Read the Terafarad Interview below and share it on social media.
Please tell our readers who you are and what you do?
I dabble in the art of using a computer to organize pressure waves in air to emanate from your speakers and vibrate your eardrums in pleasurable ways. Or in other words, I make music!
Sciencey babble aside though, I produce electronic music and I play multiple instruments (piano, drums, and guitar). I also DJ house parties occasionally, which is pretty fun, but I hope to be able to actually perform live at clubs sometime.
My main focuses nowadays are in producing, as well as making keyboard jam videos on my Youtube channel. My original songs are varied in style/genre, but they are mostly influenced by future bass/melodic dubstep, with some other styles like drum and bass, electro house, and even elements of rock and jazz thrown in. My most recent track is a pretty good indicator of my style:
https://soundcloud.com/terafarad/foggy
Then my keyboard videos are a relatively new thing I've been doing. They feature me playing and improvising piano and synth parts over EDM songs, live in one take. I definitely suggest you check those out if you are into live performances of electronic music. Here's my most popular video:
How would you describe your influences and how have they changed over the years?
My taste and influences are pretty all over the place. Some of my favorite electronic artists are Porter Robinson, Madeon, Zeds Dead, Seven Lions, Illenium, and Bassnectar. Other producers I've gotten inspiration from include Haywyre (the main inspiration for my keyboard jam videos), Au5, Virtual Riot, San Holo, MitiS, and Dabin.
I also listen to a bunch of other genres of music, like alternative rock, indie, rap/hip hop, hard rock, and some metal. In terms of the evolution of my music taste, I started off getting into rock and metal stuff when I was in middle school/early high school. I was a drummer and I liked to listen to music for the drums. Some of my favorite bands were Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, Tool, Linkin Park, and Chevelle. I still listen to this harder stuff occasionally and it has definitely had an influence on my musical composition, although my current music isn't really in this style. More recently I've discovered and gotten into Enter Shikari, who are one of the most innovative and creative bands I've ever seen, mixing metal with electronic elements.
Later in high school I was exposed to EDM for the first time, stuff like Skrillex, Knife Party, Krewella, and 2012-era Monstercat. It was around that time that some friends and I decided to try messing around and producing music in FL Studio, and I've stuck with it since. I did have a ~1.5 yr hiatus in there when I started college but I've been back on it the past few years. I've been listening to more and more electronic stuff since then, of various styles and genres. I'm still a big fan of Monstercat to this day, as you could probably tell since I listed a bunch of their artists as my influences. They are unparalleled to me in terms of putting out great and unique music.
More recently, I've been expanding my tastes into hip hop as well as indie stuff. I think I've rubbed off some influence from rappers like Chance, Childish Gambino, Kendrick, Vince Staples, and Flatbush Zombies. I've dabbled in producing rap beats, but it's not really my strong suit. I want to practice beat making more because it's a much more spontaneous and quick form of production, compared to my electronic stuff which tends to be very ambitious and well thought out in my head before I even put anything together in the DAW. So be on the lookout for some potential rap tracks in the future! I've also been getting into chill alt rock/electronic stuff, such as Tame Impala, Phantogram, alt-J, and Sylvan Esso. I definitely intend to use more guitar and indie-esque elements in my future music.
What´s new right now?
Right now I'm working on making more videos and expanding my Youtube channel, which seems to be picking up steam gradually. I'm also working on producing more original songs, and I hope to release a debut EP by this summer! My dream in the future is to be able to do live sets with me performing on my keyboard, but it's gonna take more practice, networking, and time to get to that point.
Be sure to follow me on Soundcloud for original songs and on YouTube for live performance videos!
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Are you a superfan of anyone? How did you become a superfan? Do you remember how you become a fan and what turned you into super fan? Have you ever thought about why you´re such a fan?
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What was the biggest mistake you made when you started making music and what would be the number one tip you could give to a newcomer musician?
I've always been a bit perfectionist, and tend to be overly ambitious with my musical ideas, and I get disappointed when I can't perfectly recreate what I envisioned in my head. The solution here is just to stop caring so much about how good your music is and stop being so attached to the ideal you have in your head. Just be patient–make what you wanna make and even if it doesn't turn out well, just take it as practice and experience and move on to the next project. When starting out as a producer, quantity is more important than quality, so just keep making songs and you'll get progressively better.
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How do you get gigs? Can you share any tips?
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Do you have good promotion tips for other musicians?
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Do you have insights on how to grow your audience on soundcloud that you want to share with our audience?
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What has been your biggest challenge right now? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
Finding time to dedicate to music. I'm a full time student studying computer engineering, so I've had a pretty demanding class schedule for the past few years of college. That on top of having a social life doesn't leave very much free time for making music. The key is just commitment to your craft and taking advantage of the time you have. I'm in my last semester right now and having heavy senioritis so I'll be focusing more on music in the coming months ?
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How do you personally discover new music?
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Once you discovered new music, do you tell others about the new music/artist you discovered? If yes, how exactly?
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What is your number one tip to improve your music production or songwriting skills?
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What is your best tip for those who struggle with finishing their tracks?
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We meet again in one year. What has changed?
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https://soundcloud.com/terafarad
https://www.facebook.com/TeraFaradMusic/
https://twitter.com/TerafaradMusic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC51Lqj6tQDxX_JTnTTXbYzA
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Enter your questions to the artist in the facebook comment section below.
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