u/CrimsunA

Hey Hugo! Congrats on the album and hope I didn’t miss this.

You’ve worked with a lot of incredible artists over the years. Porter, Wavedash, Kesha, Louis The Child, Lady Gaga, the list could go on. You’ve been exposed to a lot of different creatives and an endless amount of inspiration. My question is where do you see influences of all your major friends and collaborators on this album (production, branding, marketing, aesthetically, etc.)?

Hey man! Congrats again on the album and hopefully I might be able to see you in Denver.

I’ve seriously been obsessed with On My Own, and I’m very curious of the thought process and the creative process you have had with that song. I really appreciate how it just has an addictive sound and still maintaining the emotional energy of that tune. Can you expand more on that process, as well as the production side of it?

I hate seeing stuff like that tbh. We all start somewhere and we are never perfect. Negativity like that kills creativity. There is constructive criticism, and then there is negativity. I want people to create and we need creativity and innovations. I don’t want to see people’s dreams and creativity die because people want to be assholes. I love seeing positivity, love, and creative success 🩵

Plot Twist:

He is actually deleting all of his music this time.

Hey man. Rather than be the A Hole like everyone else, I'd love to give advice here (hope you don't mind)

Not sure what you did, but it sounds like the BPM is off and that's the big thing. I would speed up the vocal of "Love Again" to 124BPM to match Wake Me Up. The Camelot Keys already work together (good ear!!!) so that works perfectly for you. I would just speed up the BPM and align the vocal to be on beat and corresponding with section. After that, just mix a bit to make the vocal sound natural with the instrumental.

And as for these comments, screw them. Ignore it and keep creating and learning. All of out first creations suck as musicians. We don't learn if we don't create. So I hope you ignore the comments and keep working if you see this!

Random question, did you used to work at Dutch Bros? I interviewed there recently and one of the managers said he knew you when we were talking about EDM music and stuff

I almost think this was originally a demo that David and Ne-Yo worked on back in the day for his Listen albums, then he sent it to Garrix and Brooks later to work on and make something of.

I will say this (on an unrelated note):

If we do not get Garrix x ILLENIUM at Ultra Miami…my year is ruined.

I think the difference was that it seemed more like a B2B, like Shelter live then an actual battle. And like mentioned, I think if it is executed and the story is told differently, it could work.

He’s 1000% dropping that Madeon diss track. SMILE vs Victory show incoming 🫡

They gave us some semesters off, then start class back in China suddenly???? I DON’T EVEN GOT THE CLASS MATERIALS…

Might consider that then. Thanks a ton!!!

What’s up Dabin! Hope all has been well and congrats on Aura Park, all the recent shows, and now the remix pack (Shooting Star Remix is hitting different).

While on that topic, you’ve been making a lot of them lately and it seems a majority of people love what you do with them (Shooting Star, APT., Homura, Free, Stupid In Love, Ditto, How You Like That, etc). How do you approach remixes like these differently from how you work on original music (like Aura Park for example)?

Bonus question: you’ve been a big part of the movement of blending K-pop and EDM music, and I’m curious about your thoughts with that movement with events like Electrik Seoul and the future of that movement.

Congrats again man and hope the headline show/tour goes well!! Still praying things work out for you someday with Red Rocks, and excited to see you next time you are in Colorado!

I personally think Logic Pro is a good step up if you know garage band so well (garage band is basically Logic’s free trial). At the end of the day though, try the free trials and pick the DAW you are most comfortable with.

Objectively, there is no “best DAW”, only the daw you are most comfortable with.

You DJ with the WH-1000XM5s? Hows that?

I would honestly love to DJ with them if they are actually a good option (plus it would be nice to have just one pair of headphones for everything on the go).

Seems like Alesso still likes playing the version pitched up 1-2 semitones (which I lowkey agree with, but the regular version is still good too).

I actually loved Wherever You Are, so I’m really disappointed that never stuck as the outro.

A lot more of a personal request here more then anything tbh: I wish if it were somehow possible to update and change the sound with the EQ, and have it carried over to wired mode and such somehow. As a DJ and Producer, I seriously wish I had one headphone that could do everything.

Travel with noise cancelling and transparency

Flat studio headphone sound for producing, but could also somehow change to be used for casual listening (I guess something really big with the EQ.

Folding

Comfortability

And more. I understand I am asking something VERY ambitious and crazy, and I know it won’t happen. But if you could somehow make a headphone that’s like 18 in 1 to serve so many purposes for multiple people, I don’t care about the price. I would buy it easily.

Add onto this with the design: Make them fold.

I honestly felt like the Momentum 4 was better than the XM5s. If they just did a couple things right, I see no reason why they wouldn’t be better than the XM6s right now.

So yeah the song was played at Ultra (2023?) Miami and it was reported as done. Became an instant fan favorite, and got played a couple times at other shows (Garrix B2B Alesso at Tonorrowland) but they were now different versions of the song from the Ultra version. There was even a version Alesso played with a drastically different vocalist that had fan opinions split.

And to my knowledge, that was the last time the song was played, sending the song into limbo if it was ever going to be released (as neither Garrix or Alesso were playing the song at shows). There was alot of theorizing and fans asking Garrix about it, but we really had no concrete lead if it was going to ever come out. All we heard from Garrix was that it wasn’t “dead”.

Then obviously it was played this past weekend and now we have an answer. I think it was heavily hyped for being a collab and a great progressive house tune, and that led to so many people loving it (along with Shaun’s great vocals). This is the best I remember and can do about a timeline for this, so hope it helps!

I will openly learn the copy of Logic Pro that I somehow got for free with my MacBook Pro in that nightmare. That or I will finally learn Ableton (I’m leaning towards staying with Logic. The STEM Splitter they have is ridiculously good).

The forbidden sound…

Same. I’m happy for them though and hope they work out well!!!

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it much because it was Singh’s verse was in Hindi, but I actually really loved the song.

I think it’s a good example that music is universal. I don’t have to understand Hindi to love a song. All a song needs is a voice and an instrumental for it to speak a language we all know.

Also Martin’s voice was great, and is a reminder that singing is a skill anyone can learn.

I’ve learned this the hard way (and still am), but comparison is the thief of joy. The more you compare yourself to other artists and their music, the more you are going to spiral.

The keyword there is compare, because it differs from inspire. You can be inspired by someone’s music and try to replicate what they do. But the more you compare your music to Fred’s the further away you’re going to get away from your goal of making music like his.

Keep working at it and keep trying, but stop comparing and giving yourself grief because it isn’t anywhere close to Fred’s production. You just need to keep pushing and develop those skills (personally, I think what you need in reference to him is getting your creativity aligned with your emotions, and I think that more of a skill that is developed outside of the DAW. That’s more understanding sounds and feeling, kind of unlocking and getting in touch with that sound in your head).

For me personally, I’ve let go of trying to be like my idols. I’ve learned to have them as inspirations and make music in their style/similar to them, but I’ve embraced that I want to do it in my own way, and that means knowing that I will not make what they make. And sometimes I think that ends up leading you closer and closer to sounding like your idols than you think. Look at BUNT. for example. Clearly, Fred is a big inspiration to him, but he does things in his own fashion and keeps pushing through the struggle.

So TLDR is stop comparing yourself and keep going. Comparing yourself to others/your idols will only make things worse for yourself.