An up-and-coming producer priding himself on his art of high-energy trance-inspired music, BiXX comes out with his new single, “Alignment”, and shares his thoughts with us– keep reading!
The whole track has an explosion of energy right from the very start, with influences from good-old trance with the arpeggiated synths, the dramatic buildups and the ever-so-satisfying drops, punctuated by ethereal passages of angelic vocals; and it all comes together fluently to create a listening experience like no other. This is the kind of track that one would listen to on the big stage with the big speakers, and there is no place the track shies away from owning up to that big-room sound and identity.
The production is a high-adrenaline electronic affair with great sound design, and tight mixing that keeps the energy centred firmly at the floor, and overall, there is much to appreciate about “Alignment” — now, let’s have BiXX for their thoughts in interview!
As a musician, do you have a process through which you discover new ways to make music or learn instruments and production techniques?
My approach to music creation is driven by constantly seeking new stimuli. I avoid creative blocks by exploring new ideas regularly. Sometimes, all it takes is sitting down in my studio, browsing sounds, and playing random keys to spark an idea. Listening to non-trance dance tracks with a chord progression I like is a great way to start a new trance track idea using the same or similar chord progression.
I know many producers who spend a great deal of time in their studio and wonder why they hit creative blocks. Being alone too long with your thoughts can work against you. I am constantly exploring new creative options. I have creative days once or twice per month where I literally search for music in all genres and write down what appeals to me the most. I create lists—quite long creative lists that I refer back to—sort of like a brain dump.
I also spend at least 4 weeks per year traveling, mostly to Europe, to work with other music producers. This can range from collaborations, tutorials to keep learning new production techniques and better ways of doing something, or exchanging information to help each other. It is important that each side brings value to the table. Lately, I have referred back to some 80’s dance music tracks for chord progression ideas as well as bringing unique sounds forward into new music. The sky is the limit for trance music because there is so much creative freedom to bring a wide variety of sounds for many genres into the breakdown or to be used as vocal chops and sounds. It is also important to figure out people’s strengths so that you choose the right people to work with.
How do you find people to collaborate with?
Fortunately, I am an outgoing person. I like to build a relationship before I do a collab, or if they come highly recommended from a friend. I am big on networking at events backstage such as Luminosity, A State of Trance Festival, and Transmission. Each year I go to the Amsterdam Dance Event with specific goals of who I want to meet with and what I want to accomplish. I have a few mentors in the industry. I highly suggest everyone find mentors in their life—people they can go to for advice on personal, family, and business issues. If I want to meet a producer or vocalist, sometimes I ask a mentor to make the introduction and give me a good reference to make the intro happen. I often get requests for a collaboration. I am kind of funny about working with a vocalist or another producer because there has to be alignment of work habits, communication, standards, even music styles. I have jumped into some collabs in the past without building the relationship first and it was like a blind date. I did not know what to expect, and the outcome was not a unified, harmonious effort and a great end product.
Who are some influences that you say inspire your musical journey?
20 years ago, I was very inspired by Armin van Buuren and the vocalist Susana for they got me hooked on trance music. Darren Porter has been a huge inspiration and a teacher mentor to speed up the learning process and help me develop my BiXX sound. From an energy standpoint, as well as making tracks more groovy and interesting with call and response sounds, Mark Sherry has been a big help to me. Ram Boon has been a great mentor and pushed me to improve my tracks. I have admired the music of Alan Watts, Will Rees, Liam Melly, Factor B, and Code Blue. Paul van Dyk inspired me in the early days of learning to love trance. And last but not least, Raz Nitzan has taught me a lot about working with vocalists.
What is your view of AI and how it will impact the music industry?
