Interview with Tritonal
Pin ItGrandest welcome on Trance Hub, Chad & Dave! There is absolutely no inspiration point, when it comes to producing a tune. I’ve heard that it comes in studios, while travelling, while listening to others’ music, and sometimes even in dreams. Where does Tritonal start weaving the chords and building the notes?
Chad: haha, all the places you mentioned are great places to start, especially the dreams! :) A lot of times a simple piano is the technique of choice, as it really allows you to get down to the nuts and bolts of a solid progression. Depending on what sort of tune we’re going after, will depend on the methodology used. A vocal track will usually have a different sort of flair than a big riff or melody driven tune, so it all depends really.
Dave: Such a great question! We both feel we get inspired by not only by the smallest things, such as hearing a sound on the road or even looking at a picture, but grander things as well; we both here LOVE Cold Play and a handful of other artists as well that play a lot into our inspiration.
The world will soon see the release of your first artist album, ‘Piercing The Quiet’. What are your expectations from this stunner of an album? And how did you make sure that it stands up to the expectations of your fans?
Chad: We expect most people to be pleased with the album! It’s been almost two years of work, and although we grow every day as better producers and engineers, this represents a body of work that we’re proud of. Big melodies, some lovely vocals and even a couple of instrumental down tempo tracks are on the album. We really dug into "the music" on this one, in order to express ourselves artistically. Melodically we’re satisfied from a listener’s standpoint, now its time for us to flex some muscle on the club mixes which will release with the single!
Dave: Both of us have put in thousands of hours into this album and we have also been listening to what’s out there right now… even on the more commercial side of music. We know that everyone that enjoys trance, loves how it plays with the emotions; whether it be a beat or most likely, a melody. Our album is packed with what we feel is our "modern" sound, taking the listener on a journey to the point to where they want to start it all over again; whether it being on the dance floor or in the car.
What will be your personal pick from the album? Kindly share the thoughts that linger when you listen to that particular track from it?
Chad: That’s a tough one, but I have two tracks that are absolute favorites, no questions asked. I am not sure which one I love more. The first one is "Still With Me" featuring Cristina Soto. The chord progression on this one is just lovely, and we experimented with automating time signatures on this one as well! Secondly, "Broken Down" featuring Meredith Call. I am so emotionally attached to the chorus; it really tugs on my heartstrings. That said, the chorus from "I Can Breathe" equally rivals this, as I can just lose myself in it and its also a track I listen to over and over again.
Dave: Ahh, there are many that I really love on our album, but I personally feel that our track "Can’t Keep It In" will hit people well on the dance floor. It has a haunting vocal, a great melody, and a ground shaking bass line that always stirs my feelings. I look forward to hearing what others think of this track in particular as well.
This one would probably have popped up in every Tritonal fan’s mind: why does Tritonal feat. Christina Soto does not have an alias after producing quite a few tracks together? Every tune is so unfailing and this collaboration churns out some of the most splendid vocal trance tracks we’re witnessing today.
Chad: Well first, for Cristina’s sake I must point out that most everyone including you misspells her name! haha, its "Cristina", please note. ;) Secondly, we live in an age in which there are so many producers and DJs rivaling for ranking, recognition, gig slots, fees, etc. It’s important to really brand yourself properly in order to have a significant following. Tritonal doesn’t only produce vocals, nor do we only work with solely Cristina. Early on, we were just experimenting with Cristina, but as things progressed it became a serious working relationship. Its to the point now, that people associate her with Tritonal, so no need now to create yet another alias. She is truly a Godsend, and a beautiful soul. Lastly, does the world need "yet another alias?" We like to keep things simple, let Cristina’s name ring loudly to the world! :)
Dave: Haha, well, this is something we have talked about with Cristina and although we absolutely love working with her and have many more tracks from her to come; she has her own musical passion and works with other artists who are not in the EDM scene.
Let me ask this straight: what are the pros and cons of being a duo in the EDM scene today?
Chad: Pros are being able to gain inspiration, insight, knowledge and balance by bouncing ideas off of someone. The studio can be a lonely place, and its easy to go off on tangents. Having a production partner as brilliant as Dave is an honor! It’s also nice to split the workload on things, sometimes Dave may be working on a radio show while I’m finishing off a remix, or vice versa. Also, traveling with a companion is nice. It helps to have someone with you on world travels. :) Cons are definitely financial initially! It’s tough coming up as a duo, because you split the money 50/50 on everything.
Dave: Although Chad and I both bring a great deal to the table for the collaboration, we do have our own individual tastes in producing. So, I would say the pros for being in a duo is you always have someone who supports the same viewpoint ‘most of the time’ and having someone else to travel with is great too! I believe there are fewer cons. The only one that comes to mind is a disagreement on a musical piece that we’re working on.
Tritonal recently launched its own label, ‘Air Up There’. Can you please tell us what are the advantages of producing music under one’s own label?
