Tom Day is a 23 year old producer from Melbourne, Australia who over the last 5 years has had various releases on Australian and overseas labels. By day he studies drug design and by night, fights crime and produces ambient and break beat records. Expect the sounds of this cape wearing superhero arriving in your ears in the near future.
Be sure to check out the mix Tom provided at the bottom of the interview and his soundcloud for some totally awesome tunes.
Butter: So, your not exactly a newcomer to the studio, how did it all begin?
Tom Day: When i was 16, a mate got me onto "Fruityloops" (now FL Studio). I used it to make drumloops and some really basic songs. I think i even tried to make an edit of 'Bruce Springsteen - Streets of Philadelphia' (Ha! What a song choice) but in the end i think all i did was pitch up the song so Bruce sounded like a chipmunk. I used FL Studio a lot, learned a lot from the default songs and began making some of my own tracks. I used to produce a lot of trance (at around 140bpm!). Then when i was 18-19 i slowed the tempo down and attempted to make some electro. I'd always have the problem of making my tracks too trancy. They always had epic breakdowns and big melodic rises so i could never shred the trance background. In around 2006 i installed FL Studio on my parents laptop while i was staying at theirs for the holidays and while doing so made a few tracks, one of them being "Whisper" which to my surprise, got signed and licensed to Ministry of Sound in the UK. The downfall was that Whisper was one of the least melodic tracks i'd produced hence making further songs in that sound wasn't what i wanted to do. Since 2006 i had a few more releases on various labels with more a progressive house and melodic trance type of vibe. These days I've lowered the BPM even more.
Butter: I've noticed your change from the proggy/ tech stuff to this sort of, ambient/ break beat tunes, how did this happen?
Tom Day: For my ambient work, I realised the elements of songs I enjoyed making most were the strings and melodys hence ambient / downtempo was a genre where i could really expand on those sounds. I listen to a lot of sound scores from movies and really like the way a song can tell a story without any words. Certain chords evoke a certain mood and through these chord progressions you can really take people on a journey with each track.
The break beat stuff is a relatively new project for me. I wanted to attempt a genre which is a bit more uncharted territory for me and see what I could come up with. There are a lot of excellent producers in Melbourne at the moment which are covering all the more traditional genres of EDM so I wanted to try my hand at something that isn't being covered as much.
Butter: It seems like you spend quite some time in the studio, what does your setup consist of?
Tom Day: My setup is pretty pathetic. I've owned MIDI keyboards in the past but sold them due to lack of use. I have no musical training so I cant play keys. I prefer to just place notes in a sequencer and use my ears to determine whether they suck or not.
I use a mix of Ableton Live & FL Studio with a ton of VSTs and sample packs. I own a pair of KRK Rokit 8 Monitors and for automation i use a Behringer BCD2000.
Butter: I know that your currently studying, do you plan on digging further into the music and making a career from that or are you happy to do it as a hobby?
Tom Day: At the moment I'll keep production as a hobby. It's one of those industries that is very hit and miss and definitely tough to crack therefore keeping it as a hobby is working for me. It's something ill never give up as I really enjoy production and perhaps in the future if my tracks gain a bit of a following I may be in a position to pursue a career in music.
Butter: What have you got planned for 2011 and beyond?
Tom Day: Keep producing both ambient and break beat. I recently gave up on the idea of signing records since I believe we are heading in a direction of free downloads in the future. All tracks are and will be available for free download @ 320kb. Together with a mate, we plan to put up some mixes of music we both enjoy under the "Music We Love" series.
Butter: Can we catch one of your DJ sets at any upcoming gigs?
Tom Day: Well it's my Nana's 81st birthday coming up so if your lucky enough to score a ticket from the local RSL, then you can catch me there playing happy hardcore to pensioners.
Tom was kind enough to share this mix with us, perfect for this weather and the weekend!
Aaron Debono & Tom Day - Music We Love 01
1.Segal – Whitecap window
2.Luke Abbott – More room
2a.Moby – Slipping away
3.Pantha du Prince – A Nomads retreat
4.The Boxer Rebellion – The Gospel of Goro Adachi
5.Lulu Rouge – Melankoli (feat Alice Carreri)
6.Dousk – Sidewalk Lovin’
7.Ripperton – Solastagia
8.Shed – 44a (hardwax forever)
8a.Rokia Traore – Mariama
8b.Martin Buttrich – Enough love to hate it
9.Martin Buttrich – Enough love to hate it
10.Robert Babicz – Chordy
10a.Shed – 44a (hardwax forever)
10b.Moby – Slipping away
11.Glimpse – If i was your girl
12.The Field – A paw in my face
13.dOP – 1gram
14. Bara Broest – Pink Flamingo
15.Patrice Baumel – Sub
16.Phil Kieran – Never ending mountain
17.2raumwohnung – Wir Werden Sehen (Paul Kalkbrenner remix)
17a.Phil Kieran – Never ending mountain
Aaron Debono & Tom Day - Music We Love 01 (Not Split)
One question, Tom....are you single?
ReplyDeletei believe he is
ReplyDelete