Running the EDM Gamut with Conor Ross [Exclusive Interview]

Running the EDM Gamut with Conor Ross

1/18/2019

Since this is your first interview, let's start at the beginning with what got you into EDM and what inspired you to start producing.
Well, I'm fifteen now and I've been producing ever since I was eleven. However I've had a strong interest in music dating back as far as when I was five years old. I started to learn guitar around that time and have kept it up for the past ten years. What got me into EDM was the crazy full and complex sounds that you can only find in electronic music. I never understood how anyone could make those types of sounds as I was still more or less a classical musician. I did what everyone else does nowadays and went on YouTube to teach myself on Cubase after my dad got me my first recording equipment. From there, I've migrated to FL Studio. I've changed my taste of music over the past couple of years, but a big inspiration for me has always been Dillon Francis, believe it or not. Back when I used to make all this moombah, I began to realise that you could use melodic influences too! Then I just started to grow in terms of composing and producing!

How did you go from producing moombah to the future house that you're making today?
From moombah, I've kinda been around the block, I went to trap and then to progressive house but it was hearing the tracks from the likes of Tchami and Oliver Heldens that made me want to make this new genre of house. It was so hard to try and find my style as it is for everyone else, so I just put in the time and effort to become a part of a community. Getting more involved really guided me into how I was going to go about continuing with future house. These days, I'm also beginning to delve into trap music and more poppy stuff, but I'm trying to keep working in both areas at the moment!

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A post shared by Conor Ross â–¡ (@conorrossuk) on Oct 13, 2018 at 10:05am PDT

In a recent Facebook post, you mentioned that you were looking into making more "show-friendly" tunes. Is there anything more you could tell us about the musical direction of Conor Ross?
Yeah totally! I recently started to develop a whole new bunch of signature sounds that I'm trying out. I think right now I'm finally getting where I want to be musically. The way I want to grow is by showing everyone that I can have a signature style in more than one genre I guess. When someone thinks of "signature sound," you instantly attach it to their most favoured genre, and I really want to avoid that and push myself into all territories equally.

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it's a ferrari not a vauxhall astra 2007 ok

A post shared by Conor Ross â–¡ (@conorrossuk) on Oct 9, 2018 at 11:41am PDT

How did you start integrating yourself in the community to get your tracks heard by the right people?
This is actually quite a funny story! Like all future house guys, I joined the "Future Of House" Facebook group. It started when I posted a video in the group of a track I'd been randomly working. For reasons unknown to me, it quickly blew up and people who I looked up to were liking and commenting on it. That gave me a lot of confidence to post more and engage with more people. I started entering remix competitions, making friends, joining group chats, and just expanding my social network the best I could. That year, I did A LOT of collabs, maybe even too many. However, these collaborations helped me learn from other producers and expand my own social network and I'm grateful for everyone who decided to give me a chance!

Tell us about your latest track on Camille van Gurp & Rob Kuiper's label, Triad!
This one is super special for me - I actually made the original idea for the drop around this time last year, but it sounded completely different. I dropped the project but then I found myself struggling with a bit of writer's block around three months ago. So I decided to reboot a couple of old projects and this one popped back up. I incorporated my electric guitar in the drop for this and experimented with a whole new arsenal of sounds I've been waiting to test out. Once the instrumental was done, I decided to look for vocals. The vocal process was actually surprisingly easy as I found an amazing singer called Jodie Knight through Instagram. I was on holiday at the time and I asked her to do vocals. Within a week of me coming back, she'd fully recorded and sent over the vocals. Her voice was so easy to work with so the mixdown was a breeze to finish. This is one of the only tracks for me that really just fell together in place and I'm so happy it did! What's even more exciting is that we have a VIP mix I've been working on in addition to some really crazy remixes. I can't wait to share all of those and I really hope everyone enjoys it!

What lessons have you taken from your journey through the EDM scene so far?
I guess that just working as hard as you can really does show progress. You can't get put off when you're demos aren't getting accepted and DJs aren't playing your songs. It's a tough industry, and I am most definitely still trying to work my way through, but I'm so excited to finally be able to push my music to some new audiences and onto labels that I've dreamed of. Having the chance to collaborate and even become great friends with some artists that I used to idolise gives me such a warm feeling and me excited for the future!

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A post shared by Triad (@triadrecnl) on Jan 11, 2019 at 3:25am PST

What other responsibilities are you juggling while working on your career?
The most prominent responsibilities at the moment outside of music are definitely my school career and personal life. This year is going to be a very stressful one as I have my final GCSE exams which is basically my future, and as everyone does. For those outside of the UK, the GCSE definition is "a qualification in a specific subject typically taken by school students aged 14-16, at a level below A level." In other words, they are my final exams before I go off to college.

I also have some important personal issues that can become extremely stressful and take a toll on me. Fortunately, I'm so lucky and grateful for all the good friends I have around me and the music industry that I can use as a bit of an escape if needed. I've most definitely not been the best at managing time to be completely honest, but I've started to get better with that and other things as I've matured a bit more since I've begun. For the new year, I've decided to start dedicating certain days to non-music related things. For example Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I'll stay behind after school to study. Then in my free time, I'll be splitting it between having fun or sitting down to make some fresh music!

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A post shared by Conor Ross â–¡ (@conorrossuk) on Dec 21, 2018 at 6:06am PST

How do you like to have fun?
I guess as every other fifteen year old does: going out, playing games, or just chilling with friends on calls or outdoors. I've been addicted to playing GTA V again lately, but usually I'll play a lot of CS:GO and the Battlefield games from Bad Company 2 to Battlefield 1. Recently, I filled my Steam library up with indie games and have only played a few hours of them so I'll probably dedicate some time in the future to explore those titles a bit further!

What have been the proudest moments of your journey so far?
I think the proudest moments of my career so far have been releasing an official remix with Foxa of David Guetta, Martin Garrix and Brooks' "Like I Do" as well as hitting over one million streams on Spotify alone this year. There have been some great milestones on other platforms but I'm just so happy to finally release music and get it heard. There are a few other achievements I wish I could talk about here but unfortunately I'm going to have to keep my mouth shut! 2019 is going to be packed full of crazy moments and that's all I'm allowed to say!