Artist Interviews

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Brief Bio:

Mr Smeckles is an American electronic artist and producer… sort of. He has little music or production training. He played Cello in 5th grade, and the Saxophone between 6th and 8th grade. For the past year, he has been playing Bass, and for the past six years he has been working in FL Studio. Only for the past year, however, has he taken his FL Studio work seriously.

Smeckles has lived his entire life in Terre Haute, Indiana. The experience has left him extraordinarily bitter. However, he is optimistic about both his future and the future of music.

01) Who Influenced You?

This is a very multi-layered answer. As a child, I absolutely hated music. My mother couldn’t even listen to the musical performances from Saturday Night Live repeats on Comedy Central because I’d make her mute the TV! But music still found its way to my ears: Classical music on old Warner Bros. cartoons, music from old Nintendo and Sega games. I shared a room with my older brother, as well, so I’d always wake up to his stereo blasting in the mornings. I don’t doubt hearing cuts from the Friday soundtrack and Marilyn Manson before heading off to elementary school had some sort of adverse effect on my musical tastes! Also, definitely the music videos on Beavis and Butt-head: The first time I heard “Who Was In My Room Last Night?” by the Butthole Surfers, “Big Time Sensuality” by Björk, “Vasoline” by Stone Temple Pilots, etc. it was always from the music videos on Beavis and Butt-Head. Thanks Mike Judge!

When I got into middle school, though, I really started to explore music. At first, I was mainly into Nu-Metal: KoRn, Limp Bizkit, System of a Down, Deftones, etc, but I also listened to Eminem and The Offspring. I found the local college station, 89.7 WISU, on the radio dial one day and was addicted. They played Rock and Alternative from 6PM to Midnight, Friday to Sunday. It became sort of an event for me; I couldn’t wait for the weekends. One particular DJ, his name now escapes me, started playing an hour-long electronic show on Sundays. It was mainly remixes of Rock songs, but I did hear Power-Pill’s Pac-Man track for the first time on this show. (And yes, I’m aware that Power-Pill is none other than the great Richard D. James, the mind behind Aphex Twin!)

This, along with my parents purchasing a computer, vastly expanded my music knowledge. This was around the time that Napster was on the decline, but P2P file sharing was just starting. Although I’m not proud to pirate music, I cannot deny the wealth of musical knowledge I gained from this period of my life. If I heard a track that I loved, I’d download it, the remixes, the live versions, the demos, cover versions, etc. I began viewing songs less as one definitive track on an album with various other versions available elsewhere, and more as multi-faceted ideas, something more free-flowing and able to be structured in many different ways. This lead to my viewing of music being one whole, with many different facets and sections, instead of a group of genres completely separate from one another.

As I grew older, I spanned out, exploring music from many different eras: Classic Rock from the 60’s and 70’s, Funk, Electronic, Orchestral, Indie, Alternative, Punk Rock. I’d go through long periods of listening to just one type of music, or music which shared certain aspects. I went through a period where I only listened to Classic Rock. I spent half a year listening to only instrumental tracks: Orchestral, Electronic, Trip-Hop, Lounge, etc. I went through a huge Dub Reggae phase. Last year, I had an unhealthy obsession for the 90’s: American Alternative, British Indie, Madchester, Electro, G-Funk, Trip-Hop, etc. Right now, I’m in between things.

02. What do you like most about DJing and/or producing?

Well, I consider myself more of a producer than anything. I really love all the different aspects that go into recording sound. Most people think you just hit record and the band plays and the sound goes onto tape or onto the computer and “Presto!” you have a song. But there’s so much more to it! The type of room you’re playing in, the type of equipment used, the pre-effects, the post-effects, over-dubs. I absolutely love all the options.

What got me really fired up about production the most is probably the BBC series “Classic Albums”. I love how they break down the process of making these albums track by track. They show the original producer behind the mixing board, muting channels to show little details that you might not have noticed before, explaining what kind of effects were used to achieve these sounds, detailing things like multi-tracking. This series really expanded my knowledge of the mixer, and allowed me to really explore sound in FL Studio (the main “instrument” I use to make my music).

My favorite aspect about production, though, is seeing how far you can take a sound once it’s recorded. Martin Hannett took Joy Division’s rough sort of Punk sound and gave it this great, spacious, eerie, almost electronic sound. A great example of this would be “She’s Lost Control”. The drums sound almost like a machine. Its been said that Hannett made Stephen Morris record each drum separately on some songs, so that each piece could be processed individually without worrying about bleed-though from the rest of the kit. Fucking brilliant.

03. Your thoughts on vinyl vs. mixing software.

Some people prefer one, some people prefer the other. I say: Why not both? Vinyl is always going to be the best way to classically mix tracks and to scratch and what not. Mixing software will always have discrepancies compared to pure analog needle-to-vinyl. However, mixing software can allow one to do so much more than traditional vinyl mixing, especially when matched with other hardware and software. Imagine during a live mix, doing some scratching on a traditional turntable and simultaneously recording that to a computer, and then manipulating that bit of scratching on the computer later in the mix. Maybe even looping that manipulation and scratching over it. It’d be like a weird Jimi Hendrix “Are You Experienced?” thing, where they played the rhythm track backwards in parts of the song, but live and with DJ mixing and electronic music and all.

Software, music or otherwise, can always be used to serve so many more purposes than the original programmers ever intended. As Morpheus from The Matrix once said of computer programs “Some rules may be bent, others may be broken.”

