67 - Isoskeles

Giannis Kampiotis
April 11, 2023

Hello music people 👋

Today in the spotlight, Isoskeles

Coming from Berlin, he was heavily influenced by the city to start producing music. After he got a microphone as a gift, he went down the rabbit-hole of learning about gear, DAWs and all the good stuff all of us like. Then, he figured how to make his own music and hasn’t stopped since 🎶

Read Time: 7 minutes 📰

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Interview

Who are you and what is your relationship with music?

I am located in Berlin.

Obviously the city influenced me heavily into starting producing music.

However, everything started when I moved into my new flat 5 years ago. It was empty without any furniture. I started singing because the reverberation was insane and made my voice sound 5 times bigger. I then recorded myself and sent this voice message to my friends. They heard me and bought me a microphone for my birthday. Up until that point I had no idea how to use a microphone. I started reading about audio interfaces, DAWs, and tried to make sense. One thing led to another, and I realized that I can use this DAW to make beats on top of my voice.

This is when I realized that I can make music by myself.

Music is not my main source of income. I have a full-time job at the private sector, so music production and DJing is something that I do mostly on the weekends.

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

I would say my DAW, Ableton Live, is the most essential piece of my production process.

I started writing music in the box, before I expand my studio with my hardware gear. Close second is my Digitakt, this thing is incredible and is the reason of tons of inspiration and fun while jamming.

What is the least expensive piece of gear that gave you the most results?

My Arturia Microfreak.

This thing is so powerful and versatile, the best value for money from anything I have bought.

Walk us through your process for creating and producing music.

I get inspiration from samples I can find online, import them into Ableton, lightly process them (sidechain, reverb, eq, warp to tempo) and then import them into my Digitakt.

From there I will experiment with a lot of sounds and how they fit together, try to chop them, or reverse them. Then I will set the sequencer from Digitakt to sequence my hardware gear, and hence, create the synths of my track.

I would then import the result back to Ableton, and try to recreate all the synth samples (or from my synths if I am not fully satisfied with the sound) with my software VSTs (so that they become more original, and to be able to make some automation during the arrangement), and add more layers of atmospheres, FX, and work there on my low end.

Usually, I will jam on my Digitakt with a simple kick and rumble sample, just so that I have a low end going on, but when producing on Ableton, I will add more layers of rhythm, rumble, and texture on my low end to make it more unique and powerful.

We all know how important low end is in Techno.

What is a production technique that you always come back to?

Resampling.

It is the most organic way to add textures, atmospheres, and FX to your track.

How would you explain your style?

I like to describe my music as Industrial Emotional Techno. I pay a lot of attention to the emotion of the track, not just the groove.

What is a big challenge you have as an artist?

The biggest challenge I face as an artist is releasing music with bigger labels.

Most of them look past music, they care about your social media presence. It has never been my passion to consistently post pictures or create content to upload so that I grow my profile. I just love making music.

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

Absolutely, the hardware setup tough me that there is something beyond producing music.

The pleasure of playing music, and simply enjoying the moment, by doing something that is not necessarily recorded or will be used in a track. An inspiration of the moment, a happy accident that will never be repeated but was fully cherished by your brain when it occurred.

One tip on how to spark creativity?

By listening to music with a purpose.

One thing that helped me spark my creativity is preparing a list of tracks for upcoming gigs. This is the moment where I truly see which soundscapes I like, and what is my artistic direction at the moment. Then I sit in my studio and make music that would seamlessly fit in that list of tracks.