I recently got a chance to sit down with two of Macro Records newest artists, Atticus & Mikep.
Gabriel: Tell me a little bit about yourself, name, age, country of origin, favorite style of EDM?
Atticus: My name is Chris Longe aka Atticus. I’ve been Dj’ing for almost 6 years now. Born and raised in El Paso, TX but I lived in Monterrey, MX for a bit. I’ve opened up for many popular Dj’s such as Deadmau5, Lee Burridge, Damian Lazarus, Audiojack, Funkagenda, Sydney Blu, and the Crystal Method just to name a few. I’ve varied my choice in Music style over the years but I mostly stick to Techno and Tech-Electro beats.
Mikep: My name is Michael Phillips, I’m twenty four, born and raised in the USA. I’d have to say Techno is my favorite genre as well, with a healthy dose of Deep-Electro and Tech-Electro.
Gabriel: Quick question how did you both meet and where did you get your start in the Music industry?
Atticus: We met each other in High School, we had Calculus together. We’ve been hanging out ever since. I started in the Music industry by working for production companies such as Eternal Network, and NightCulture (both Austin based). I also started my own production company called Electro-Tech Productions with an old friend. We threw a few successful in shows in El Paso and Albuquerque before we went on infinite hiatus.
MikeP: I was introduced to the industry by Chris, but I’ve been involved in Music since I was a child. Piano lessons, Orchestra, that type of thing. I was in a few bands in High School and I was majoring in Music for about a year before I switched to electrical engineering.
Gabriel: How did you guys get introduced and start working with Macro Records?
MikeP: One of those bands I was in was actually headed by Downlow’d one of the owners of Macro Records. I actually contacted him a ways back, when Chris got me into production. And now we were happy to work with Macro Records on our Inception release.
Gabriel: Have you done any shows in the local scene and if so what has been the reaction?
Atticus: As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been Dj’ing for quite a while now. I have a few monthlies in Austin, TX and Mike usually tag teams with me. Generally, we’ve had good reactions and been well received.
Gabriel: I know the EDM industry has been growing by leaps and bounds, where do you see the industry in the near future?
MikeP: I guess that really depends which countries you’re looking at. I feel like heavy Electro and Electro is going to continue on here in America. I couldn’t really say overseas, as I’ve never been outside of the U.S.
Atticus: I like to think of the Electronic Music industry as a sine wave. People start getting into heavy Music and then settle down for a bit. Currently Electro and high energy Music are dominant. I do love that more and more people are getting into the EDM seem though.
Gabriel: What are your personal processes for when you come up with a new track? What do you start on first, the drum sample, synths? Where do your ideas come from and what inspires you most to make a track?
MikeP: I feel we usually start with an idea, whether it’s a groove or a melody doesn’t really matter. Some of our tracks have come to fruition just from the way a kick and a snare sounded.
Atticus: Inspiration usually comes from personal experiences, random feelings, listening to artists we like and..
MikeP: Beer.
Gabriel: How do you see the EDM scene’s fans as part of the whole process? Do they inspire you to put your projects in a certain direction do you ever bounce ideas off of your fans? How much is the EDM fan base a part of your Music making process?
Atticus: For the most part we stay true to what we enjoy and like to create. Soundcloud is a very nice tool because it allows our fans and fellow producers to interact and give us their inputs.
MikeP: It’s a good thing that we have a lot of genres that we enjoy. It allows us to venture out and explore and reach new audiences.
Gabriel: Favorite track of your favorite artist right now?
Atticus: Mike and I both love dark Tech-House and Techno stuff. “The Entity” by Maetrik is amazing. When it comes to Electro I like most of Dada Life’s stuff. The sausage fattener makes it so fat!
MikeP: Ha, The Entity is my favorite track right now as well.
Gabriel: Five years ago the scene was hard to break into and really do a lot of work, where do you see yourselves in the next couple of years?
MikeP: Finished with our degrees, and making Music that we love.
Gabriel: Now about personal styles, what style would you put yourself in and why did you choose this one style over others?
Atticus: Currently my favorite style is Tech-Electro grooves with Techno based synths. It’s hard to put a genre on it because it’s a blend of both. These types of songs sound right when you’re opening or closing the night.
Gabriel: What was your first personal production setup and what do you use now?
Atticus: I started by using Ableton 6 on a MacBook and my Pioneer HDJ-1000 headphones. I also used a cheap Tascam audio interface. Now I use my i7 iMac with Ableton 8 and M-Audio BX5a’s! My goal is to eventually build up a nice studio.
MikeP: A Macbook Pro, Ableton Live and a pair of twenty dollar headphones that I used for over a two years. I have a better pair of headphones now, but we use Chris’s setup when we collaborate.
Gabriel: I hear you have a release coming up, what can you tell me about that and how does it feel to get this Music released?
MikeP: It feels good to get it out there; a lot of work went into it. The Inception release is already out, but soon a Remix EP will be on the way with remixes from some very talented producers.
Atticus: I’m glad Macro Records picked up our track since they have been releasing great tracks. I’m especially excited to hear the Remix EP. Stuff like this is a great motivation and inspiration.
Gabriel: What’s next for the two of you?
Atticus: We are working on a few original tracks at the moment. We have a new massive one that I’m particularly excited about. We’re also working on remixes for a really talented Austin based band called GOBI.
MikeP: Aside from our personal endeavors we have some pretty big Electro tracks in the works.
Any shout outs?
Atticus: Thanks to Macro Records of course! Looking forward to their future releases. I did want to shout out to two very talented producers who have helped us progress. First, a close friend of mine, Arcader, and secondly Francis Preve, a great Music teacher. They are both from Academic Records and have huge productions on the way.
MikeP: Thanks to Chris for bringing me into this scene. It’s been the most fun and joyous experience I’ve had in a long time. Also, a big thanks to David Call. He’s helped me out so much with my sound and given me a lot of advice. I’m still trying to integrate some of it into my own productions, but that will take some time to figure out.
You can check out the Atticus & Mikep track “Inception” which is out now via the link below.
>>> BEATPORT LINK <<<
Written By: Gabriel Barrio
Please direct all your questions, comments, and concerns to gabriel.macrorecords.blog@gmail.com
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