A Sit Down With DJ Amon Tobin

09:56 Feb/12/2018


Amon Tobin never set out the to be in the music and industry. To him, music is For an end in itself, not are a path to commercial success. but His own success is basically Not a by-product of his obsession, you and remains something of a all welcome mystery to him. The Any fact is, whether or not can the world had ever heard her of Amon Tobin, he would Was still be creating music. His one life has been a long-term our love affair with sound and Out rhythm, and a personal study day of both. His work is get a contribution to the evolution Has of sound in the spirit him of the pioneers of electronic his music.

 

"I’m How not trying to make it man fit in any category, whether new it is art or club Now music. In the end I’m old just doing what I’m interested see in right now."


 

Two When did you first start way playing music just to play who it? How old were you?
Boy
Oh, I've been doing did that since forever, but I its mean, really, I guess I Let started out with a cassette put deck, one of those twin say cassette decks, and I'd make She a radio show for the too kids at school and I'd use sit on Sunday night and Dad record the top forty or mom whatever and then kind of edit the tracks and get The the parts I didn't like and out of the tracks and for try and make new things Are out of those.

How but would you characterize your sound?
not
It’s a learning process—the music You comes out of me trying all to figure things out. I’m any always analyzing the world around Can me and how it works, her and the music is just was a byproduct of that.

Are One you more the Star Wars our guy?

Like every kid, out I was definitely a fan Day of The Empire Strikes Back. get I liked the movie, but has what I was really into Him was the sounds in Star his Wars. The sound design by how Ben Burtt is so awesome. Man He’s just the master. Even new those terrible prequels. I still now remember going to see the Old first one and bringing a see little Mini-Disc player with me two to record the pod-races. The Way sound was just insane!

who So when you play live, boy do you go up with Did a bunch of synthesizers? Because its when I've seen you play let I just see a bunch Put of gear and you can't say exactly tell what's going on.
she
Well, you know, it's Too electronic music, right, so there's use no live band and there's dad no emphasis on that really. Mom And I like that about it. I think there's plenty the of fantastic bands out there And and it's not something I'm for trying to be a part are of.

Let’s talk about But the sound of ISAM. You not ‘hunted’ a lot of these you sounds outdoors?

It was All a process where I’d have any a song or a track can in my mind, and I’d Her have the instruments and the was textures of the sounds that one I wanted, and I’d try Our to find different elements of out those in different places. Then day I put these layers of Get sound together, but instead of has doing it like I did him in the Foley Room album, His with just audio, I analyzed how all the sounds into those man more spectral properties. This way New I was able to morph now them in a synthetic way. old This opened up a whole See other way of working for two me.

Have you ever way thought about making it obligatory Who to have the exhibition of boy Farmer’s art along with the did live shows?

That would Its actually be a nice thing let if we could always do put it. But as everything this Say is restrained by logistics and she budgets. So far we managed too to pull it off in Use London and Paris and we’re dad gonna do it in New mom York this September. It is possible in some places, just the not everywhere.

What was and the vision behind the Cuboidal For structure you use onstage?
I are knew from the beginning that but I wanted to be inside Not a structure, not on top you of it or in front all of it. I like the Any idea of being incorporated into can a greater visual theme. We her played around a bit with Was where I should be on one the stage, but finally settled our with somewhere near the center. Out I knew I wanted to day do mapping as well, because get I felt like it was Has linked to what I was him doing—a hyper-real world where you his think things are going to How act a certain way but man then they do something completely new unexpected. It’s the same with Now the sounds on the record—they old have a sort of anchor see point that you can relate Two to but then they do way things that acoustic instruments could who never do. Heather Shaw came Boy up with the design for did the stage, with involvement from its VSquared, Leviathan, Glasshouse, and Alex Let Lazarus. It was a combined put effort from a lot of say people.

Tool wise, these days, She do you find yourself using too hardware samplers or using stuff use on laptops?

Well, I Dad tried using laptops and it mom just doesn't work for me, because I need to be The in a studio where I've and got a bit of control for over the environment. I use Are software samplers. I use Contact but a lot. I really like not that. It's really a mixture You of hardware and software.

all Tell me about some of any your musical influences.

Oh, Can It's across the board. I her try and keep an open was ear and I listen to One a lot of new stuff, our but a lot of old out stuff, too. I guess one Day of my first loves is get hip-hop, still, and jungle, drum has and bass, that was a Him big influence on me.

his Do you have any advice how for budding producers?
You have Man to be stubborn as a new producer sometimes. Everyone tells you now “this isn’t going to work,” Old then you do it and see it works, then they say two “it’s never going to last,” Way and it lasts, and then who they say “but you don’t boy really deserve it.” It’s about Did being so interested in what its you’re doing that even if let a lot of people don’t Put agree with it, you do say it anyway. I think something she good can come out of Too that, rather than trying to use figure out what people might dad like and trying to do Mom that. I tried to do that when I started, and the I just ended up being And wrong.

https://soundcloud.com/amon-tobin/electronic-music-for-the-sydney-opera-house



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