- How was the beginning? and what are your tips for the beginners?
Hey Caio... firstly it's great to finally meet you in person!
Ok for me, the beginning was full of mixed emotions - on the one hand I was really excited to be 'finally' making music but on the other hand I was anxious and frustrated because I really wanted to get my music out there.
My main tip for beginners is simply to have fun and do not try and copy other producers too much... just have fun and gravitate towards a sound that you have fun with, because you could be doing this for quite a few years!
- Which are your biggest influences?
My biggest influences are the music from the late 70s to late 80s. For me this was the best decade because there was amazing Funk, Soul, Boogie, Disco, Hip Hop and House. These were the most influential years for me.
- How does your creative process work?
Ok my productions normally start with a simple groove, so drums and bass first, and then I build the keys, pads and melody lines. Then I arrange the track over 5/6 minutes and then work on the vocal.
- How do you define your music?
Umm, good question - as you know I have many influences but I try and bring them all together into a melting pot of 'Casio Social Club' sound, so I think 'Electro Cosmic Boogie Disco' would be the best description hahaha.
- What are your dreams? Your motivation?
My dream is to simply make a living out of producing music, dj'ing and running my record label 'Mullet Records'. And my motivation is to simply touch peoples hearts with my music.
- Which are your favourite places to play?
I love playing in South America - the people are so warm and friendly here. Also with you guys it's not about what sunglasses you're wearing... it's about feeling the music and having a great time... this is what Dance Music is all about!
- What were the weirdest and the funniest things that ever happened on a gig?
Haha well sometimes people just want something from me... for example an item of clothing that I'm wearing. This tends to happen when I'm wearing either a Mullet Records or Casio Social Club t-shirt when I'm playing... I need to start taking a selection of t-shirts with me when I play... because nobody is having mine! haha :o)
- What do you use to make your tracks? What do you take with you on the stage?
I'm a huge fan of Reason and Logic but Reason is the number one for me. Reason allows me to work very quickly and Reason 6.5 is an incredible piece of software. I have some old 80s synths too but to be honest nearly all of my productions have been made using Reason.
In the beginning I spent a whole year just working in Reason, making my own custom patches that would help give me my own individual sound. I still use the same patches now, for example most of my tracks use my own custom bass sound that I created using Reason's Subtractor synth... the Subtractor is an awesome beast!
- How do you see the popularisation of music making, especially with mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone?
Personally I think it's difficult to work on small devices like iPhone's and iPads. I think maybe these devices and their apps are about having fun and working on basic grooves and then transporting them to your studio computer to finish. Personally I like the power of a proper studio computer with a nice big screen and a proper keyboard and mouse.
- And what do you think about the future of music?
We're living in very strange times at the moment - technology is moving so fast and sometimes I feel it's difficult to keep up with that. But it's also very exciting too as the possibilities seem to be endless. There are little constraints now as we can have a huuuuuge recording desk with an infinite amount of channels on our laptop or even iPad... this was unimaginable 15 ears ago.
So creatively I think that 'music' is in a good place right now but the 'music industry' is in a not so good place right now.- What do think about the "deep house wave"?
Haha well you're talking a guy that has been into Deep House since the late 80s, so it's nothing new to me. In the beginning you had Larry Heard, Marshall Jefferson, The Burrell Brothers etc. In the 90s we had Glen Underground, Ron Trent, Wamdue Kids and Chris Brann. In the 2000's we had Kerri Chandler and Dennis Ferrer etc etc. So to me it's nothing new at all. Dance Music just likes to be fashionable and the Press just like to write about what they think is the latest coolest music fashion. A lot of this Deep House thing has been sensationalized by the press anyway. I like a lot of the new Deep House music... but you can tell who's making it with their heart and who's making it just to be fashionable!
- How do you think the place you live in has influenced in your music?
Umm, well as you know the UK has been very strong for Dance Music for many years. We have had amazing Dance Music record shops, magazines and radio stations, so it's been very accessible for me. Also I now live in the countryside and I get a lot of inspiration from the beauty of nature... for me, it doesn't get much better than that!
- As label owner what do you think about music industry piracy?
How long have you got? Do you really want me to write a 10,000 word essay on how piracy is killing the music industry and how it's suffocating everyone involved from producers, mastering engineers, designers and photographers! Right now the music industry is totally screwed and that's because of what's being allowed to happen on the internet. If a producer wants to give their music away for free then that's absolutely fine... they can give it away on their own Soundcloud or Facebook page at their own discretion. But at the moment anyone can give anyone else's music away for free and the people that operate these illegal torrent sites do not care about anyone apart from themselves... they do not care about the artist that sat there for days/weeks/months to produce the track and they do not care about the record label that put the release together and the cost of bringing that release to the public.
These people are just very ignorant and totally out for themselves. I hope that one day the internet is a kinder place that outlaws this unlawful behavior, because I know so many talented music producers, engineers, designers, managers etc that are quitting the industry because they can no longer earn a living from it. This is such a shame and I only hope that one day we live in a kinder internet World!
- Do you think that services like Deezer, Spotify and Google Play Music can kill the habit of buy music?
I think that there is room in this World for both 'buying' sites and 'streaming' sites. This way people have the choice, and choice is a good thing... and both ways the artist and label get paid, which is and excellent thing! :o)
- Which was your first synth? Was it a Casio?
Haha yeah my beloved Casio VL-Tone. Lots of people had Casio keyboard as kids and this is the reason why I chose the name 'Casio Social Club'. I also love and collect olskool Casio watches too.
- You had a mullet in the 80's?
Haha yeah everyone at my school had one. We all wanted to look like Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Wham, Howard Jones and Kajagoogoo... hahaha happy days! :o)
- Recently you released a compilation of your remastered remixes, what are your tips to get a fat mix?
Ooh another good question - well firstly your soundcard and monitors are very important, try and buy the best you possibly can.
Secondly go online and read/watch some online tutorials on how to mixdown. There are some great tutorials on Youtube about understanding the sonics of frequency range dynamics and this really is the key to a good mixdown.
And thirdly, understanding the importance of compression is invaluable... particularly when it comes to Dance Music.
Mullet Records offers a great mastering service called 'Mullet Mastering' and we offer a very competitive digital mastering service to both beginners and professionals - contact mulletrecords@gmail.com
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