BLOODTONE

1) Tell us something about yourself that your fans may not know.

A: I used to be a competitive snowboarder. I went to Nationals several times at the amateur level before sustaining a back injury that prevented me from continuing to compete.

2) When did you start producing & how did you first get into it?

A: I had a copy of the demo version Ableton. I tried to figure it out on my own but I was confused as fuck & had no idea where to begin. Then a few months later a friend of mine offered to help me out. He gave me some drum samples & a few cracked plugins, showed me how to side-chain & a few basic mixing techniques. But once he showed me automation & how you can basically automate anything, my mind was blown & I became obsessed.

3) You recently released 'Goin Around,' what was the inspiration behind the track?

A: A few of my previous releases were more on the moody, unnerving side, & I wanted to make something a little more vocal-driven & club friendly. It started with the chord progression which is a slightly unorthodox approach for my typical song-writing approach. I then added the vocal & worked the rest of the track around the chords & vocal. Felt like this one was a little bit lighter feel but still wanted to give it an emotional backbone without over-complicating things.

4) How do you go about making a new song when you head into the studio?

A: I typically start by developing some sort of mood or sound palate with atmospheric sound design & then I usually move on to drums before moving into arrangement, chord structure, etc. I'm a big fan of starting with a blank slate (with the exception of a minimal mastering chain that I can fine tune later in the production process). I have my drums organized so that I can easily snag my favorites super fast. I try to get the full idea down as quickly as is humanly possible. Once the general idea is down, I can go back in & re-work the drums, begin mixing, replace elements that need improved sound design, start mastering. I feel its super important to get the emotion of the original down on the canvas in one session. I typically can get a solid idea down in 45-90 minutes & then fine tune it from there.

5) Describe your style in 3 words.

A: Unnerving, melodic, haunting.

6) Which artists, if any, would you stay impacted your music style?

A: I’d say my biggest influences are Nine Inch Nails, deadmau5, gesaffelstein, Korn, Nirvana, Depeche Mode, Marylin Manson, Rob Zombie, Crystal Castles, Justice, & Boys Noize.

7) Which of your songs are you the most proud of thus far in your career?

A: I’d say the songs I’m most prod of are “drag me down,” “god,” “pull me under,” “rudeboi sound,” & the new one “goin around.” & as far as remixes, I’m most proud of my: my Depeche Mode, deadmau5, fugees, & Odesza remixes.

8) If you could eternally be stuck in one year's music scene, which year would it be?

A: Ooh, that’s a tough one. I really love the 90s grunge scene as well as alternative 80s (depeche mode, new order, the cure, etc.). In terms of electronic music, I love the early electro & blog house time period. As well as the US dark complextro movement (early wolfgang & feed me, back when porter was dark, the m machine, etc).

9) Are you interested in sports? If so, what sport is your favorite & who is your favorite team?

A: I used to watch a lot of basketball & football. I’m from Colorado so my teams were always the Broncos & Nuggets (back in the Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, & JR Smith era). Now I never really watch sports ever, just don’t have time balancing my production, teaching my production students & working on mixing & mastering for other artists.

10) What plans do you have for 2020?

A: Got a bunch of big plans for this year, most of which are too early to announce but be on the look out for many exciting announcements as well as some new facets to the "Bloodtone" artist project.

Follow Bloodtone:

Instagram - @bloodtone

Twitter - @thisisbloodtone