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Catching Up With Matt Lange

“To be honest, it’s pretty rare that a recording ends up in my work in strictly it’s raw form. I tend to use the field recordings as building blocks and sound sources to bend and destroy them into sounds that don’t necessarily even exist in the real world”.

Matt Lange is one of the most exciting producers to hit the EDM scene in recent years. This young New Yorker is one part mad scientist and one part a creative, genre-bending musician. From the lush melodies of”Rift” to the chunky elements of “Bad Year Blimp”, it is clear that Matt Lange is becoming more difficult to pigeon-hole with every release.

With the promise of a new EP this Autumn, a collaboration with Cristina Soto and the glint of a debut album in the pipeline, his production catalogue looks to be stronger than ever. I took the chance to catch up with Matt Lange before he is catapulted in to EDM stardom or alternatively, turns into a reclusive musical genius!

www.mattlange.net

Cat: First, the small talk – how is your day going and what have you been up to?

Matt: Day’s been great thanks. Just winding down now, having a beer and answering some questions! This past weekend I’ve been working on a new demo reel of material for advertising – sound design and scoring, so I’ve been working to picture for a change, which has been quite rewarding and inspiring.

Cat: I asked some Matt Lange fans to come up with a couple of questions for you. The first one is from Paulette Romero: According to your bio you used to play lead guitar in a metal band. How did you go from performing in a metal band to producing electronic music?

Matt: Hey, Paulette! It’s actually not the furthest leap by any means. What I always loved about metal and progressive rock when I was younger was the extremity of techniques, as well as the speed. At the time I was constantly pushing myself harder as a guitarist, and writing music that was incredibly difficult to play. This evolved into writing music that was physically impossible to play, and that’s how computers got involved. The electronic music I was into at the time was the very intense glitch and idm stuff, a la Aphex Twin & Squarepusher, and that heavily influenced what I wanted to write.

Cat: You studied Music Synthesis at Berklee, how important would you say it is for young producers to go down the route of professional musical education? Or is electronic music an area of music where you can successfully create without much theoretical background?

Matt: Regardless of what field you’re in, education is invaluable. Now, it’s not to say you have to go to a specialty school to gain your education. There are plenty of other ways to learn, whether it’s an internship in a recording studio or music house, taking lessons, etc.. The internet has now provided everyone with an amazing wealth of knowledge as well of course, but just reading internet forums is simply not going to get you to the same level as being forced to work hands on.

There’s always been a certain stigma towards electronic music, that “you don’t need to know how to play” or that “it’s not real music.” Not to mention all the new tools coming up these days which seem to do more and more for you automatically. Because of this, I think a lot of up and comers ignore the fact that you do need to spend a lot of time practicing your craft, and expect to have professional results rather quickly. Sadly, so many tracks that come out these days seem like they’ve been put together in a matter of an hour, especially with the overuse of pre-made loop libraries. It’s not exactly the best reference for an upcoming musician, but that just seems to be the trend now.

Cat: Alongside Andrew Bayer, Casey Keyworth, Kerry Leva and the guys from Tritonal, you’re part of a close-nit little American producing community. Is there much competition between you guys?

Matt: Hardly a competition, we’re all friends. Each of us are going in different directions anyway, so it’s never felt like a competition to me. I look at it more as we’re all on the same team in a way. We all trade production tricks, advice, tracks, my kick drums… And I’d like to think we all support each other in different ways as well.

Cat: With your isoRhythm sample packs you have done some field recording which must be a lot of fun. Any details on when the next pack is coming out?

Matt: The next pack is going to be based on bowed metals. I took a cello bow to all sorts of metallic objects such as fans, pitchforks, photo reflectors, and more. I’ve edited the raw recordings down to about 450 different files, all at 96kHz, 24 bit, but I’m yet to get into the process of creating a whole library of new sounds out of the recordings (which is typically the longest part). I’d like to say maybe in a month I’ll be able to put it out, but I can’t promise any clear timeframe unfortunately as I’m only able to work on this stuff when I have spare time from my other obligations.

Cat: On the theme of field recording, is there any one sound that you are dying to incorporate into a track?

Matt: A sound I haven’t heard yet? To be honest, it’s pretty rare that a recording ends up in my work in strictly it’s raw form. I tend to use the field recordings as building blocks and sound sources to bend and destroy them into sounds that don’t necessarily even exist in the real world. Most producers in our field start with a software synthesiser. I start with a microphone.

So much of what I creative is based in experimentation, and sometimes the unexpected results of doing something out of the ordinary can bring out the most inspiring sound. Vocals are the one thing I can’t do on my own. And of course there are certain vocalists I’d love to incorporate into my work one day.

Cat: I read that you once sang in a choir, what’s the likelihood of you singing on one of your own tracks in the future?

Matt: Just finished up a few weeks ago the first thing I’ve sung on in about 13 years. I’m actually a bit nervous to the reaction that it could get, to be honest. This track is the next step in the direction I’m going as an artist, and I’m definitely expecting some polarised reactions.

Cat: On those rare occasions when you’re not in the studio, how do you spend your free time?

Matt: I spend my weekends with my girlfriend, I watch a lot of movies, and hang out with my dog. That’s about it really. I can never really fully separate myself and take a break from what I do. Kerry (Leva) can attest to how often she reminds me to get off my laptop when I’m at her house because I’m almost compulsively nerding out on a sound design forum or looking up some new piece of gear. It’s obsessive really. Also, I have a slight addiction to the game Starcraft. After a long day of work, somehow watching miniature space armies blow each other to smithereens is highly rewarding.

Cat: If you couldn’t have any sort of career related to music, which other route do you think you would have gone down?

Matt: It’s hard to say, this is really all I’ve ever considered doing. I grew up in an artistic family. My mother and father have worked together in photography for 30+ years, and I grew up with the expectation of working for myself in some sort of artistic medium. As far as visual arts go, I can barely draw a stick figure, so I suppose that’s out of the question. When I was school I was told by a professor that I should drop out of music school and become a lawyer because of how argumentative I was over a subject I believed in. Perhaps that would’ve been something to consider.

Cat: My penultimate question comes from another Matt Lange fan, this time from @Plixus on Twitter: Do you plan on taking the live route (touring), or staying strictly as a musician and why?

Matt: Yes I do, but I never want to tour to the same extent as many others do. I took a break from playing gigs last year because frankly the offers weren’t good enough at the time, and often times I actually lost money on these gigs after expenses. Recently, however, I started getting worthwhile gig requests finally, so I’ll probably be gigging a bit this year. I’ll be in Los Angeles in October, New York in November, and a couple other possibilities are in store as well.

Cat: Finally, what’s in store for you as 2011 draws to a close?

Matt: As far as upcoming releases go, my collaboration with Cristina Soto, “The Other Shore,” should be coming out sometime this fall, alongside a Tritonal remix. Unfortunately I don’t have a concrete release date yet, but hopefully sooner than later! I have another Anjunadeep EP this Fall also, which explores more of a glitchy, sound designy, techno area.

Lastly, I finally started pulling sketches together for an album. It’s definitely a departure from the house music that I’ve been known for, but I’m writing truly what I want to write, without feeling like I have to stick within a certain set of rules. It’s much more free form and I’m planning on having a large amount of vocals on it – some my own, some others. I’d love to have it done within the next year, and I think it’ll certainly be the most important body of work I’ve done so far.