Pandani Interview
A first for UM since we moved across the ditch!! An Aussie based producers that's featured on labels like Deepwit and more now joins the UM family. I took the chance to catch up with Pandani ahead of his new release Polymorpha.
Thanks for taking the time out to catch up – let’s start at the beginning - how did you start out in music, what got you inspired?
I mainly got started with music and production in late high school. That was when I first really started to get more heavily into dance music and buying music. My older brother had been making music for some time around then and was starting to release some music on vinyl. A little while after that I started on some really basic production in some early software and just getting an understanding of how things went together.
What’s your set up?
At this stage I use Cubase with a variety of virtual instruments and plugins. I have a set of studio monitors and headphones that I use when producing depending on the time of day. I also have a reasonable sample library that I work with for most songs.
How has that changed over the two decades you’ve been involved in production?
I have had various things come and go in the setup. I have quite a few items that aren’t in use at present that I still own including multiple keyboards/synths, microphones, instruments, percussion, recording devices, etc. Depending on what I was producing at the time and how much space I had in the room some of the items came and went and also whether I was working with vocalists or instrumentalists and so on.
What kind of styles do you work across?
I generally stick to a similar sound or style when working under a given alias. So at present under my Pandani alias it’s mostly deep house with an organic lean to it. Before that I was mainly producing under Lo Tide and making downtempo and slower bpm tracks as well as more pop based song structures. Then prior to that I was writing under Native and that was mostly progressive house and also some progressive breaks.
Is that diversity of genre one of the reasons you’ve produced under a number of different names (Native, Lo Tide, Pandani)?
I know there are good examples of artists that I really like who write a great variety of music under the one name and then there are also others who have many aliases to write different tracks for different reasons. I tried to find a bit of a balance between those two extremes with writing under a given alias for a period of time and writing a style that was generally similar so the listener knew roughly what to expect from the name. I also found this helped me in writing as well to keep things loosely formed together into a given sound and helped with ideas and concepts coming together.
Who were your big musical influences in your earlier days?
Very early on groups like The Prodigy were some of my main listening. As well as quite a bit of hard house in the earlier days. But then moving into the more progressive house I got right into Global Underground, Renaissance, Balance and those types of series. In those earlier days there was a lot of music coming out in a short space of time and it felt like there was a lot of good music around that you could easily pick up. At the time I bought a lot of music on CDs which I still have a large collection of, but sadly don’t do a lot with these days.
What’s your favourite track of all time?
I always find it hard to pick out just one. But there are some that have been really special to me over a long period and some that really excited me about producing and getting into that area of music. Some picks would be Orbital – Halycon On and On, Delerium – Silence, The Prodigy – Voodoo People, Lamb – Gorecki, Pole Folder & CP – Apollo Vibes, Graffik – A Lesser Man, the list goes on.
How would you describe this new release on UM Records?
I was really happy with how these tracks came out and they felt like they brought together a lot of ideas that I had put into other tracks, but into the one song. They hopefully capture that deep house feeling with some nice organic vibes to them that can cross over into various listening situations.
What’s your approach to music production – regular slots, or wait for inspiration?
These days it’s very much the inspiration and then flowing on from that probably regular slots. I generally will start working on a song or two when I am feeling inspired and have a few creative ideas and then I will continue with regular slots over the coming days and weeks to get all of the ideas down and some structure forming up. Then I might leave it for a while and come back a few weeks or months later and then start up another chunk of time working on music again.
And what about collaborations, working with vocalists?
I haven’t worked with any vocalists on recent projects; that’s mainly due to time to spend on things and the back and forth usually involved. In the past I have done quite a few collaborations, particularly with vocalists and it’s always been a process I have enjoyed. Sometimes things come together quickly and easily and sometimes it’s a bit more of a drawn out process but when it all comes together in the end it’s really fantastic to have a great vocal and have worked with someone to come up with a creative project together. At times I have also written some lyrics that the vocalists have used, so that’s been a nice avenue to explore a little also. As well as quite some time ago working with my sister on some songs and having her vocal input, which was a great experience.
What have been the highlights of your journey so far?
Having written music for quite a while now there have definitely been some ups and downs over that time. Some of the major highlights for me would probably be things like having my music come out on vinyl, having songs included on CD compilations, been included on labels and releases that I took inspiration from in earlier years, having songs played on the radio. As well as putting out my own CD when I ran a record label for a period of time and putting other peoples music out on that label was a special time and something I really enjoyed throughout.
You mentioned a label you ran, tell us about that, how it started, what you put out etc?
The label was called Swordtail Records and released progressive house and breaks. I started it with someone I was writing music with at the time when I was living in Brisbane; but then continued working on it myself from there. It was mostly digital releases, but I did manage to put one CD release out which was a good experience overall.
How did you find running a label while producing music - Best parts, worst parts?
