Introducing Progessive House Producer Truebeef
My name is Michael Chapman and I’m from Melbourne, Australia. I’m a full-time software developer by day and I spend most of my spare time producing and learning about music at night and on the weekends. Not too much else happening these days with the pandemic going on!
Dealing with COVID-19
I’ve been one of the lucky ones with Covid because I’ve been able to work from home full-time since the pandemic began. I also no longer have to commute three hours a day into the city and back and I can also sleep in an extra hour and a half which has been great.
What is something you do now (regularly) that you did not before Covid-19?
I think the main difference now is that I’m a lot more aware of social distancing, washing and sanitising hands a lot more frequently, and getting used to wearing a mask in public (they’ve just become mandatory here). I’m also going for a lot more walks and the occasional run just to get out of the house and not be stuck inside my studio all day.
Do you find it hard to stay positive and motivated during these strange times?
When the pandemic first started I definitely had some anxiety about what could happen but we got on top of it pretty quickly in Australia initially and at one point were almost down to zero new cases per day. Unfortunately we’ve had quite a big outbreak here in Melbourne over the past month and are now in lockdown again, but at this stage I’m still feeling fairly positive that everything will work out, I think it will just take quite a bit more time than everyone hoped. Right now I am feeling pretty motivated to continue working on music, it’s actually a great hobby to have while most of us are spending a lot of time at home.
Latest release ‘Apparition‘
The production process for these tracks was quite enjoyable, they both seemed to come together quicker than usual and I didn’t get sick of working on them like I have with some of my other tracks in the past, so that’s always a good sign!
Most of the time I find I get inspired just by listening to tracks of my favourite artists and wanting to make the same style of music but put my own spin on it. I’ve been listening to a lot of artists like Alex O’Rion, Kaspar Koman, Erdi Irmak, Hraach, Armen Miran and Hrag Mikkel to name a few, I’m really enjoying that deep progressive sound at the moment and aiming to make that kind of music with some melodic techno elements added in.
Tell us the story about your music endeavors. How did you discover melodic techno music and what led you down the path of becoming a producer and/or DJ?
I discovered electronic music in my late teens when a friend invited me to a rave and I have loved it ever since. At first I was into the rave scene so I liked a lot of hi-energy, hardstyle, hard trance, etc. Then slowly over the years my taste evolved into less chaotic styles like progressive trance and then eventually to slower BPM stuff like progressive house and melodic techno which is what I really love at the moment.
I’ve always enjoyed messing around with computers since I was a kid so it made sense for me to combine two of my passions. I attempted to make music quite a few times over the years but I always gave up after a month or two because I literally knew nothing about it, I had no musical background, and I just didn’t have the patience to stick with it. But then nearly four years ago I picked it up again and I really dedicated myself to learning as much as possible and forced myself not give up even though it was quite frustrating at times not being able to make the sounds I wanted. I still have a lot to learn but I am confident I’ll get there eventually, it just takes a lot of time!
Software And Hardware
Right now I am working all in the box, my only hardware is my studio monitors, headphones, a midi keyboard and an audio interface. I use FL Studio and my current favourite plugins would be Pigments and Diva for synths, and I also use a lot of Fabfilter, Soundtoys and Valhalla plugins.
Is there any software or hardware you would really like to possess and why?
I’d definitely like to get some hardware synths and effects one day but at this stage I have everything I need in software and I’m going to keep improving using those for now. One thing I would buy right now if it existed is something equivalent to Push for Ableton, I know there is the Akai Fire for FL Studio but it doesn’t seem like it’s anywhere near as good as the Push. Hopefully they make an improved version of it one day.
Ingredients for a top melodic techno song
For me the bassline is actually a big factor in whether I like a track, there’s something about a really deep chugging bassline that gets me every time! And of course the melody needs to be catchy enough to stick in your head but also relatively simple, for me there is a point where a track can be too melodic and happy sounding, I like the deeper melancholic vibe more. And finally I’d say good use of percussion and fx to keep the track interesting and give it that groove.
What more can we expect from you this year? Any releases or special events you can tell us about?
No current releases planned but I have quite a few tracks either finished or very close to finished which I’m happy with and will be sending out to labels soon. I’d like to to keep consistent with my releases so you can definitely expect to hear more from me this year!