Christian Smith

Having remixed Laurent Garnier's 'Flashback', Carl Craig's 'At Les' and Underworld's 'Dark & Long' to rapturous responses from the original artists, pundits and punters, Christian Smith is currently regarded as the safest hands in dance music.
His releases for Bedrock, 100% Pure and his own Tronic imprint are melodic, powerful and beat-perfect while his DJ sets – fusing house, techno and even touches of nu-disco of late – rock festivals. A production veteran who has thrown himself into modern techniques and equipment, it was essential that we tracked Christian down to talk about his music…

1.    You’ve been actively involved in releasing electronic music for over 10 years now, how do you feel things have evolved within the industry over that time?

It has become much more competitive because 10 years ago there were less than 1/10th of the producers out there than there are now. This can be attributed to the cost of making music going down drastically. Before you needed a proper studio. Now all you need is a laptop. Also the production standards have gotten much better, which is a good thing. Producers are more aware of working with compression etc.

2.    Being a sought after DJ playing across Asia, America and Europe regularly as well as running your label Tronic and producing records how do you tend to keep your schedule to do all three?

Pretty easy actually. I have a labal manager that takes care of the day to day business for the label, i travel on weekends for gigs, and i spend time in the studio during the week. This doesn't leave me with much freetime, but I love what i do as i really can't complain.

3.    Where are you mainly producing all of your work and what is your favoured setup currently?

I'm doing most of my stuff in my studio in Sao Paulo. Its nothing fancy, but it has good acoustics which is super important. You can have the
best speakers in the world, but if the acoustics are no good in your room your mixdowns will not be good. In terms of setup I do most of the
stuff inside the computer. I have UAD2 card with most of the plugs, use ableton, and bounce all the stems in cubase before rendering the final track. I also love my monitors the Event Focal's. The are great for electronic music production.

4.    When starting something fresh how do you start your studio session, do you have any personal procedures to get you on the right path to the sound you desire?

This really depends. I always start with the kickdrum, but from the onwards it depends. I then often add a bassline, or percussion, and build from there.

5.    Do you have any favourite particular pieces of kit / plug-ins you turn to to achieve a certain effect on the composition?

I really like Universal Audio. I also like the Soundtoys plug ins. And for reverbs nothing can come close to Lexicon. For synths i really like the arturia sytnhs. I also have a Dave Smith Tetra analog synth which is great. But i cannot stress enough how important acoustics are.

6.    How would you describe your style of production in recent releases?

Depends by the day. I try to work efficiently and with a clear focus on the dancefloor.

7.     Since the beginning of your career has there been a learning curve in making the music you want or anything you have particularly struggled to achieve?

It took a while to get my head around all the automization things. With Ableton you can do so many things. I guess the main advantage is
the instant recall of projects that so you can work on multiple things at the same time.

8.    What pushed you to become involved in the electronic music industry in the first place?

I was first a DJ then progressed into making music. I was very curious and intrigued but production so i went for it.

9. Is musical composition something that you took to quite easily from day one or has the process become easier over time?

It has became easier over time but standards have also gotten much higher. House and techno is not like composing classical music.
You don't have to be a musical virtuoso to make a dancefloor bomb. You just need to understand the mechanics of making a good
electronic music track.

10. Generally when you begin a new project how long would it take you on average to have a final product that you are completely satisfied with?

I work very fast. I only release about 60% of the music that i make. But usually finish a track from start to finish in one day which
Is around 10 hours. My recent single "Pitanga" on Systematic, i made in 3 hours. It really depends. When the creativity flows its
important to take full advantage of it. Of course there are some projects that take longer. Or when I collaborate with someone
else. But overall i very rarely spend more than 2 days on a tune.

11. Where or who do you draw inspiration from at the moment?

From other producers who i respect and like. It would be arrogant to say that we producers are not influenced by each other.

12. Can you name any producers releasing music at the moment that you are excited by and would categorize as ones to watch?

Wehbba, Florian Meindl, Pan-Pot, and Dosem.

13. When writing your music do you mix all of the elements during the writing process or save that for the end product?

I mix as I go. And in the end I mix it down again fix some things etc. But the main part of the mixdown is done while i compose the
track. If i can't hear it exactly the way i want it, I don't enjoy myself as much.

14. Are there still parts of production you would like to explore further or any particular pieces of equipment you would like to invest in?

I would like to work more with vocals. I know vocals are kind of tabu in techno, but this is something that really interests me. A good
vocal is better than any synth!

15. As someone with an impressive amount of experience do you have any advice for producers trying to get their music released?

Yes. Consistency is key. Don;t try to make too many different styles in the beginning.. First get your name doing one style then
you can branch out. Also just use one artist name. Having multiple artist names is confusing for fans, and you stand close to
no chance to get attention from the beatports etc. And work your ass off. From nothing comes nothing!

16. How much attention do you pay to what’s going on in the scene around you and do you pitch your EP’s to labels judging by their recent releases vibes?

I have my own label Tronic, so I don't have to tailor make releases for other people. But I do anyways, because I like to challenge myself.
When I make stuff for Bedrock for example the tracks tend to have more musical elements than usual. And when i make something for
Drumcode it tends to be more serious peaktime dancefloor business. As I am also a busy dj i know whats going in the scene what works and what not.

17. What pushed you to become involved in the electronic music industry in the first place was there anyone in particular guiding you or did you just you’re your way around the process?

The passion for music. I never thought that i could make this my full time career. I always looked at is as a hobby until I got offered gigs
all around the globe. I took the chance and never looked back.

18. What would you say in a strong point of your when writing music, something you feel comes naturally to you?

I think that I am pretty good at writing good hooks. Big basslines or musical hooks come easily to me. I am also pretty good at arranging
the tracks. Once you made a few hundred track you get the feel for it. One thing I still struggle with is sometimes to get the perfect
mixdown. Its always tricky to get the perfect balance between the bass and kickdrum.