Haze Interview

-The Sydney scene seems to be picking back up again; What has changed/happened as of recently?

In my opinion the resurgence has occurred due to new promoters and old coming together to put on more events and we also have a lot of new faces thanks to an unknowing group of people being drawn to the hardcore parties. Plus we have major events such as Defqon put on by Q-Dance whom had an entire stage last year dedicated to Hardcore and another promoter HSU who predominately supports Hardstyle will bring out a UK international DJ for their events. So far they have brought out Darren Styles, Hixxy and now Scott Brown at their next event in July.

In coincidence with these new parties the producers in Australia have also been pumping out new tracks and getting newer audiences involved. Don’t get me wrong we still have a long way to go but its doing a lot better than a few years ago.

-Obviously with the resurgence; there's producers doing things. What should we expect from Australian UK Hardcore going forward? Any producers to really pay attention to?

I think towards the end of this year it’s going to be huge we have Team Rocket doing a lot of collaborations with UK’s Rob IYF, we also have Technikore moving here in July whom will be working on a lot of new bits with JTS. I also have my label back again releasing new songs from Australian and UK artists. With my Cubase tutorials we have a lot of new producers coming into the scene such as Comrade  & Jozzi. Regulars as well such as Weaver and Essi are continuing to write tracks. Plus we also have Sc@r working on collaborations with myself so it’s looking very healthy.

-Last year; you announced the "end" of Executive Records. What made you want to get the label going again?

A few major reasons, the number one reason was I wasn't liking what was coming out and I wanted to push the sounds that I enjoy. Don’t get me wrong there was plenty of good music coming out if you knew where to
look such as the sounds from the Hardcore Underground guys but for me I just wasn’t feeling the new material coming out from the established producers. The second reason is I honestly missed running the label and being able to help support Australian artists and pushing my own productions. Executive was something I built over a long period of time and I felt I still had more to give after a long break.

-You also produce Drum & Bass. How's is that project going? Any cool things happening with that?

I love Drum & Bass as much as I love Hardcore however this year it has slowed down a bit due to the label being brought back. However, that being said I have still managed to work on a few tracks here and there. My latest track called “United We Stand” is a collaboration I did with Absence (Zander) which is dark and heavy sampling the famous “United we stand, divided we fall” speech from Winston Churchill. That should be coming out on Future Breakz. I have also just released my own track ‘Pilgrims Of Zen’ on Executive Records. I have a few bits I am waiting to finish as well. I wrote them all in the UK last year but haven’t had the time to completely finish them.

-What's your 5 favorite tunes at the moment? 

1. Technikore & Mob - Falling

2. Haze - Givin' It All I Got

3. UFO & Keileigh MacDonald – Untouchable (Scott
Brown Remix)

4. Impact - Closer Now (Transcend & Cyrax Remix)

5. Daydream – Galaxy (Haze & Sc@r 2015 Remix)

-What's your top 5 productions you've personally ever done?

1. Impact & Weaver - All My Life (Haze 90s Mix)

2. Luna-C – Fly To Heaven (Haze Remix)

3. D-Vide - Forgotten Memories

4. Haze - Impact

5. D-Vide - Vibe

Due to me being a production nerd; these are my favorite questions to ask.

- What gear/software did you use to start
producing? 

Cubase SX, plugins that Weaver, Antix and I got from UFO back in 2001. I also bought a Virus B rack back in the day with a slowish computer and soundcard. Did the trick. I wrote some of my first songs on that computer that got released such as “The Darkness” on Relentless and my remix of “Take Me Up” by Kevin Energy.

- What gear/software are you using now? 

Cubase Pro 8, Virus TI, Plugins: Massive, Fab Filter Package, Cableguys Curve 2, Blade, Padshop Pro, Predator, Kontact, FM8, Razor, Zeta 2, Zebra 2, Nexus 2, Sylenth 1, Albino 3, Tornado, T-Racks 3, Trackspacer, All the vengeance plugins such as the Multiband Compressor, Philta, Multiband Sidechain etc.

- What are your "go to" plugins for synths?

Massive, Sylenth, Zebra 2, Zeta 2

My other favorite questions.

- Advice to anyone looking to get into production?

The best advice I could give is stick at it and never give up. Lots of new producers want to be able to make something instantly that sounds like their top producers and easily get discouraged and give up if it doesn’t sound like it. You have to remember everyone started somewhere and of course your favorite producers have had years to get to where they are so don’t expect your songs to be perfect at the beginning they are going to sound horrible. I would recommend watching as many tutorials as possible on YouTube, ask advice from other producers and don’t be scared to write something that you feel is different to everything else. That is the beauty about being a producer.

Another tip is there is no shame in learning how sounds were made back in the day. I have often found old techniques have given me new ideas on how to approach anything from sound design to melodies.

- Advice to any up & comer?

Don’t be afraid if you don’t have any musical knowledge or background. A lot of successful producers have begun writing music with no musical background. Simply learning chords and what goes with what can easily
train your brain and ears on what keys to use. You can look up simple chord calculators on the net for free and that can help you with what direction you would like the song to take. In programs such as Cubase you even have something called a chord calculator which will assist you in choosing what chords you want to use. The
other tip is don’t be disheartened with the functionality of particular DAW's. Common ones such as Cubase look hard to use at first but once someone shows you the basics you will realize it’s not that hard to use or get around. They all have similar concepts just different ways of going about it.

- Advice to anyone producing in general?

Take time on your songs it is always tempting to release loads of songs but still quality is better than quantity. Make sure before you release something you are 100% happy or close to it. The other advice I would give is never mixdown a song and think it’s finished straight away. Have a day or two break and come back to it. If you are still happy with it sure consider it finished but chances are you will hear something you didn’t before and you will be glad you didn’t give it out. On the same tip send your song to your friends and piers whom are also producers and see if they can hear anything wrong before considering it finished and sending it off to more established artists.