell 50 tickets for a show. My first live set was packed wall-to-wall in a small club in Santa Barbara, California called STUDIO (owned by two very wonderful Kiwi’s Jeremy and Kim). The energy and crowd reaction from that set made me realize people actually liked my music and gave me that sense of purpose again.

Q: Your new album, ‘Exist ’, blends elements of electronica, deep house, progressive, and melodic house into one cohesive sound. Did you have that sonic identity in mind from the start, or did it naturally develop as the album came together?

A: I think a lot of musicians can relate to this, but a lot of times when I’m making songs and I feel like I very occasionally impress myself, it gives me a weird sensation of feeling like I didn’t even make the track. Like it just comes together on it’s own and I’m just clicking buttons and recording some synths and going through the motions and then there’s this cool song that I enjoy which I apparently made by myself after anywhere from 20-100 hours of work. I am my own biggest fan and I am not ashamed of it.

Q: Listening from start to finish, the album feels like one complete journey rather than just individual tracks. How much thought went into the order of the songs?

A: I’m going to be honest, zero thought went into the order of this album. I like that you felt the journey, though. I frequently have people come up to me after shows that went well telling me exactly that, and it’s a great compliment, so thank you! Christian chose the order on this one, and I more than trust his judgment. However, I do sometimes get very specific about track order for other albums; I have another one I just finished up over the course of the last year, which I am a little more particular about the order with given the sound design ended up being much more precise and tedious.

Q: Some tracks make you want to close your eyes and get lost in the music, while others are made for the dance floor. How do you know when a track needs more emotion and when it needs more energy?

A: If I don’t feel some sort of emotion with the initial chord progression or sound design, I usually abandon the track. I try to blend the two ideas as much as I can, and I think naturally one direction or the other ends up taking over. When writing I do try to keep in mind how this will present in a club environment, and my music can be somewhat influenced by decisions like “should I drop the kick for this section or keep it going?” Then there’s the beauty of playing live sets where I can also take a track that has a mellow section and just drop a kick drum in from the previous track to keep the energy flowing.

Q: Every track tells a different story, but is there one on the album that feels the most personal or carries the biggest story behind it?

A: The first story that comes to my mind is the music video for “Waiting.” We got a filming permit from the Channel Islands National Park to film on Anacapa Island at this epic lookout spot. We took a boat to the island, packed a mini live set into our backpacks and spent the night on the island in order to shoot the video. What we weren’t expecting was that there were an estimated 10,000 seagulls on this somewhat small island, which was fascinating during the day and the worst thing ever at night (they don’t shut up). Go search YouTube “TVLI - Waiting” for the video. I’m really happy with how it came out.

Q: One thing that stands out on the album is how patient it feels. Nothing sounds rushed, and every track has room to breathe. Is that something you’ve consciously learned over time as a producer?

A: Thank you. That’s a very nice compliment! Something I try to think about is overall song dynamics in terms of start-to-finish flow. I hate going to shows where the artist is just going hard the entire 90-minute set because they think they need to keep the energy up. Or when DJ’s tell you that you need to open with a banging track; I actually believe the opposite. I think it’s more valuable (but not always) to have a slow build and reward the people who actually stay the whole time. Tying that in with individual songs, I think it’s important to have the dynamic of groovy kick-bass-driven drops with pretty and melodic intros and mid sections.

Q: Was there a track on the album that completely surprised you, one that ended up somewhere you never expected when you first started writing it?

A: “Dawn.” I think it’s the song that will get the least amount of plays but is my personal favorite. The sound design is super unique and relaxing for me. I rarely play it live though. It translates better on headphones in your bedroom before going to sleep.

Q: One of the album’s highlights is your collaboration with Christian Burns. He’s known for bringing so much emotion to every vocal he records. Did working with him change the way you thought about writing or producing songs?

A: So first of all, I am beyond honored that Christian offered to do a song with me given his history as someone who has worked with huge names like Tiësto and Armin van Buuren. He sent me one take and the vocals were perfect. Simple and very pretty. His voice is angelic. I typically get 90% of my vocals from a plug-in called Arcade and I rarely get to use actual vocals from people who are good at singing so this was really exciting to have a big-name singer on my music. I also really appreciated how Christian acknowledged my vocal implementation style of short repetitive hooks and he kind of just gave me free will to do whatever I wanted with the samples he made me.

