Psychedelic eMagazine ISSUE #10 | Page 18

18 INTERVIEW INTERVIEW PM: any advice to the upcoming producers out there? DC: Very simple advice I give everyone that asks me that question, I tell them how I learned the most. Pick a few tracks you think are the greatest thing ever made, and analyse the hell out of them, truly in-depth. How did they do the kick, the bass, what does it look like, try to recreate these elements, and don’t be afraid to spend an entire week on just that. You might not end up with the same thing (which is good), but in that process you will have learned a million things. Persistence is the key. FOLLOW DIGICULT PM: How you see the psy scene nowadays? PM: As always, let’s start from the basics, who you are and where are you from? DC: DigiCult is 2 people, both from Belgium, Bert De Decker and Dries De Crop. The project has been around since 2003 with the first release in 2005. PM: How you started with Psytrance in the first place? DC: Like everyone else I guess, you hear the music and you’re hooked. This was way back in the previous millenium, i think that might be one of the main reasons our music has always tried to stay true to those basic melodic principles. PM: What “DigiCult” stands for and how you came up with this name? DC: Initially the project name in the first year was ‘digital culture’ but that soon evolved to the shortened version. No specific reason for choosing it, it just sounded exactly like what we were trying to bring, and in the end, what’s in a name :) PM: oh, cool! And how you would define your music style? DC: Melodic in the first place, I think that would be the most basic characteristic. Positive music with loads of layers, always psychedelic, and most importantly, with an oldschool touch throughout. More recently we’ve been exploring the lower bpm range, but with all the before mentioned ingredients still there. PM: What is your insparation when you produce music? If any. DC: That’s an easy answer, my shining example has always been Man With No Name, the vast catalogue of amazingly beautiful music he managed to create in the nineties is just mindblowing. He was miles ahead of the competion in his time. Astral projection as well of course, and my good friend U-Recken truly is a great inspiration to me. PM: Let’s talk a little bit about production. What we will find at your studio as of today? DC: Not as much hardware anymore, I used to own a TB-303, jd-800, Juno etc, but they’re all gone. What’s left is a virus ti2, and all the UAD dsp processing power needed for reaching industry standard production level :) PM: The eternal question: Hardware or software? DC: These days, there’s hardly any difference anymore, especially in the dsp department. The whole hassle and tangle of running it physically through cables and recording just isn’t worth my time or money anymore, compared to the benefits it brings. The die hard gearheads will surely disagree with me, but everyone’s entitled to their opinion of course. DC: Pretty optimistic actually, I must say, the amount of well-produced music these days is really on the rise. The golden age of full on was between 2002 and 2005, after that it went into a real nose-dive and I was risking to lose my interest due to the sheer amount of cheesy music being released. And though the production value, even from the biggest names in that early period, was pretty bad compared to today, 19 the ideas were great. And today it’s all coming together, you’ve got world-class production with still great and innovative ideas, and thankfully with the goa-revival of recent years, the quality on a musical level is kept pretty high at the same time. PM: Any new music on progress? DC: We’re currently working on an ‘Astral Projection - Dancing Galaxy’ remix, which is almost finished. I’ve got high hope s for that one, the people really seem to enjoy it on the dancefloor. Then there’s an ep coming with U-Recken, and later on a versus track with spirit architect. Some solo tracks are also still in the pipeline though. We just released a full album in February, but we expect to release at least two or three more eps this year. Inspiration is booming! PM: Thank you for your time guys! Psychedelic eMag wishes you all the best! DC: You’re welcome!