Exclusive Interview with Dezza !

Today we have for you an interview with one of the best producers in Canada.....DEZZA !! We are proud that we are cooperating with him already for a long time and that only we can give you an exclusive interview !

Hi Derek ! How’s goin’ bro?



I'm good, lots of great stuff happening recently for me including the opportunity to be interviewed by Pure People!!!



For start can u tell us few words about how u have entered music world? Is it something from the childhood? When and how did you start to produce music?



Well, growing up as a child in the 80's my Mom and Dad were always playing music. It’s funny you ask, I just recently stumbled across some old videos of me at 3 years old dancing like a professional to the Thompson Twins!

I started to produce music when I was about 14 years old. I was mainly into hip hop production at that point. My friends and I would always get together and play around with the beats I had made and make attempts to record tracks!

After many years of hip hop, it became a bit boring for me, and there was no exposure in it. Also my hip hop was mostly sample based so I wasn't advancing production wise in any way. Just using a sample and throwing drums over it. It seemed like everyone from my city was making and producing hip hop, I didn't enjoy the people or the way the music was heading so this is when electronic music took me over. I love everything about it, the people, the positive energy, the exposure, the complex production, everything! Ill never look back - but with that said I’ll never be able to forget how I started, nor would I want to.




Are u always have been into progressive house or your or it is result of your musical education & evolution?



As mentioned in the previous question, I started out with hip hop, but electronic music always intrigued me. I think when I was 15 or 16 and all I knew was that I wanted to be a skratch dj. Mom got me a George Acosta mixed cd for Christmas, things like ATB on it and stuff. She didn't know the difference between hip hop and dance - just that it was a dj mixed cd, it was good enuf for me :)



How would u describe the sound that u produce? In which genre would u place your sound?



My sound is mainly progressive, though I love tech house and techno, I always try to add elements here and there.



What do u use in the studio? Software, hardware? And in what percentage?



I'm all software based. FL Studio 9. Heavily used Vst’s include Hypersonic 2, Sylenth, z3ta, Rob Papen predator, fl wasp. I use a few vengeance sample kits, the Deadmau5 Xfer sample cd is cool too. I also use some of my own one shot samples I have collected through all of my years of hip hop production. I have an m-audio midi controller that I use from time to time. Also, KRK Rokit 8 G2 monitors that I'm extremely happy with, though my neighbors may beg to differ! ;)



Can u describe us your process of making one track. Is it first an idea in head and u then go to the studio, or its all at once and about experiments with sounds?



It all depends really, I might hear a track on the old 80's station and say "hmm that pattern is neat" or "I could try to do something like that". And then on the other hand I could sit at the desk and just come up with a chord progression, or even start a track from a simple arpeggio.



Where do u find all the inspiration for your atmospheric melodies?



That's a hard question, I'm not musically trained by any means, so I just mix and match notes until I get chords that have a really strong emotion, its indescribable really.

Working with vocals is really nice, it’s much more of a challenge to build chord progressions around vocals I find, but the outcome is always great.



Derek u are a producer. What do u think about illegal music sharing (via blogs, forums etc.). Is it killing the producers? Can it somehow help them?



Well, I'm not going to hold back in saying that in the time that I've been producing and releasing tracks, I haven't made a penny. But on the other hand, without blogs and sharing, I'm not sure my music would have spread so fast. I've never made any big money from producing - and I've been doing it for 11 years. I do it because it's a passion of mine, and won't stop because someone on the other side of the world is downloading my music for free. I have a day job to pay the bills ;). I enjoy my day job and I'm quite content.

Some producers may disagree with me, but we shouldn't do this for the money - only for the love of the music and support from followers. Nothing makes me any happier than seeing a video on youtube of 10,000 people dancing to a tune that I produced played by Tiesto! Or getting a myspace message from someone saying they love my music.



Are u Djing sometimes beside producing?



I have always been a dj. I love dj'ing. The problem I'm having at the moment is that I'm living in a small city that's full of dj's. I love where I live but my main goal in this game (like most producers) is to be able to dj all over the world. So I'm going to keep producing and hopefully the gigs will come to me :)



Your 5 favorite tracks at the moment?

A top 5 list of tunes is hard for me to list. There are a few artists and labels though that in my opinion that have and will always drop great tunes. Silk Royal with their latest PROFF ep is great. Nellie Recordings always dropping new fresh stuff, they run a great label. Mango, Solarity, Schodt, Shipstad & Warren. Chris Reece's progressive dub of 'time after time' with tiff lacey is dope! It's hard to remember all of the artists that I follow regularly but those are some.



Thank u for your time bro! We from PP wish u all the best! Cheers!


Thanks for this great interview, and the opportunity to share my thoughts on this blog that I check daily! ;)


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Now when you know him a little more you can check his skills in a set !

Dezza - Top Pix Mix of Now - November 2009 DOWNLOAD !!

1. Dezza - When I Get That Feelin [CDR]
2. Dezza & Dutch - Take You Home Feat. Michelle [CDR]
3. Dj Feel & Alexander Popov - Time After Time Feat. Tiff Lacey (Chris Reece Progressive Dub) [Unreleased Digital]
4. Christian Smith & Reset Robot - Elixir (Gary Beck Remix) [Excentric]
5. Antix - The Hoard (Dousk Remix) [Iboga]
6. Dezza - Tonight [Solarscape]
7. SQL - Chocolate (Lank's Cream Filling Mix) [Spherax]
8. Martinez - My Anthem [Area Remote]
9. Robert Dietz - Teleparty [Cecile Numbers]
10. Hakan Ludvigson, ALX002 & Cedar M - Nothing Ever Ends [Kant]
11. Moonface - Futurized Fears (Guy J Remix) [Bedrock]
12. PROFF - Starstruck (Solarity Remix) [Silk Royal]
13. Oxia - Whole Life [8bit]
14. Pitto - Feelin' (District One's Feelin' Techno Remix) [Rejected]

Enjoy!