Artist name Alaris – Latest track Lie to Me – City Frankfurt

What is the one thing that we should make sure to listen for in your latest track?

Lots of atmospheric elements that help elevate the track more. I spend some time finding the right sounds. You can hear a sample from a train passing by in the intro for example. 

What is the sound of your childhood and youth? Artists? Genres? Your surroundings?

My dad used to listen to a lot of jazz. I remember listening to Nora Jones, Leonard Cohen, Keith Jarrett and later Gregory Porter and Jamie Cullum. I didn’t grow up around a lot of the classic pop tunes from the 80s & 90s. When I got older I listened to a lot film scores, which still love today. My favourite to day is The Dark Knight Rises score. 

Which DAW do you use and how does this impact your strategy for making music?

I use Ableton Live 11. For me it is important to work fast and Ableton allows me to lay down musical ideas in a short time. I have certain plugins to increase my workflow, templates and saved instrument racks to save my favourite sounds I created for other projects. 

What is the biggest hurdle to get over from idea to a released track?

For me it is refining the idea over and over again and mixing. It is a constant process of refining, changing small things and assessing if you actually improved the idea or made it worse. The biggest help is to show the progressing idea to friends and people that I trust and that give honest feedback. 

Why did you use Masterchannel to master your track?

For me, mastering is the last step before putting my music out into the world, and Masterchannel makes this process very easy and convenient at a low cost while keeping the quality high. So for me it is a no brainer in the process of releasing music.