46 - Braek

Giannis Kampiotis
January 27, 2023

Hello music people 👋

Today in the spotlight, Braek

Coming from Australia, he has had a lot of reasons to stop making music. He is here though, creating without boundaries with a range of instruments 🎶

Read Time: 7 minutes 📰

Studio

Gear List

Elektron - Octatrack
Elektron - Digitone
Polyend - Tracker
Bastl Instruments - microGranny
Bunch of Modular Synths
4-Track Tape Recorder
Matrix Mixer

And a whole heap of off beat instruments I have collected over the years

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Interview

Who are you and what is your relationship with music?

Hey I am Raghav and I am based in Melbourne Australia.

My mother would tell me stories of how I would recognize tunes and melodies even before I could walk. I was never formally trained in music but something told me I would eventually get into it. I grew up in India and was very influenced by Indian composers. I got introduced to John Williams, Hans Zimmer and other such composer during my early teens and I was so stoked to hear music without vocals in it. I slowly graduated to electronic music as I grew older.

I met a friend while I was on school holidays who told me he could play any instrument possible on his computer and showed me his DAW. I was probably 17 at the time and was in a boarding school so I didn't really have the means to get into it.

A few years passed and once I moved back home for my undergrad I started dabbling with FL studio and some VST plugins. I had some health issues and my priorities shifted to getting back on my feet but the thought of wanting to make music was always in the back of my head.

I only got serious about learning music production in 2016 when I moved to Australia. I deep dived for about five years, learnt Ableton inside out and started learning modular synthesis on Reaktor Blocks. I loved the idea of generative music and just building things from scratch. One thing lead to another and the next thing I know is I have a 24U 108HP system sitting in my studio. I love to play live music and having gotten into hardware really helped me squeeze my creative potential. I set aside time for studio productions and live jams (which has been a bit of a struggle to be disciplined about). It was easy to get lost in eurorack and not really finish much music but I think I have found a way to work around it and released my debut EP earlier this month.

I am a mechanical engineer by profession, focusing on product design, which is my main source of income. It is quite hard to make substantial income with the kind of niche music that I tend to make or play out live. I never got into making music to make it a full time job, nor is it just a hobby.

I am sticking to doing what I think is necessary and see where this journey takes me. I am very grateful for being able to do what I am doing now and I plan to put my head down, focus and do my best.

Which piece of equipment in your studio is essential to your production process?

My Octatrack.

What is the most budget-friendly piece of studio gear that gave you the most results?

The tape player I found in a garage sale.

Walk us through your process for creating and producing music.

Inspiration for me comes in different forms.

But I realized that I just need to sit in front of my PC and start somewhere. It could be a patch or laying down some drums, eventually it just forms itself into something unexpected. If I make a patch on my modular, I would record it out or just make sample packs for using it while I sit for my productions session.

I usually start with making simple melodic content and drums. I process them heavily using plugins or my modular effects and then start arranging them. I repeat this process until I have a solid structure that forms the base of a track. I then get back into it and edit them further until I think I have had enough and move onto the next project.

Most of the time I end up tracking sounds from my modular system, but also juggle between software and hardware when I find I hit a road block with either of them. I also record a lot of material on my daily walks by the creek, in my kitchen and also in the studio using pick up mics/phone mic.

I like having all these options in front of me as I feel that I can jump from one to the other when I lack inspiration.

How would you describe your style?

I would say it's glitchy, chaotic yet controlled (to an extent), with a touch of pseudo melodies.

What’s your biggest struggle?

Balancing music life and social life.

Has building a hardware setup changed your perspective on music or life in general?

Yes, absolutely.

I am finding sounds I have not heard before. I am able to quickly churn out ideas for a track. Also it has helped me be more disciplined in life and made me a bit more serious about producing music in general.