Of course this is all coming from someone who’s never mixed live, vinyl or otherwise, so take this bit of ranting however you’d like.

04. The last song you just listened to?

According to iTunes: Sid Vicious’s cover of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”. The runner-up is “Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)” by Parliament.

05. Top 5 Favorite CUTS OF ALL TIME. Any genre.

Argh! This question always bothers me. I don’t really have a number one favorite, so it’s hard to list five. I’ll try, but ask me again in a few months and I guarantee the list will be different.

01) “Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer Mix feat. Karl Denver)” by The Happy Mondays
02) “Poptones (from the Peel Sessions, December 1979) by Public Image Ltd.
03) “I Am The Resurrection” by The Stone Roses
04) “China Girl” by Iggy Pop
05) “Midnight” by Orbital

06. Where have you spun?

Nowhere, sadly. I’ve played music for people at parties. I have over 50 mixed CD’s I’ve made since I first got a computer back in 2001. Recently, I’ve been making playlists to listen to here at the house while we play Beer Pong. But I’ve never actually mixed two or more songs together in the tradition of DJing.

07. Best party?

New Year’s Eve 2007. I’ve been putting together playlists which are collections of singles from all genres from specific years put into chronological order. It started out with the 90’s, but has expanded recently. I now have an ever growing collection of playlists for every year from 1960 to 2009. On New Year’s though, I only had the 90’s collection. I started the “1990” playlist at about 6 or 7 in the evening, and we stayed up until 7 in the morning. I think we got to about the middle “1997”!

If I tried that now though, I’d probably only get to the middle of “1993”. The playlists are huge now.

06. Worst party?

Too many to count. I live in a small mid-western American town. Most people here won’t listen to music unless it’s Hardcore Metal, Crunk-Rap, Emo/Screamo, or Country Pop, and then its normally only ONE of those genres, not a mixture. I’ve come to accept the fact that, according to most of the residences of Terre Haute, Indiana, I have “bad taste” in music. Even some of my friends hate the music I listen to. I’ve literally stopped parties with my music. Quite frankly, I’m totally proud of that fact.

I have literally over 26 days worth of music on my iTunes. Most people I know with “good taste” in music have no more than 30 CDs in a disc wallet and a handful of scratched up, burnt-at-random mixed Discs on the floor of their bedroom or car.

I’ll take those odds, thank you very much.

07) What gear do you prefer to mix on?

Real gear. I’ve been working in virtual environments for too long. I miss the feel of a volume slider between the thumb and index. Last time I used one was in 7th grade, working on the school news team. The middle school had been torn down and rebuilt a few years earlier, and they installed a fully function news room which broadcast live across the closed circuit television network in the school. I ran the sound. I was the only one who not only understood the concept of cueing up a mic, but I did it innately without even been told by the instructor.

Mainly, though, I use FL Studio. Its my favorite instrument. I call it an instrument because if you can wield FL Studio with any confidents, you have about the same amount of talent as someone who can play a live instrument.

I also play a bit of bass, but believe me, that’s a complete laugh.

08) What gear did you start on?

I started working in Acid Pro back in the day. Before Sony bought it and perverted it. I still have an old loop based track I made from 2003. It was going to be a remix of “Falling Away From Me” by KoRn, because I had found an Acapella track for it on P2P. It was atrocious though, I had no idea about things like time signatures and all. But when I dropped the vocals, it sounded decent enough for an instrumental. I only wish that I had edited it down before my computer died. It’s a 10 minute track that’s less of a song and more of a small kid playing on a really big playground.

Once I used FL Studio though, I never looked back. I’ve been messing with it here and there for about 6 years now, but I didn’t get serious until a little over a year ago.

09) If you could change one thing about the music industry what would it be?

Quality over Quantity. Sound Quality. Song Quality. Stop worrying about how much cash you’re going to make off a track or an album or a tour. Stop compressing the hell out of your tracks to make your song louder than the competition. Stop competing, for god’s sake. Back in the Sixties, five groups or so would have major hits from releasing THE SAME SONG as each other! It was so much more loose back then. Paul McCartney and John Lennon would write songs for other bands, including The Rolling Stones. The Byrds released their version of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” only a month after he had released the original. They started recording it before Dylan even released his version!

Nowadays, the business bureaucracy and red tape involved would probably hold up recording for at least 6 months.

My point is: If you treat music like it’s a product, sooner or later people will stop buying it, because it’ll eventually feel like its being forced upon them, which is unappealing. Like right now. Where’s my generation’s Beatles? Ramones? Nirvana? Nowhere, because the music industry shit on them for not being “the next big thing.” They didn’t have that instant hit at the time, and the industry couldn’t be bothered to wait for the band to develop their sound so they didn’t sign them. The industry has been killing music for over 30 years and now they’re getting what they deserve.

And I say: Jog off, tossers! We don’t need you telling us what to listen to, we’ve got that part of our lives under control, thank you very much.

09) If you could change one thing about the world you live in, what would that be?

There’s too much hate in this world, in my opinion. It’s easy to hate. It’s lazy to hate, rather than trying to understand something. Seems all I hear from people is what they hate. Rarely do I hear someone talking about something they love, and even rarer is when I believe them.

I think that’s all from a lack of education, though. Hate is just fearing what you don’t understand. So I think education should be broadened and reformed all across the globe. Now more than ever, because with the internet there’s so much information bombarding us, and without proper education we’re just going to dismiss most of it as rubbish.

Contact Mr Smeckles via myspace click here stay up on all his new releases