Artist Profile – Blue Frequency (Austria)

Austrian producer Blue Frequency can and has turned his hand to a variety of styles within the sphere of DNB, starting off with hard hitting neuro flavoured bangers and dancefloor driven melodic drum and bass, before venturing into a sound that has a more liquid core.

This 30 year old producer has an ear for catchy melodies and punchy drums and in the 6 years that he has been making music, he has created a sound and a style that is unique to himself. This is not always an easy thing to do.

With a brand new remix project EP out now on Ruff DNB with a wicked Dope Ammo remake included, a vast array of previous releases under his belt and no plans to stop any time soon, we gladly present him and his music here for you now in full.

Blue Frequency! Welcome INSIDE!

Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this.

No problem! You’ve been making DNB for around 6 years now. What would you say have been the main changes to your production style since your early days?

In the last 6 years I have learned a lot about music production. I used to be very impatient and would produce a whole track in a single day. Unfortunately, you quickly lose objectivity and the result just doesn’t sound good. Today I know that a good track needs time and how important it is to take breaks. Nowadays I need weeks or even months for a track.

I would say my mixdowns have changed the most. Now I know the importance of gain staging, proper limiting and listening to other tracks for reference. The creative process has hardly changed in the last few years.

You cite Pendulum, Camo & Krooked and Netsky as being influential. What is it about those artists that you feel made an impact on you?

I think the reason why these artists have influenced me so much, is because they have always managed to combine driving drum and bass with fat drums and catchy melodies. Danceable and yet melodic. I love this style of drum and bass.

Your early work is quite hard. It has pace and those hard-hitting snares really carry it all forward. I love it actually. Did you intend to start off in that style?

When I started doing drum and bass I tried everything. I did neuro, jungle, liquid… I didn’t know which direction to go in yet. At that time I just had fun making these hard dnb tunes. But I had no intention to start as a neurofunk artist.

Lately you’ve moved onto more of a melodic/dancefloor vibe. Why the switch?

At some point I realised that this kind of drum and bass production suits me best. And since this style is also one of my absolute favourite genres in drum and bass, it was only logical to go this way.

Sometimes it still drives me into the harder direction when producing, like my new track “Andromeda” (which you can hear at the top of this post!), but my main focus is on liquid and melodic dancefloor DNB.

Yeah, it’s clear that liquid is also a love of yours, and you had your first official release during the 2020 lockdown via the Slovakian label DNB Database.

The cover art shows a beautiful picture of the sea and actually, the two tracks really invoke a sound of sea and sun and joy.

Making music like that couldn’t have been easy when locked down, as we all were. Was this your way of finding solace in another world?

Yes, the first lockdown was of course a shock for everyone. Because I also had to go into short-time work, I had a lot of time at home and in my studio. That’s also where I produced the tracks “Higher” and “Horizen”. I didn’t let the situation outside influence me. Of course, making music can always help you deal with certain situations.

I have to admit that in this case I’m glad that there was this lockdown, because for the first time I had time to deal with my music so intensively that I even got my first label deal. Everything bad has its good side.

There have been more releases on DNB Database, as well as DNBB Records from Brazil and Ruff DNB from London UK, who you have a remix EP out with now. How have you found the process of getting your music out to labels? There’s a lot of competition, right?

Yes, there is a lot of competition. There are so many talented producers out there and of course they all want to release on a good label. I tried to get on a label for a long time, but only after my first official release on a label did it get easier.

I think it’s because other labels take notice as soon as you release through a label. The good thing is that there are also a lot of labels out there. You just have to find the right one for you.

Yeah, I guess once you’ve released on a label once, you kind of know what they want and they kind of know what to expect, so I’m guessing there’s that the chance to build a solid relationship?

Exactly! I learn something new with every release. By now I know roughly what a label expects from an artist and I know what I can expect from a label. A good relationship with the label is of course important and also good communication. It’s good to have a label that you feel comfortable with and where you already have a certain routine. But sometimes it’s also fun to try new things.

It is quite mad to think that a producer tucked away in a tiny village in Austria will be having his music played all around the world. This concept still fascinates me, even now when this is the norm and has been for ages. How do you feel about it?

Yes, that’s crazy for me too! To see my music, which I produce in my bedroom, being heard all over the world, that’s great. That’s also one of the things that keeps me going. And yes, nowadays it’s totally normal because almost everyone is connected to the internet and can spread their music and share their knowledge.

Looking back through your release history, there’s quite a lot of music there. Do you find that the inspiration to write comes quite freely, or is something you have to plan in and schedule?

The inspiration for my tracks comes rather spontaneously. In my opinion, you can’t really plan that. Sometimes I already have a direction in mind. Sometimes I just sit down and see what comes out. Most of the time I start with an idea or a sample and then build a track around it. Often there’s not much left of the initial idea, but it helped build a great track!

Your sound is quite distinct. What plug ins or equipment do you find yourself using a lot in your work to create a signature sound?

I work in Ableton Live and often use the Ableton stock plug ins. But I also use Xfer Serum, NI Massive, Valhalla Room, Waves H-Delay, Addictive Drums 2 a lot. But I think a recognisable sound depends on the way you compose music, not on plug-ins.

That said, there are a lot of great plug-ins that can help you make good music. I think the important thing is to find your own workflow over time. It’s not so much which plug-ins you use, but how you use them. That makes the difference.

This latest remix EP looks very tasty. Dope Ammo who we support here at INSIDE DNB has a guest spot on remix duties too. It must be strange to hear a piece of your music deconstructed and delivered from another person’s viewpoint?

First of all, I want to say that I am very happy that Dope Ammo has agreed to remix my track. When I heard the remix for the first time I was overwhelmed. He made a club-ready remix out of my track, but also the other remixes by Papa Gee and Indivision are great. Thanks to RuffDnb for organising these remixes.

I’m over the moon that you managed to put a guest mix together to go with this interview. Tell us a bit about how you put it together and some of the tracks you chose.

It was a pleasure to make a guest mix for you. It’s a kind of best off Blue Frequency mix. From the first DNB track I ever did to new tracks that haven’t been released yet, it’s all there. The mix starts with some of my liquid DNB tracks and then moves on to my heavier tracks. Finally a nice liquid track from my upcoming EP that will be released in November. I hope you enjoy the mix. YOU CAN HEAR IT HERE!

How is DNB in Austria looking right now then?

I think we have a very good drum and bass scene here in Austria. From small DNB events to the big festivals. Drum and bass is always there. Of course, Corona also paralysed the drum and bass scene in Austria for a while. But this summer almost everything seems to be back to normal.

Before you go then, what are your plans for the next few months? What’s the game plan?

So after this remix EP in August, another Liquid dnb EP will be released in November via RuffDnB. I’m really looking forward to that. There will also be a collaboration between me and Juliette Louise coming out in the next few months.

I’m also working on the next collaboration with SORN, with whom I already released the track “Changes”. As you can see, there’s a lot more to come. And I can also assure you that there will be a lot of music coming from me next year. So stay tuned.

FIND OUT MORE HERE:

Music | Blue Frequency (bandcamp.com)

Stream Blue Frequency music | Listen to songs, albums, playlists for free on SoundCloud

Blue Frequency Dnb (@bluefrequency_) • Instagram photos and videos