Declain - From Magician to Musican [Exclusive Interview]

From Magician to Musican with Declain

4/19/2019

As far as industries goes, EDM is still very decentralized and navigating through it can feel like you're in the Wild West at times. Tell us about what made you want to embark on your adventure through these untamed terrains!
Firstly, thanks for having me! I always enjoyed listening and dancing to music ever since I can remember. My parents had quite a big musical background as they were the ones who introduced me on to electronic music at a young age. While my father was keyboarder and drummer in several bands and even made it to MTV Live, my mom did all the business stuff and also sang on a few songs of his.

At home, we were always listening to music like Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys, to which I still love listening to! When I discovered artists like Guetta, Hardwell, Avicii and Arty at the age of thirteen, I knew that I wanted to enter the world of electronic dance music.

Besides music, I went through many interests and hobbies in my youth like acting, gaming, skating, doing conjuring tricks, ichthyology and archaeology, but in the end, music was the thing that I always felt closest too.

After deciding to make the jump, how did you go about finding your sound and getting your music to the level where you wanted it to be? â€‹

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A post shared by DECLAIN (@declainmusic) on Feb 24, 2019 at 9:28am PST

I didn't start out by producing my own music at first. When I was fourteen, I began to collect my favorite music and making mixes out of them, which I would then send out to friends or play at parties. Later, I felt ready to create mashups and upload them to DemoDrop, which got me some attention. I also played a few small gigs, but that didn't satisfy me, so I decided to take the step forward to make my own tracks. I opened FL Studio a few times before, but it was so complicated that it took me ages to find the motivation to teach it myself how to use the software. Over time, I worked on FL more and more and got better with every attempt. Five years have passed since I've made my first full track, and here we are!

To touch on my signature sound: I don't think I have a defined sound yet, but I am definitely working towards it. The reason I was heading to Progressive House and Big Room can be answered with my preference for powerful and energetic songs as well as the melody-based music I've always loved listening to.

How do you go about creating your music from start to finish?
Over time, I created a list on my phone which includes a bunch of track ideas, track titles, and cool old songs that have popped into my mind. I'm currently working through this list and whenever I want to start something new I take a look at it.

When I don't have any inspiration and seeing as my music is always very melodic, I love to start with chords and build a melody around it. Sometimes I'll find a cool sample or a vocal and use it as a starting point.

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A post shared by DECLAIN (@declainmusic) on Dec 16, 2018 at 9:27am PST

What are some of the tips and tricks that you've picked up and added to your technical arsenal when it comes to producing one of your tracks?
For the longest time, I was struggling to get a clean mixdown. It's still an issue for me, but it's not something you can achieve overnight, and you have got to train your ears for that. I always mix my tracks around -6db which leaves me enough headroom to play around with.

When it comes to processing my leads, chords, and basses, I always EQ the sounds separately and bus them together to create a layer with identical reverb, sidechain, compression, and so on. I also did some small tutorials on my Instagram page and highlighted them, to give producers a an insight into my songs and the techniques and plugins I used there.

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A post shared by DECLAIN (@declainmusic) on Apr 5, 2019 at 8:48am PDT

Congratulations on an absolutely massive track on the world-renown Spinnin' Records with Radiology! How did this whole track come together and what were some of the challenges you faced while working to release it?
Thank you! I initially started this track as a bootleg for Madonna's "Like A Virgin" and sent it to Radiology to get some feedback on it. I wasn't sure about the breakdown and as it turned out, the guys liked it, so we decided to work together and turn it into an original.

While the drop and ideas for the breakdown were made by me, they added a few things to the break and improved the mixdown of the song.

Finding the right vocals was the biggest struggle for us. While searching and testing out 30+ vocal samples, I could not find anything fitting perfectly, so we decided to engage a good friend of Radiology as a vocalist and the result was amazing! They did a great job with processing and editing the vocal to make it fit seamlessly into the track.

Outside of the studio, how do like to spend your time?
I honestly spend most of my time with music. Besides that, I am currently in the fourth semester of my International Technical Communication and Translation studies. I also have a beautiful girlfriend who supports me in every way possible!

Where do you see yourself in the EDM industry next year or in five years?
Let's make it a surprise!

Lastly, tell us about what you've got coming up in the near future!
I truly love a lot of different genres in the EDM scene, so I'll probably not only stick to one of them. My goal is always to be at least 99% satisfied with my productions and deliver quality and innovative music.

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A post shared by DECLAIN (@declainmusic) on Oct 22, 2018 at 9:09am PDT

Currently I am finishing up a few tracks and remixes for the rest of the year, which include world sounds, orchestral sounds, faster styles, slower styles and even 80s synthwave. I also just started a collab with a really cool, bigger artist that you can start to look out for!

Furthermore, I've written down my goals for this year and I'll work as much as I can to reach them!

All in all, I'm really excited about what the future brings!

Thanks so much to Declain for taking the time to answer our questions! Be sure to follow him using the links below!