AI has opened a new world of tools and opportunities. It is sort of like the great unknown. How far will the technology go? Will regulatory technology catch up to what AI can do? Personally, it gives me a lot of tools in my toolbox of sounds. For example, you can strip the vocal out of a track, a video, a movie, a speech, or just about anything. Then you can convert the vocal to an AI equivalent to get around copyright issues. You can search movies for specific words or phrases and use the processed versions in your tracks as sound effects or specific phrases. If you don’t want to hire a vocalist to work with, there are a lot of things you can do with AI tools to make your track more interesting. Personally, I think AI opens up so many more opportunities to make your track stand out. But I think it still has a long way to go. The speaking styles are still somewhat basic and limited. I expect the technology to keep getting better and more precise.
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When it comes to exploring new musical production techniques, what are some things you want to try out next?
As I mentioned before, I travel to work with other music producers to learn more. I am just finished up a 2-week trip with 3 different producers totaling 9 days in the studio. 7 different hotels in 14 days. It is a lot of work, but it is worth it. I learn about new-to-me VST plugin tools different producers work with to perfect sounds in the track. Each producer has a unique set of skills. Most have their own work process, so it is good to learn different processes to be more efficient. I don’t think it is wise to constantly chase new production techniques. It is much better to master the fundamentals. Be really good at the basics.
What do you need to improve, and what are the fundamentals that you need to work on to make a great track? It all starts with the kick and sub as well as the groove of your track. It is good to learn about new sound bank libraries because so many new ones come out, it is hard to keep up with.
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What got you into music and production? What is the story?
My background is business. I am a student of business. I have owned several companies. I spent about 16 years growing my company to a size where it became quite stressful, so I sold the business then stayed on for a few years to run the business. Working for someone else after being the boss and leader got very frustrating after a few years. So I left the company with a 2-year non-compete. This gave me a couple of years of not working to do a lot of soul-searching. This included figuring out that my entire self-identity was not being a CEO, although I thought that was who I was. This deep soul-searching process, while very difficult, forced me to figure out what is my purpose. What am I passionate about? I kept coming back to I am a relationship builder, a mentor, and a coach with a love for creativity and trance music. A creative mind that is not challenged turns to mush.
It was strictly by fate that I met 2 different DJs who were also entrepreneurs that sold their business, similar to my story. I did some DJing in college, and one of the DJs I spoke with convinced me to get back into it as a hobby. So I started off learning how to mix hip hop in Atlanta, GA. It was difficult to transition what I learned in DJ School to mixing trance music, so I headed to Amsterdam to learn how to mix trance. I have always been a very hard worker and very driven. My wife says I have not only do I have a type A personality, but I am type Triple A. I found being a student in a new industry gave me the lightness of mind to keep learning, compared to being very experienced and comfortable in the business world. Being uncomfortable drove me to work harder and learn more. The next step was further networking at the Amsterdam Dance Event. I met a couple of music producers, label owners, management help, social media experts, video production experts, so I built a team to teach me and fill out what is necessary to create the DJ brand, BiXX. I learned this team-building approach during my business career. I also found that I was able to build great relationships with my team members that include mentoring and helping them improve their life. This gave me more purpose and passion for what I do. I work with a pay-it-forward philosophy.
Now I am focusing on how to keep growing my sound. I am experimenting with some new styles while keeping an uplifting and melodic component to the track while delivering a message of hope and inspiration. Delivering inspirational messages through music is my philosophy. I am channeling many of my learning experiences into my new album, The Voice of Reason. Which is basically a journey of inspiration and self-discovery to find your own internal voice of reason. That voice to help you make better decisions and to better understand the consequences of your actions. To live your best life. I am passing on my best life lessons and experiences to those who want to keep learning and growing as a person. Combining uplifting trance music with inspirational messages besides being fun to listen to, it also builds confidence. As fate would have it, the legendary vocalist who sang the track that got me hooked into trance music, Susana, will sing a very inspirational vocal track on the album. It is called Believe in Me. The inner meaning of the track is to surround yourself with people who believe in you, then one day you will eventually believe in yourself. This is also a tribute track to my father who passed away last year. He always believed in me and helped make me who I am today.
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