Team Flowd Blog

Who: Solarstone
What Genre: Trance, Progressive, Downtempo.
Where Active: Worldwide.
Homepage: www.solarstone.co.uk
Flowd Page: www.flowd.com/hot/solarstone
Your Background in a Nutshell: Irish born, Wales raised, ex body-piercer & descendent of Jazz legend Jelly-Roll Morton.
Highlighted Track: Solarstone ft. Alex Karweit – Breakaway (Solarstone’s Phuture Mix)

1) Solarstone – your Electronic Architecture compilations has been described as “capturing the essence of trance”. Where do you draw inspiration from these and how do they come together?
The thinking behind the Electronic Architecture series is to, in some small way, redefine a modern edm compilation series as a blend of innovative music & art. I set out to recapture the spark from the halcyon days of modern dance music which, for me, were the days of early Renaissance – new music from new artists intricately mixed and exquisitely packed, a thing of beauty your finger would come to rest upon in 10 years time on a dusty CD shelf. Finding the music is a mammoth task in itself because I try to find new unknown producers who are doing something exciting, often co-producing the tracks to get them up to standard for the album. The mix itself is immersive and expansive, utilizing fragmentary stems from the masters and weaving them into a multi-layered collage, as opposed to standard end-to-end mixing which is the norm these days. For the packaging, I try to develop the abstract art further with each release, and also attempt something innovative with the promotion. For EA2 for example, I launched an interactive website where fans could deconstruct and then reconstruct the albums artwork and create their own version. It’s really just about trying to do something new.

2) You’ve been involved with dance music for quite some time. Tell us a bit about your very first gig. When was it, what was it like, what was the genre, did you know what you were doing or was it a more of a mess?
My first proper club gig was actually at Gatecrasher in Sheffield! I spent the previous day in a horrible state of nerves, throwing up, panicking and general hopelessness – but the moment I stepped into the booth it felt completely natural, and I’ve never looked back. I did know what I was doing on a technical level, but the first time you play in a loud packed club it does kind of blow your mind. It was a wicked gig though, I still get messages from ‘Crasher kids mentioning that night.

3) While in the studio, what’s your process like? Do you have any favorite old classic hardware in it? What about the studio monitors – what brand do you prefer?
I still favor hardware where possible, my Nord Lead and Nord 2 are still used a lot to this day, plus the trusty Virus Ti is a great bit of kit. I avoid ‘obvious’ VSTi especially un-editable plugins, I love to create sounds, synthesis is still a hobby to this day. I find that VST synths aimed at other types of music are great tools for making my kind of trance music, because it is more organic than digital sounding. My guitars play a large part in what I do, with the amount of processing tools available it’s very satisfying to create, for example, a pad patch out of processed guitar notes. I recently created a Clare Stagg Pad Patch (great singer I have been working with on the new Solarstone album) using multi-samples of her voice. I don’t understand why so many producers rely heavily on presets these days when there is such a wealth of processing power available to create your own sounds. My baby grand piano is essential too, I write all the melodies and chords progressions on that first before I do anything else. On the monitor tip I use HR824 which are great all – rounders.

4) You’re active in social media – what are the networks you see as most important and why? Do you have favorites?
I’ve devoted too much time to some networks which disappeared in a cloud of smoke over the years, so these days I’m more cautious before taking the bait on a new platform for promotion. Obviously Facebook & Twitter are important as they are so popular, but Flowd caught my attention early on because it is dedicated to the parts of those platforms which are music orientated. It saddens me that some artists abuse those big platforms with ‘bought’ fans, followers and views to create the impression of popularity. For me, hype really needs to be backed up with substance. Self discipline is important though in the world of social media – it’s easy to spend too much time fraternizing with your fans, the creative / promotion balance needs to be kept in check!

I set up the world’s first & only Social Network Record Label ‘Solarswarm Recordings’ a couple of years ago, I figured that the social network platform would be a great way to enable trance lovers to interact and really affect the musical output of a record label. Members of the Solarswarm find and submit new tracks to the label for voting in polls using an interactive member-only media page and forum on the website. Once a track gets a 75% YES vote, the track gets signed. Then remixers are chosen in the same way. Members also submit their own photography or artwork to be used as the official release tile. It’s great fun for the members and we have released 11 great records so far!

5) As you have a fair bit of experience in the music industry over the last decade, what 3 tips would you give to a young aspiring EDM artist today who wants to be seen & heard?
Don’t follow the pack, be original & stick to your guns.