This week, I had the pleasure of talking to one of electronic music’s most promising talents, Finnish producer Tekvision! Read on to find out more about his biggest influences, his own label and for the producer geeks: his personal gear of choice.
So… where does the name Tekvision come from?
It’s actually kinda funny. Originally it was a name of a bass patch I did. It kinda sounded like a cross between Teknian and NOISIA (NOISIA flipped is VISION, for those who don’t know that) and I just combined the names and got Tekvision. And later I just thought it sounded pretty good and neutral so I decided to use it as my alias.
What got you into making (electronic) music?
Hmm..
I was doing some hiphop beats already when I started to get interested in electro house, complextro and stuff like that. I started listening to a lot of Deadmau5, Mord Fustang, Wolfgang Gartner etc. I wanted to be like them, make the same music as them. So that’s how it started. I never really research anything or bother to learn about production, it was just a thing I did in my free time.
Then Skrillex happened and that changed everything for me. I wasn’t sure if I really liked his music, but I was blown away by the production and sounddesign. Like, how in the fuck is it possible to make these sounds happen. I wanna know, I wanna do that too. Around that time, 2010 – 2011, I started to produce seriously. I wanted this to be my thing.
Who were/are some key inspirations?
Well obviously Skrillex hah! KOAN Sound, Savant, Nujabes are still probably the biggest 3 influences/inspirations for me. Notable mentions to Emperor, Culprate, Siriusmo, Gorillaz, Teddy Killerz, Brookes Brothers, Joe Ford.. this could go on forever really, so I’ll stop here just to be polite.
Which track or release do you feel characterizes your sound, and why?
Ooof.. this one’s tough
I guess I’d have to go with ‘Mycoplasma’, because I think it really captures the production style and overall feel of my tracks. But I still don’t think that any ONE track can characterize my whole sound, since I like to do whatever pops in to my mind.
Think it’s safe to say that’s 2015 has been a big year for you, getting featured on Nest HQ and EDM.com multiple times. How has that been?
It’s been really exciting for me! The Nest HQ thing came out of the blue and I didn’t even know what to think of it first. Needless to say I was stoked about it. It feels really good to get your music out there to more people and it is a fantastic feeling to get some recognition for my efforts.
I can imagine it also makes you feel pressured…
Well, yes and no. I don’t feel the pressure to make more ‘bangerz’ to get featured on bigger channels or get recognized by big names. I don’t want my music to get stale. So the only real pressure comes from myself, I need to make music that is interesting to me.
I’m secretly glad to hear that! Most of my own favourite producers are the ones that produce a wide array of genres, and really produce whatever they feel like. You seem to be one of those as well. Can you tell me something about how you usually start working on a track, or if there are any specific ways you try to inspire yourself?
It really depends on the idea I have at the moment, sometimes I start doing some drum pattern and sometimes I just mess with some synths. I’m constantly adding new sounddesign to my sample library to keep things interesting. I always have some new material to work with. When I’m not working on a track, I’m still constantly doing stuff inside my DAW, doing drumloops, basses, presets, random sounddesign… stuff like that.
What’s your studio setup like? What’s some of your favourite software and/or hardware that you just can’t live without?
I currently have a couple of midi keyboards (Oxygen 49 and Arturia’s MiniLab), my coffee mug, Launchpad S and a Scarlett 2i2 for a soundcard. Here are my absolute favorites, Yamaha HS7’s for monitors and Beyerdynamic DT880 Pros for headphones. Oh.. my.. god. Honestly, I can’t believe how good the HS7’s sound. They sound crystal clear and very natural, not harsh at all. And the Beyerdynamics are a fantastic companion to the yammies. They both sound very much alike, but the headphones are a bit bass light. But the lowend is accurate as fuck.
And performing with your music? Is that something that’s been on your mind?
Oh hells yeah! I haven’t gotten around buying any equipment yet though. I’ll probably start DJing first, but I have thought about doing some kind of a midi setup to make it more ‘live’ I guess. I have no idea how soon or late it’s gonna happen, but It’s definitely a thing I’m trying to make happen.
Can you tell us a bit about your record label, Drastic?
It was originally just a promotion channel on youtube and they asked if they could upload one of my tracks. I agreed and soon after that, there was some discussion about it turning into a label. We had similar ideas on what the label should be like and where we should head with it, so I agreed to go with them. We’ve grown slowly but steadily since then. We have a lot of cool plans for the future and we’re looking forward to open the curtains and reveal what’s behind them.
So what does the future hold for Tekvision?
Hopefully, a lot of music! On top of my civilian-service, I’m working on a lot of projects at the moment some of which I can’t really talk about yet. Needless to say I’m quite busy with stuff, but I’m also very excited.
Make sure to check out Tekvision to stay up to date on his stuff!