Q: BT has praised the level of detail in your productions. Are you the kind of producer who can spend an hour tweaking a tiny sound that most listeners will probably never even notice?

A: BT is a legend, which is also an understatement. I had the opportunity to watch him produce for two weeks in Southern France last summer, and I’ve never seen someone put so much effort into micro-detailed work. His album Metaversal is one of my all-time favorite albums and I felt like I got a few of the behind-the-scenes production secrets so it was like being a kid on Christmas again, except BT was Santa Claus.

I have definitely spent hours tweaking one sound, or trying different effect chains, etc. I think that’s one producer tip that most amateur producers don’t think about enough. Spend time with all of the stock Ableton plug-ins. They’re equally as good if not better than some of the most notable third-party plug-ins out there. It’s important to mess with your FX, automations, or when using presets, change something so the exact sound isn’t something someone already used. I remember an interview with Flume from like a decade ago where he said something along the lines of how he’s basically always trying to make sounds that no one has ever heard. I was really inspired by that.

For my last two albums, I spent 3-4 weeks just creating brand new patches on Diva, Serum, and my Prophet 5 and 6 before I even started the songwriting process. From there, I would try to stick to my 40-50 homemade sounds for the entirety of that album.

Q: Your live shows are just as much about visuals as the music. When you’re creating a new track, do the sounds inspire the visuals, or do you already have images in your head while you’re writing?

A: Visuals always come last. When I’m building my live set, I use ENTTEC Emu for custom light patterns that are synced with Ableton’s session view, which I learned how to do from Mau5trap/Anjuna/Monstercat/Colorize artist Julian Gray, who makes really cool visual stuff as well. A few years back I got kind of obsessed with lasers, so I went out and got my Laser Safety Officer License. I educated myself with lessons from some much more experienced techs who currently work with John Summit and Paul McCartney. Originally investing in a laser system just for yourself is quite the commitment, and I can only use it occasionally when venue spaces allow, so I started freelancing myself out more and have been fortunate to work with some pretty well-known names such as Cri, Aaron Hibell, Two Lanes, Dirtwire, Twin Diplomacy, Omnom, Innerwave, Skilah, and many others. For projections, I taught myself Resolume, and realized there’s a preset in Resolume called “Acruela” which makes any visual look awesome (Shhhhhh). I barely bring my projectors out for shows but they’re a really fun asset to use in addition to my custom lights and lasers when venue appropriate.

Q: You’ve spoken about falling in love with analog gear, even though software can do almost everything these days. What keeps pulling you back to hardware? And is there one piece of gear you couldn’t imagine making music without?

A: My desert island synth is Diva. However, sitting down in front of my Juno 60 or the Prophet 5 or the Moog Model D gives me instantaneous nostalgia and inspiration. Pro tip, if you ever buy a Moog Matriarch, don’t sell it. I did that. So obviously I had to buy it again. It just feels good to use real gear sometimes. It also feels good to take breaks from real gear, just like anything. My most recent synth, and last for a while, is the Novation Summit. I can make it sound very close to all of the previously mentioned synths. But yeah, Diva, go buy that. If you can’t afford anything else, you can make everything you’d ever need with just Diva.

Q: If someone stumbled across a TVLI demo from five years ago, what do you think would surprise them the most? And how does this album show just how far you’ve come since then?

A: Funny you ask. I literally just self-released seven songs as an album, “Analog Dream,” that I made four years ago. I wasn’t sure if I was ever gonna even put them out but I regularly get haggled by people on Instagram to release my old stuff from some of my more popular Instagram posts from way back when, so I put it out. I won’t be promoting or playing any of it live but it’s out there in the world now. That music is very analog synth-heavy and catchy, but doesn’t really have super solid mix-production quality, and isn’t very club-friendly, whereas a good portion of my newer album is definitely more appropriate for keeping an audience moving on a dance floor and has proven such over the last couple of years and the 30+ shows I’ve performed the new music at.

Get it on Beatport