Interview | Questions & Answers With Simon Field

Simon Field, the native Norwegian DJ/Producer answered our questions about his beginnings as an artist. He also shares with us details about his latest releases. On the one hand, the ultra-catchy “Feel You” that provokes dancing, while on the other, the remix for “La La La” brings tropical summer vibes. Read the full interview below.

1 – Do you regret having left various bands in the past to dedicate yourself to DJing and music production?

Fair question. I think all bands and projects I’ve been involved in have been natural and important stepping stones. Also, it would be way harder to change a band rather than starting something new. DJ’ing is not unlike any other band or live playing. You need to play with the audience not matter what. So no regret. All a part of who I am today.

2 – How have you been educated in music production? Do you think this profession still requires a formal education?

I would say I’m all autodidact when it comes to music production. The Youtube school is very comprehensive and totally inspiring. Although I’ve had formal training as a musician and also in songwriting. And I think many of the learnings can lean on each other. Like with scoring you need to consider many of the same things as when mixing such as elements not competing for attention, what element is supporting and how you group the various instruments. So I have had great use of the formal music education I’ve had in many ways. Not knowing the basic might be obstacles in the creative process at the same time its often limitations that spark creative ways of thinking. So to your question, I think it depends on the person. If you’re a creative problem solver you might not need any formal education.

3 – We know you like synthesizers very much. Is it true that digital synths sound as good as analog synths nowadays? What model of synths will you never stop using?

I am totally hooked on synthesizers. Absolutely! For me, it’s a matter of finding sweet spots with every instrument that I use to get the unique out of it. There are a number of amazing software synths. My favs are those not trying to be a replica of an analog synth, but I’ve never actually bothered to A/B test. Another very important aspect for me is that I find it hard being creative in front of a screen. 90% of the time I play and compose looking at the synth. 3 synth I always use are the Prophet 6. Juno 106 and the Moog Sub 37. In fact, I think “Feel You” are nothing but those 3 plus samplers.

4 – Your new Dance track entitled “Feel You”, featuring Peder Elias on vocals. Which elements make the sound so catchy?

The flute that starts off the track, is of a flute I sampled from somewhere on Youtube, made a new sound of it, layered it with the Prophet and composed the theme. Moving into the verses, they are driven by a pluck sound from the Prophet combined with another puck from the Juno. The bass is mainly Prophet and Moog layered. When getting into the drop, the bass takes the lead together with the flute. Oh, another cool thing we did was vocoding the backing vocal to make it somewhat mechanical sounding.

5 – Why did you decide to work with a male vocalist on this single?

I love soulful vocal and I heard Peder on a gig or something and love the voice and frazing, so we decided to do a track together. Not to fussed about being female or male vocal. More important to me is the sound of the voice. I basically build the track around the writing we did and his voice.

6 – How much were you involved in the process of writing the lyrics?

This one we wrote together from the start. I love writing lyrics, so I get involved as often as I can. It’s one area where you can be unique using imagery that complements the track and vise versa. In fact, I’ve been in projects where I just did lyrics.☺ And I also love the wit and playfulness that can go into lyrics, like the line from the bridge ”You’re on my playlist, and it’s where I will stay, Just like IYAS puts the night on replay”.

7 – Besides that, you are promoting the 2018 Verano Remix of “La La La”. How many similarities and differences are there with the original version?

The basic form is the same, verse, chorus, etc. We decided that it need a higher BPM to fit better on clubs as well as the lower end and more bouncy bass. We also wanted to have a go at the “drop” to challenge our-self a little. We ended up recording a Cuban Tres for the chorus and that is carried on into the drop as the main element.

8 – When you curated the ‘Ibiza Deep House’ playlist on Spotify, did you ever expect it would have been a big success as it turned out to be?

I had no idea, to be honest. I made the playlist with music and a mood that I love and also to be a home for my own releases. So when it started picking up followers, I started to realize that I had to be serious about it and that it could serve an important part of my online presence.

9 – In terms of music, would you like to try something different this year?

I always want to challenge myself musically in search of something unique. A thing that I found challenging was finishing my tracks and ideas. So I decided to finish a greater part of the tracks that I’ve started. So the new thing for me this year is to be to release a lot of music.

10 – Finally, what’s your favorite social media platform for interacting with your fans?

I think Twitter actually, although I’m a sucker for Instagram as well. Each platform has its own way and people seem to be telling you different things in the open than 1:1.

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