November

Artist of the Month: Zuri

01) You've been a jingle producer and sound designer for Dj shows in the past, how did the first opportunity of this come along?

Long time ago I was a host in a small radio show and many people loved my voice. Other small radio stations asked me to record jingles for them and that is how it all began. As i already had some skills in music production software, I did it for free. Since that time up until now there has been many more new customers for jingles and intros.

 

02) Do you think that your path as a jingle producer helped polishing your production skills for something greater such as creating and arranging house beats?

I think so. Producing jingles polished my skills. Previously I had produced music too but I didn't publish it , I just produced for myself.

 

03) You've produced on many platforms, such as the C64, Amiga 500 and FastTracker, to those who don't know about these old systems, what limitations did they have compared to the sequencer you use now?

C64 has a SID chip, so we can only hear sounds made of generators. Sometimes it was amazing to hear human voice on this hardware made out of generators as well. In "tracker" the programs used samples (wavs) and it was that option only. There wasn't a sound processing by equalizers or compressors.

 

04) It is said , that a producer that knows the limitations of his workstation and exploits it to the max, will always know what is needed to do the next big step and upgrade his studio, would you agree with this?

Yes, i think this is very very true and well said! i can feel it in my productions. For example, when i am producing new tracks, i can hear it sounds good but i always know that if i would have better hardware i could do this even better, so yes, that's true and i hope i will get my first hardware asap!

 

05) How would you tag your sound? Is it entirely Electro? or did you grab influences from other genres into your music?

I call it a mix of emotions, calmness and discharging of energy!

 

06) How did you find out about Straight Up! , what were the first tracks you signed to them and how would you describe your relations with them as of now?

At first I was skeptical about my music production skills. My friend Dave Schiemann had definitely a different opinion. He helped me and he proved me that I was wrong. My very first track that i ever made and sign with Straight Up! was Frenzy. Our relations are just great ! Alex is a very good guy and he's always up for my new tracks!

 

07) Do you Dj? if yes, where have you played? if not, do you see this as an option in the future?

I'm not a DJ yet. I have rarely seen a turntable even. I'd love to be a DJ in the future and I have some ideas to have a good time in my sets.

 

08) You've gotten massive support by top jocks such as Erick Morillo, Marcus Schossow, Matt Darey, Antoine Clamaran, Sean Tyas and many others in such a short time in your career, did you expect this to happen? Also, who would you like to meet?

I am very impressed! Especially Erick Morillo and Marcus Schossow support have surprised me a lot. To be honest who I would love to meet - I don't know. I would like to drink with everybody.

 

09) What's next for you in Straight Up! and how do you see yourself in two years?

Maybe I will be fat If I'm not going to move from the desk - I'm going keep recording my voice and playing with sound. I hope I will play in the clubs and I hope more people will like my tracks and radio jingles.

 

10) Would you like to promote, advertise or announce something before we close this interview?

I would like to say thanks to David Schiemann, who also supports my tracks. Partnership with him is a pleasure.

Also check out my releases at Beatport: (link)