Aparde FWD Interview

2018.01.05

Written Interview with Aparde for FWD.DJ 2018

I’ve read in your prior interviews that you tend to be reclusive and self-critical. Has this changed at all as your notoriety has expanded? What do you still struggle with and what solutions have you found for these traits?

Generally I´m a very reserved, sensitive and doubtful person. After I had quit some bad habits it become better and I was became more confident about how I am and what I am doing. That said, I think my thoughts and my mood will always be divided. I am more aware of my strength and my weaknesses as well. Unfortunately I reflect on my failures more often than my success in any form. It’s a part of me and I have to learn to live with it. But basically I can call myself a very lucky person and I am thankful for the beloved ones in my life. The simplest things are the most important.

Do you think your time in a small town has made you more “sensitive” and if so how do you think that impacts your music and life? Would you encourage more people to spend time in nature or in quite to get in touch with themselves

I don´t know what makes me a sensitive person. I believe everything you are is referring to is driven by parenting, education and environment issues. But generally it can have a healing impact of your mental condition to give yourself more silence and a deep breath of fresh air.

What is the current state of your live set? Take us through your journey to get your setup the way you want it.

Currently I split my final productions in 8 single tracks. For example I have the Kick, Hi and Low Percussion, Bass, Lead and so on separately from each other. Then I make simple loops from every part, theme and mood to get in full control of arrangement and mixing. Every time I play a final production live it will sounds different. Just how I want to play it based on whatever I’m feeling in the moment. In the beginning of playing live I was loading full live prepared projects one after another from my DAW browser. Totally absurd obviously. Then I prepared the final productions into scenes which I triggered so the track was playing exactly how it was produced. Very static obviously. These last two kinds of playing “live” didn’t allow me to get the real feeling of performing. My currently setup allows me to play every single piece of my work just how I want to and this is the definition of playing live I think.

Do you source your chords/progressions more from music theory or from just playing around until you find something you like? How do you approach starting and then progressing a musical storyline in a song?

I´m not into theory at all. Mostly I just experiment and have a good sense of harmonics and arrangements I guess. The only theory I have stems from learning is to play drums when I was younger. Most of the time I start with a texture, atmospheric or percussive layer in one single note or chord and no progressions. After this I imagine everything that could be build up around it and try to do that.

What’s your current studio setup? Key pieces of hardware and software….

I use Ableton Live as DAW. I have a Moog Minitaur for Basses mostly and a Prophet 08 Desktop Modul for leads, rhyths and layers. Recently I use an Eventide Space for Reverbs and Delays and a Red Panda Particle Fx Pedal for interesting percussions and textures. I build my percussion mostly with NI Maschine and control the whole mix with a Livid DS1. Then I use some plug ins for mixing and fx like Fabfilter, Waves and Soundtoys.

If you could only have 5 pieces of hardware or software (aside from your monitors and DAW) to produce with for the next 10 years, what would you choose?

I have no clue but probably just basics for mixing like Fabfilter and Waves plugins. Just any synth and of course an audio interface which is the RME UCX.

How’s the singing and songwriting going? Is this something your listeners should expect a lot more of in the future?

It’s very difficult for me to write lyrics and get confident about the stylistic of my singing and the whole sound check procedure before performing with vocals but basically yes. The plan is to expand my vocals on every track I will make in the future.

If you could collaborate on a track with any one person who would it be? Which two artists would you like to see work on a track together? Who is one of the most underrated artists in your opinion?

My first thought was Rival Consoles. He is one of the most inspiring musicians for me but I think it wouldn´t make sense to do a collaboration because our stylistics are not very different from one other. My second thought is Apparat. I would like to see a collaboration of him and King Creosote or Thom Yorke. Honestly I´m not into digging through a lot of new music right now so my knowledge about interesting artists is not very extensive. I think Ryan Davis should earn a much larger range of listeners.

Can you tell us a bit about this mix? What should the FWD listeners know about how it was recorded and its inspiration?

I always try to combine the tracks I use with each other. I use some parts from one track and mix it with another one. It’s like making a remix with all the tracks I use together. The original track never plays on his own. There is always a sound or loop or part from another one I use in the mix.

What’s happening in 2018 for Aparde that our listeners should know about?

I hope I´ll get back in a state of productivity I had lost in the last months unfortunately.
I hope I will be able to expand my creativity and productivity in the most authentic way.

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