It was great to meet and work with new contacts. I did a lot more collaborations at the time as a result of having the label. It also meant I had less time to spend on producing as working on the label took up a fair bit of time. Some of the more difficult parts were putting out the CD as it wasn’t something I knew a lot about so there was a fair bit of learning in a short time on that one. Some of the highlights were helping people in their production journey and perhaps been there towards the start for people who are still writing music these days.
And what happened to the label?
I think there was a few elements that combined to see the end of the label. The main ones were mostly the time it was taking, the number of digital labels starting all the time then and my musical direction shifting a bit more towards downtempo sounds. I never made the ending too official, as I wasn’t sure if I was going to pick it up again at some point.
Given your experiences running a label, what do you think makes for a good label in this modern digital music consumption era?
The labels that I get excited about and follow are generally ones that provide a consistently high quality output. So if the releases have a generally similar sound (so you know what to expect) and that is of a similar quality across releases. There are obviously a huge variety of approaches to labels and people who have more time and/or money to put into them than others. Some really go a long way to creating a whole community which is pretty cool to see.
How do you view the Australian music scene in the global scene right now?
I guess we have always had Australian music that has done well internationally at different times, but it’s amazing at the moment to see Australian artists with various styles in the electronic or dance scene really creating waves. Some examples been Gotye some years ago through to artists like Flume now and groups such as Rufus Du Sol. Pnau and many others continue to do amazing things; there is an example for every style and genre that is really doing well in different international markets.
What’s on the horizon for 2023 for Pandani?
I don’t have any specific plans at the moment for next year. Mainly hoping to continue to come up with new songs and grow more as an artist. Trying new things even if those are small production ideas or sounds/styles. I always try and have a number of new songs that I am bubbling away on and getting inspired by to create more, so hopefully continuing in that vein.
And finally, any new and upcoming producers, labels, vocalists, DJ's we should be watching out for?
It’s so hard really to name any specific ones. I feel like every time you find a new one of any of those you turn around or search a bit further and there are a large number of others who are doing the same thing and are just as special in what they are putting out. The market has so much spread I find it hard to try and work out which new person/group/label/etc will stick out enough to really go far. It’s still great to see that although some are able to make it far based on who they might know that there are still plenty making it through other paths and that’s really exciting to read about their journeys of how they go to where they are once they have a level of success.
Thanks very much for the interview and can’t wait to be a part of the label and put some music out on UM.
Links
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Pandani Interview
A first for UM since we moved across the ditch!! An Aussie based producers that's featured on labels like Deepwit and more now joins the UM family. I took the chance to catch up with Pandani ahead of his new release Polymorpha.
Thanks for taking the time out to catch up – let’s start at the beginning - how did you start out in music, what got you inspired?
I mainly got started with music and production in late high school. That was when I first really started to get more heavily into dance music and buying music. My older brother had been making music for some time around then and was starting to release some music on vinyl. A little while after that I started on some really basic production in some early software and just getting an understanding of how things went together.
What’s your set up?
At this stage I use Cubase with a variety of virtual instruments and plugins. I have a set of studio monitors and headphones that I use when producing depending on the time of day. I also have a reasonable sample library that I work with for most songs.
How has that changed over the two decades you’ve been involved in production?
I have had various things come and go in the setup. I have quite a few items that aren’t in use at present that I still own including multiple keyboards/synths, microphones, instruments, percussion, recording devices, etc. Depending on what I was producing at the time and how much space I had in the room some of the items came and went and also whether I was working with vocalists or instrumentalists and so on.
What kind of styles do you work across?
I generally stick to a similar sound or style when working under a given alias. So at present under my Pandani alias it’s mostly deep house with an organic lean to it. Before that I was mainly producing under Lo Tide and making downtempo and slower bpm tracks as well as more pop based song structures. Then prior to that I was writing under Native and that was mostly progressive house and also some progressive breaks.
Is that diversity of genre one of the reasons you’ve produced under a number of different names (Native, Lo Tide, Pandani)?
I know there are good examples of artists that I really like who write a great variety of music under the one name and then there are also others who have many aliases to write different tracks for different reasons. I tried to find a bit of a balance between those two extremes with writing under a given alias for a period of time and writing a style that was generally similar so the listener knew roughly what to expect from the name. I also found this helped me in writing as well to keep things loosely formed together into a given sound and helped with ideas and concepts coming together.
Who were your big musical influences in your earlier days?
Very early on groups like The Prodigy were some of my main listening. As well as quite a bit of hard house in the earlier days. But then moving into the more progressive house I got right into Global Underground, Renaissance, Balance and those types of series. In those earlier days there was a lot of music coming out in a short space of time and it felt like there was a lot of good music around that you could easily pick up. At the time I bought a lot of music on CDs which I still have a large collection of, but sadly don’t do a lot with these days.
