Jeremy Olander is a prolific electronic music producer with countless originals and remixes to his name. His music is featured on many labels such as Pryda, Suara, Bedrock, Drumcode, Toolroom and many more. We caught up with him to talk about his label and music production, ahead of his tour of the US and India.
In 2015 you launched your own record label Vivrant. What was your main objective when creating the label and what's in store for the next 12 months?
My main objective was first of all to be in full control of what I released, when we released it and how. As much as I love putting stuff out with other labels that I respect and all that comes with it, it can be frustrating having to adapt to their schedule and way of doing things. I guess it’s the same for other people releasing on my label, but always I try to do my best with making everyone involved happy.
I haven’t planned as far ahead as 12 months. There’s a schedule set for what’s coming out until end of March. Next up is an EP from André Hommen in December. A great producer that I’m very happy to have on board. André, alongside Khen and Tim, is a guy I really think fits hand in glove with us. After that we have a remix project of my ‘Caravelle EP that I’m really excited about. Three very different takes on the originals.
How did you get into music production?
Through a high school friend. He’d been into trance music from an early age and had worked in Reason for quite a while when I met him. Once I got into dance music he showed me the basics and then I went from there.
Where do you draw inspiration from for your music?
Obviously listening to music is very inspiring. I do listen to everything from classical music to film scores to hip hop and pop. There’s something inspiring in all kinds of music. Apart from that I think touring really helps spark creativity. Seeing new places, meeting new people. Then there’s other kinds of creative work like film, photography, art and fashion. It’s very hard to pinpoint what exactly inspires me at different times. I really do think it’s a mix of all of the above.
Your track “Caravelle” is one of our favourites on your Vivrant imprint. Could you tell us a little more about how you created that bass?
Thank you! It’s one of my favourites too and a track that I still play out a lot. Regarding the bass, it’s always very hard for me to tell how I created something. 99% of the times it just comes from me messing around with synths and a lot of times I just get lucky. There are only very few synths that I truly master. With all the rest I tend to scroll through presets and when I hear something close to what I’m looking for, I then start to tweak. A lot of synths have way too many parameters for me to feel I want to learn them. What’s funny is that I save a lot of the sounds I’ve made, but most of the times they will not work well when I try and use them. They become very specific to a certain key because of the way I equalize. I’m very impressed with the presets you guys have made though!
Do you have a production tip that you could share with our readers?
One tip I feel I can’t stress enough for beginners is to use good reference tracks. It helped me out so much in the beginning with learning how to mix. I would always stop every 20 minutes and compare it to something I thought sounded great. How does the kick sound compared to my track? The bass? The strings? The drums? And then try to get as close as possible. Also imitating to start out producing is a great way of getting into the habit of finishing up tracks.
What piece of studio hardware or plugin could you not live without, and why?
That would have to be the ESP Synth in Logic. It’s in every production I’ve made.
Jeremy, thank you so much for taking time out of your hectic schedule to talk to us today. What are you up to over the next few weeks?
I’m about to head out on the road again. I’m going to the US, Canada and then India. After that I have a week at home before going back to the US and Colombia. In December I’m finishing off my residency at Sound in LA. I’ve had two incredible shows their this year and I look forward to finishing it off with a bang.
We wish you all the best with your upcoming shows. Speak soon, Neil & Ed (Audiotent).
Stream the entire Vivrant catalogue on Spotify in chronological order: Click here to stream
In 2015 you launched your own record label Vivrant. What was your main objective when creating the label and what's in store for the next 12 months?
My main objective was first of all to be in full control of what I released, when we released it and how. As much as I love putting stuff out with other labels that I respect and all that comes with it, it can be frustrating having to adapt to their schedule and way of doing things. I guess it’s the same for other people releasing on my label, but always I try to do my best with making everyone involved happy.
I haven’t planned as far ahead as 12 months. There’s a schedule set for what’s coming out until end of March. Next up is an EP from André Hommen in December. A great producer that I’m very happy to have on board. André, alongside Khen and Tim, is a guy I really think fits hand in glove with us. After that we have a remix project of my ‘Caravelle EP that I’m really excited about. Three very different takes on the originals.
How did you get into music production?
Through a high school friend. He’d been into trance music from an early age and had worked in Reason for quite a while when I met him. Once I got into dance music he showed me the basics and then I went from there.
Where do you draw inspiration from for your music?
Obviously listening to music is very inspiring. I do listen to everything from classical music to film scores to hip hop and pop. There’s something inspiring in all kinds of music. Apart from that I think touring really helps spark creativity. Seeing new places, meeting new people. Then there’s other kinds of creative work like film, photography, art and fashion. It’s very hard to pinpoint what exactly inspires me at different times. I really do think it’s a mix of all of the above.
Your track “Caravelle” is one of our favourites on your Vivrant imprint. Could you tell us a little more about how you created that bass?
Thank you! It’s one of my favourites too and a track that I still play out a lot. Regarding the bass, it’s always very hard for me to tell how I created something. 99% of the times it just comes from me messing around with synths and a lot of times I just get lucky. There are only very few synths that I truly master. With all the rest I tend to scroll through presets and when I hear something close to what I’m looking for, I then start to tweak. A lot of synths have way too many parameters for me to feel I want to learn them. What’s funny is that I save a lot of the sounds I’ve made, but most of the times they will not work well when I try and use them. They become very specific to a certain key because of the way I equalize. I’m very impressed with the presets you guys have made though!
Do you have a production tip that you could share with our readers?
One tip I feel I can’t stress enough for beginners is to use good reference tracks. It helped me out so much in the beginning with learning how to mix. I would always stop every 20 minutes and compare it to something I thought sounded great. How does the kick sound compared to my track? The bass? The strings? The drums? And then try to get as close as possible. Also imitating to start out producing is a great way of getting into the habit of finishing up tracks.
What piece of studio hardware or plugin could you not live without, and why?
That would have to be the ESP Synth in Logic. It’s in every production I’ve made.
Jeremy, thank you so much for taking time out of your hectic schedule to talk to us today. What are you up to over the next few weeks?
I’m about to head out on the road again. I’m going to the US, Canada and then India. After that I have a week at home before going back to the US and Colombia. In December I’m finishing off my residency at Sound in LA. I’ve had two incredible shows their this year and I look forward to finishing it off with a bang.
We wish you all the best with your upcoming shows. Speak soon, Neil & Ed (Audiotent).
Stream the entire Vivrant catalogue on Spotify in chronological order: Click here to stream
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