Interview With Rob Kral

1. How would you describe your music? How would you descibe both your method and and attitude towards producing electronic music?

A: I like to think of my music as being very experimental, I like having no boundaries and being able to do what I want to do, which is the beauty computer based music these days, the sky is the limit. As for my attitude I just hop on and do my thing! But in all seriousness meditating actually helps me a lot.

2. What program(s) do you use for production?

A: For my main production I use Logic Pro 9, how ever I will use fruity loops at times to WAV things over to Logic. I also have Ableton 8 but I haven’t had the time to use it yet unfortunately.

3. How long have you been producing?

A:I didn’t hop on the computer until about 3 years ago, but I’ve been making music for over 8 years now. First instrument I picked up was a guitar, it’s incredible where music will take you.

4. What inspired you to make electronic music?

A:Pretty much everything has inspired me to make this kind of music (especially living in Chi-town), everything is changing and it’s never easy to say what will happen next which gives it that thrill. Like I said before the sky is the limit with this style of music because you can go in any direction possible.

5. How is the electronic music scene in Chicago?

The electronic scene in Chicago right now is MASSIVE there are little dubsteppers everywhere! I’m constantly getting show invites on facebook of all sorts of artists coming through here which is dope. Several times weekly there are artists of all kinds from all over the world. Chicago is the perfect place for music because EVERYTHING that come through this city, were like a big hurricane of music sucking things in and spitting new things out.

6. What would you say is the most popular sub genre in the electronic music scene in Chicago?

I would definitely say dubstep and glitch but of course it’s not limited to just that, although jam bands are making a great come back as well.

7, Are you strongly connected within your local community of producers and djs? Nationally? Internationally?

I try to make as many contacts as I can, especially when going to shows and meeting new artists. The great thing about this city ( in this scene) is that almost everybody knows each other, it’s really beautiful.

8. Do you feel that the uprising of technology via the internet via sound cloud could spark a possible cultural revolution being sound cloud is a growing community of producers that produce their music out of shear ambition and not for the purpose of monetary gain?

I sure hope so! Soundcloud has done a lot for me, it’s very inspiring to hear peoples wacky tunes from the other side of the world, all for free too. I highly expect it to keep growing and soon blow up into something bigger. It gives everyone the chance to share what they have created musically.

9. How many shows have you played? Any festivals?

I haven’t played any major shows, no festivals. I’m mainly strictly production at this point in time so I can perfect my sound, (i’m very anal about it and over analyze everything till I get it where I want it) With the contacts I’ve made I can expect to be throwing down at the clubs in the next year just in time for 2012..

10. What other producers do you admire in the current electronic music scene?

I would say Freddy Todd(glitch) because he’s become so much in such a short amount of time, really amazing what the guy can do to sound. If you haven’t heard of his stuff you should totally check it out.

11. Do you agree with me that dubstep really is a special genre because it has become so versatile and is increasingly so?

I totally agree. It’s flooding the world!

12. What producers inspired you to producer the music you produce?

Almost everyone I’ve ever listened to has been my inspiration, the people I look up to are Eskmo and Amon Tobin because they approach their music in such a beautiful way that it’s really indescribable. They take random natural everyday sounds and turn them into works of art. I could probably fart into a microphone and they would turn it into something awesome as fuck!

13. Would you say your strengths lie in mixing or producing?

My strength is definitely with producing, I haven’t had much time to mess around with the Dj aspect of my music.

14. Have you collaborated with any other producers? If not, do you plan to?

I mainly collab with my good friends, I really hope I get to to do some collaborations with people I really admire in the future!

15. What are you working on currently that is not released yet to sound cloud?

I’ve been getting into field recording, just recording natural sounds and turning it into something awesome. (more like sound FX and trippy things to add to my music)

16. What are your thoughts on your preference program for producing music?

I was first introduced to logic so thats why I stick with it, you can do SO much in this program, I just don’t see my self moving on to something else entirely. But it’s all a matter of what your comfortable with.

17. What equipment do you use to dj?

Well I’m not really Djing right now, but my main tool is my Korg nano Kontrol and my Akai MPK25 which is truly an awesome machine. I also recently just picked up a mic made by BLUE so I can make my own samples and field record. But all in all it’s not about the gear you have it’s weather or not you know how to use it.

18. How socially accepted/popular is electronic music in your area?

I live in the north shore, so it’s finally just starting to leak it’s way up here but it’s really down town where it pops.

19. How do you feel about the status quo of planet earth?

Complete shit. Not to offend anyone. But something inside me is keeping me going and making me extremely anxious for something big to come. People seem to becoming more aware of whats going on around them and this is good. I hope the best for planet earth. I hope to see aliens very soon as well ;)

http://soundcloud.com/rob-kral