Although music surrounds modern people everywhere, it didn’t spark much interest in me during my childhood. I didn’t have my own musical taste, nor a general need to listen to music: I listened to what other people (mostly my family) put on. For instance, along with my older sister, I listened to Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, and other popular artists, as well as songs from TV shows (Glee, for example). And during long car rides, no one could escape listening to my mom’s CDs featuring Meladze, Leps, and Vaenga.

My Music Taste Genesis

Things changed in the middle of the fifth grade, in 2015, when I started playing Geometry Dash.

This game opened up the world of electronic music to me, which, for reasons I still don’t fully understand, captivated me immediately. At first, I just downloaded music I liked from the Newgrounds website, which I found while playing online levels. Over time, Dubstep began to stand out among all the genres I was listening to, so I started paying more attention to it: I began specifically searching for music of this genre, still staying within the boundaries of the Newgrounds audio portal. At that time, I wasn’t particularly picky and downloaded almost everything that fit the abstract description of the genre stored somewhere in my head.

Connecting the YouTube platform to my searches introduced me to new artists, which later shaped my taste preferences within my main genre of interest. Registering on the VKontakte social network in 2017 also simplified the process of finding music and exploring the bass scene.

My first favorite artists were those who gained popularity thanks to Geometry Dash: ColBreakz, Dex Arson, Panda Eyes, and DJ-Nate. Later, Virtual Riot, Steampianist, Teminite, and Modestep joined them, and even later – Au5, Krewella, Fox Stevenson, Oliverse, and others.

On the Way to Music Production

However, just listening to music wasn’t enough for me: as early as 2016, I started composing my own melodies and full-fledged tracks in my head. One such melody was eventually realized in the track “Phobia”, released in 2020 (the drop, of course, was different, since the original concept already had an outdated sound), and I actually composed the melody itself on my way home from a robotics club.

In 2017, I discovered the Drum Pad Machine app. It allowed me to arrange pre-made parts of melodies, basslines, drums, and other elements created by the developers. I tinkered with this app and its clones for about two years. This helped me develop a sense of rhythm and a basic understanding of arrangement.

In late 2018 to early 2019, we got a new, more powerful computer at home. By that time, I already knew about digital audio workstations (DAWs) and watched short video tutorials on YouTube about various electronic music genres I was interested in.

Almost immediately after installing FL Studio 20, I also installed the Serum wavetable synthesizer by Xfer. By watching video tutorials on creating specific sounds and tinkering with other people’s presets, I learned the principles of working with this synthesizer. This is how my interest in honing various sound design techniques and improving the quality and clarity of my mixes was formed.

Inspiration

In connection with the formation of this interest, the artist Au5 caught my special attention, and his 2019 album – Divinorium LP – made a strong impression on me, which led me to delve deep into the artist’s discography.

Besides him, artists such as Virtual Riot, Wubbix, Bossfight, PhaseOne, SYN, Infected Mushroom, Chime, Sharks, Ace Aura, MUERTE, Xtrullor, and Llovió (Agente.001) have influenced my work at various times. In general, all the music I have ever listened to voluntarily has affected me in one way or another. But this is not my only source of inspiration: new knowledge in the field of music production, philosophical concepts, facts about the structure of the universe, and other manifestations of our reality can also drive me to create.

Moving Forward

The feeling that there is always something to strive for never leaves me, but it doesn’t frustrate me; rather, it motivates me to continue learning new sound design and production techniques, and to deepen my knowledge in order to improve the overall quality of my work. I perceive this process as a handshake between science and art, which describes not only my approach to music but also my life philosophy itself.

Now, music not only surrounds me but is also an integral part of my life, and I will feel alive until either inspiration leaves me or my creative work stagnates. Fortunately, no such events are foreseen for now.