Chad: The main one that comes to mind is branding!! We kick started ‘Air Up There’ as an offshoot of our radio show – Air Up There with Tritonal and Tritonal’s Air Up There Remixes. We feel it’s a platform from which to speak and showcase our talent and new ideas. It also gives us a chance to showcase some new names to the industry, watch out for AUT in 2011, we have some big time releases lined up from guys like Norin & Rad.
Dave: There are a great deal of advantages here. First off, we feel that we could explore our own sound with no boundaries and push our own material in our own way! This gives us all the freedom we need to find and evolve our sound and let the world hear it!
What is Tritonal’s studio shift like? It’s your second home and your workplace. We would love to know some fun bits that happen in there, or does it only have serious production work?
Chad: It’s true, Dave and I both work and live in our studios. A normal shift is 10 am to 4-5 pm, 6 days a week. 7 hours of production is a lot, and we usually continue into the night with emails, label work and videos. We haven’t taken weekends off since we started, simply because we realize how much work it takes in order to become successful! We do have a goal of taking Saturday’s off at some point, but do want to be in a good spot when we do. Regarding anything funny happening, just this week the developers of the apartment that I reside in have decided to completely renovate the outside of the building. So, I wake up to complete pounding coming from the outside while workers remove the stone on the walls, and I just balance it out with an equal amount of pounding coming from the inside as we wail away on club mixes. Sounds like a friggin’ war zone over here lately, quite sure the neighbors are ready have at me! haha
Dave: Haha, studio time is always a great time! We work solid hours pretty much every day of the week aside from Sunday. In the studio, we laugh a lot and always change course in the tracks, creating a lot of great memories. On the other hand, there are those times where we just crunch away and get what needs to be done, done! But still, in the end, it’s always fun :)
One of the most impeccable tunes that you guys ever produced was "Walk With Me". The intensity of the erupting break down conjured some inexplicable visuals in me. Tunes like these give trance music the name it has today. Do share how this one was conceptualized, coordinated with Christina Soto and packaged into true a beauty.
Chad: It certainly is a beautiful song, one we love as well. We were inspired from many of the older ASOT Album tracks, songs such as "Louder" feat. Jenifer Rene, "Wouldn’t Change A Thing", etc. We wanted to produce something that was slightly dark, very emotional and erotic, and emotionally charged. These sorta tunes are lovely to listen to, but its tricky working such soft tracks into a set that charges the floor and keeps the dance floor on fire. We’ve since moved in a direction that attempts to incorporate both ideas – tracks that are great to listen to, but also great to dance to!
Dave: A lot of heart in soul went into this track. It was actually one of our first tracks together! We all sat down and came up with a simple theme of love, translated this into lyrics and let Cristina work her magic on the mic. We felt that with such a theme as this, the tune could be portrayed in a dark way, but yet have a mystery to it. As you may know, we have two versions; the original, which is the darker mix and the Air Up There Remix which you will find to be more of an uplifting feeling.
Compliments are like a prized possession, and every producer has it. What is the best compliment Tritonal ever received? And what was it given for?
Chad: Certainly a tough question here. I would have to say it has come from our fans. There have been a few key moments, where we have slammed the fader down on the mixer while playing one of our tracks to find most of the club singing the lyrics to a Tritonal track – talk about an emotional moment!! �/
Dave: We are always thankful for the kind words, but I do remember when someone said we ‘have the most heart gripping melodies’ in the scene. Something like this means a lot to us! We work so hard on our progressions.
How is spinning in your home country USA different from other parts of the world? Also, your MySpace tour calendar showcases only 3 gigs over two months? Why so?
Chad: The MySpace Calendar is completely out of date!! Facebook has taken center stage and that needs to be updated as well, loads to do! Playing in the US is great fun, I would say the main difference comes from what the fans want to hear on the floor. It’s certainly apparent that most the gigs we play in the US, seem to like the sets to have an edge to them and more of a bite. :)
Dave: USA is very different from the other parts of the world in the EDM scene… at first we didn’t think so because we knew that Europe and the UK had some of the best shows the world had to offer. Lately, we’ve realized that the United States has some amazing shows and is picking up quite nicely! Haha, our MySpace calendar needs some work eh? Right now, you can find our tour dates on our website and our Facebook!
Is India on Tritonal’s globetrotting wish list? What have you heard about this country?
Chad: It certainly is!! We’ve heard wonderful things, and hope to lock in tour dates asap!
Dave: Definitely so! We’ve had a few offers to play there already and look forward to seeing the country!
Message for your fans.
Chad: A big warm thank you guys, we LOVE YOU!!! <3
Dave: We would definitely not be where we are today and be allowed to be doing what we do without you! We will always be thankful for the past, present and future support from you guys! We love you :))
Trance Hub thanks you for the brilliant interview and time given. We wish you the best and only the best in years to come. All the best guys!
For more info related to Tritonal check out the following links:
www.tritonalmusic.com
www.twitter.com/tritonal
www.facebook.com/tritonalmusic
www.myspace.com/tritonalmusic
Hi, Tritonal <3 I'd love to meet them.