What’s your favourite track of all time?
I always find it hard to pick out just one. But there are some that have been really special to me over a long period and some that really excited me about producing and getting into that area of music. Some picks would be Orbital – Halycon On and On, Delerium – Silence, The Prodigy – Voodoo People, Lamb – Gorecki, Pole Folder & CP – Apollo Vibes, Graffik – A Lesser Man, the list goes on.
How would you describe this new release on UM Records?
I was really happy with how these tracks came out and they felt like they brought together a lot of ideas that I had put into other tracks, but into the one song. They hopefully capture that deep house feeling with some nice organic vibes to them that can cross over into various listening situations.
What’s your approach to music production – regular slots, or wait for inspiration?
These days it’s very much the inspiration and then flowing on from that probably regular slots. I generally will start working on a song or two when I am feeling inspired and have a few creative ideas and then I will continue with regular slots over the coming days and weeks to get all of the ideas down and some structure forming up. Then I might leave it for a while and come back a few weeks or months later and then start up another chunk of time working on music again.
And what about collaborations, working with vocalists?
I haven’t worked with any vocalists on recent projects; that’s mainly due to time to spend on things and the back and forth usually involved. In the past I have done quite a few collaborations, particularly with vocalists and it’s always been a process I have enjoyed. Sometimes things come together quickly and easily and sometimes it’s a bit more of a drawn out process but when it all comes together in the end it’s really fantastic to have a great vocal and have worked with someone to come up with a creative project together. At times I have also written some lyrics that the vocalists have used, so that’s been a nice avenue to explore a little also. As well as quite some time ago working with my sister on some songs and having her vocal input, which was a great experience.
What have been the highlights of your journey so far?
Having written music for quite a while now there have definitely been some ups and downs over that time. Some of the major highlights for me would probably be things like having my music come out on vinyl, having songs included on CD compilations, been included on labels and releases that I took inspiration from in earlier years, having songs played on the radio. As well as putting out my own CD when I ran a record label for a period of time and putting other peoples music out on that label was a special time and something I really enjoyed throughout.
You mentioned a label you ran, tell us about that, how it started, what you put out etc?
The label was called Swordtail Records and released progressive house and breaks. I started it with someone I was writing music with at the time when I was living in Brisbane; but then continued working on it myself from there. It was mostly digital releases, but I did manage to put one CD release out which was a good experience overall.
How did you find running a label while producing music - Best parts, worst parts?
It was great to meet and work with new contacts. I did a lot more collaborations at the time as a result of having the label. It also meant I had less time to spend on producing as working on the label took up a fair bit of time. Some of the more difficult parts were putting out the CD as it wasn’t something I knew a lot about so there was a fair bit of learning in a short time on that one. Some of the highlights were helping people in their production journey and perhaps been there towards the start for people who are still writing music these days.
And what happened to the label?
I think there was a few elements that combined to see the end of the label. The main ones were mostly the time it was taking, the number of digital labels starting all the time then and my musical direction shifting a bit more towards downtempo sounds. I never made the ending too official, as I wasn’t sure if I was going to pick it up again at some point.
Given your experiences running a label, what do you think makes for a good label in this modern digital music consumption era?
The labels that I get excited about and follow are generally ones that provide a consistently high quality output. So if the releases have a generally similar sound (so you know what to expect) and that is of a similar quality across releases. There are obviously a huge variety of approaches to labels and people who have more time and/or money to put into them than others. Some really go a long way to creating a whole community which is pretty cool to see.
How do you view the Australian music scene in the global scene right now?
I guess we have always had Australian music that has done well internationally at different times, but it’s amazing at the moment to see Australian artists with various styles in the electronic or dance scene really creating waves. Some examples been Gotye some years ago through to artists like Flume now and groups such as Rufus Du Sol. Pnau and many others continue to do amazing things; there is an example for every style and genre that is really doing well in different international markets.
What’s on the horizon for 2023 for Pandani?
I don’t have any specific plans at the moment for next year. Mainly hoping to continue to come up with new songs and grow more as an artist. Trying new things even if those are small production ideas or sounds/styles. I always try and have a number of new songs that I am bubbling away on and getting inspired by to create more, so hopefully continuing in that vein.
And finally, any new and upcoming producers, labels, vocalists, DJ's we should be watching out for?
It’s so hard really to name any specific ones. I feel like every time you find a new one of any of those you turn around or search a bit further and there are a large number of others who are doing the same thing and are just as special in what they are putting out. The market has so much spread I find it hard to try and work out which new person/group/label/etc will stick out enough to really go far. It’s still great to see that although some are able to make it far based on who they might know that there are still plenty making it through other paths and that’s really exciting to read about their journeys of how they go to where they are once they have a level of success.
Thanks very much for the interview and can’t wait to be a part of the label and put some music out on UM.
Links