Danny Ores & SNI talk Funky Bass in our Exclusive Interview

Danny Ores & SNI talk Funky Bass

7/20/2018

Danny Ores and SNI stopped by to talk about their recent release on Quartzo Records as well as some personal experiences and advice they've collected over their years of production. SNI was recently featured as one of the Top 10 upcoming producers from India and is the founder of the ever-growing FeelQ Recordings label. Danny Ores is a 15 year old producer from Italy who has worked with Gustaf Björnberg and had releases on OSTIL.

How did you guys get started producing?
Danny: Five years ago, when I was just about ten years old, I came across some EDM classics like “Error 404” and “Spaceman” and they just gave me goosebumps every time! I thought to myself, “Oh damn! I want to be famous like them and give people the same sort of emotions that they’ve given me.” From then on out, I’ve never given up on pursuing that dream!

Shreyas: Funny enough, Hardwell's “Call Me A Spaceman” also got me into the world of EDM. I used to watch a lot of sets by Hardwell & Afrojack performing at Ultra Music Festival & Tomorrowland. Somehow this music really connected with me and I became inspired to learn more about these genres they both were playing in their sets. My biggest inspirations have always been Hardwell, KSHMR, Blasterjaxx and W&W. I got into production shortly after discovering those DJs and started out using this DAW called Sonar. One of my friends convinced me to try out FL Studio and I've been using it ever since.

How did this collaboration come together?
Danny: It all started with a single message from Shreyas on a WhatsApp which said “Collab bro?” I instantly accepted it because I felt like he really had some talent. We did a Skype call together and the rest is history!

Shreyas: Exactly! It was very genuine connection and we felt that we’d work really well together. We started looking at this incomplete project from Danny’s collection and what I did was just sort of edit portions of the track and add my own style into it. I started working on the intro, break, and drop and changed things around in a way that felt right to me and made the track more catchy. We kept on discussing the project over Skype for quite a few nights, talking about what to introduce or remove so that the track sounded balanced.

What were some of the challenges you faced trying to create and finish this track?
Shreyas: We struggled to work on the mixdown but our biggest problem was the tempo automations which was largely taxing on our CPUs and made the project difficult to work on. Then when we were trying to render the project, we got a lot of render errors because of the automations.

Danny: We had to work really hard on the mix to make sure every little detail has been processed. The bassline was one of the most difficult things to work on in the track. Also we did a lot of layering to get everything to sound unique.

My new track Funky Bass with @sniofficial is OUT NOW on @quartzorecords

A post shared by Danny Ores (@dannyoresmusic) on Jul 16, 2018 at 2:33am PDT

Shreyas, tell us about the formation of FeelQ Recordings.
We formed FeelQ Recordings way back in January of 2017 with the aim of supporting new and unknown talents. At first, we started off by putting out tracks by our artist friends to kickstart the record label with good quality releases. Shortly after we got a few releases under our belt, we started to get really good quality demos from great artists and our listenership grew as well. FeelQ is a totally free record label that we started with very little resources. We promote our music by increasing our partners and doing repost trades with other record labels and networks. We got a lot of good feedback and attention for our FeelQ ADE Sampler 2017 and we plan to do another ADE Sampler this year!

Danny, could you give us some tips on how to stay relevant in this incredibly crowded industry?
As you mentioned in our chats together, the music industry is really full of artists and it gets a bit hard to get noticed, but nothing is impossible. First of all, to stand out you need to create your own unique vibe. I receive a lot of promos and collab ideas by new artists every day and the bulk of what I receive is big room. There’s nothing wrong with that because I enjoy and respect every genre. However, there’s definitely a lot of the same sounds and structures being used which can get a bit tiresome after a while. If you really want to stick out, you need to push the limits of your productions and think outside the box on how to get that sound you’re looking for. Sometimes I get demos that have a good idea but it’s not executed in the best way. Another thing is to never get lazy. If you got a big release, that doesn’t mean you’ve made it and that you’re instantly famous. You need to stay relevant and keep releasing music. I’ve seen a lot of new artists fall off after they make excuses to stop putting in the work. If you want to make it, you can’t ever let up.

What does it mean to you to be an artist?
Danny: That’s something I really wanted to address about, because I don’t see enough people talking about it. Being an artist is not some game and it is certainly not as easy as some guys think. You’re going to have to make some sacrifices if you want to make it big. Be prepared to lose a lot of sleep which can be really stressful and unhealthy if people don’t know how to handle it. I drink a lot of coffee to help keep myself sharp so that I can do what needs to be done. Even success can be stressful. For instance whenever you get a track signed, it’s an amazing feeling, but at the same time you’ve just raised the bar for yourself for all of your future releases. Along the path towards being a true artist, you’re going to have to lose a lot of what you had in your old life if you’re truly dedicating yourself to it.

A post shared by SNI (@sniofficial) on Dec 28, 2017 at 6:49am PST

Shreyas: To become a well established artist, you need to spend hours and hours behind your DAW and keep improving your craft. When you get recognized for your music, you will start to get booked for gigs by event managers or event management companies instead of having to get find gigs yourself. It requires a lot of patience and hard work to get booked for gigs at any club or festival. Branding is one of the key factors to grab attention and using social media marketing is something which every artist must learn about. It's always beneficial to have a wide array of tools and skills as move your career forward. One important aspect of branding and social media is the artworks & designs. I'm still trying my best to get verified as an artist but we all eventually learn from experience. I hope these points would help you all improve as an artist and build a good profile for getting more opportunities.

What do you guys do outside of music?
Shreyas: I am currently doing my third year in B.Tech Automobile Engineering. Ever since my childhood, I have always been fascinated by cars! I also like to play sports like cricket with friends or go and watch a movie with them!

Danny: I’m still at school as well but I’m almost totally into music because that’s my goal in life.
When I’m not busy with class or music, I like to hang out with local friends and go out and party. I exercise at home because it’s important to me to balance my music with being healthy.

Tell us about what you're looking to accomplish next.
Danny: I finally signed my first track at Ones To Watch Records (Mixmash) which will be coming really soon. For me, this represents the real first big step for my career. l think I can also say that the rest of this year as well as 2019 are probably gonna be really big for me as well!

Shreyas: As an artist, I can surely say that you’ll be seeing me doing live gigs this year and I am still working to get really big releases on major record labels. As far as FeelQ is concerned, we just had our first live demo drop event at “The Artists’ Convention” held at Royal Palms, Mumbai. It was the first time the team met each other in real life instead of just interacting online. It was a very successful event for us and we plan on to do more events like label nights, masterclass sessions, and more. We are also planning to start our Radioshow, “FeelQ Radio” really soon to support and expose upcoming artists.

A huge thank you to SNI and Danny Ores for taking the time to answer our questions. Be sure to follow them both on social media for all of their latest updates!