Patrick Carrera is known as one of the main names behind Sydney’s longest running Friday night Sublime, both as a promoter and one of its resident DJs behind the decks. But you’ll probably also be aware that he’s been gaining increasing attention as a producer, with tracks like Too Many People and White Glasses already pushing his name out there to the international dance community. And in late January, his latest remix of Gabriel Miller’s Back To Zurich received support from none other than Markus Schulz on his Global DJ Broadcast radio show! Patrick has got more to come in 2008, and ITM has a chat about what he’s got in store for this year.
How’s the year going for you so far? Do you think 2008 is going to be even bigger than ‘07 for you?
2007 was an awesome year that saw me make some leaps and bounds with my sound in the studio and on the DJ front! 2008 definitely has some big things on the horizon and I’m sure the new year will being with it many more great things to come, and some of these include the Patrik Carrera ‘Live Show’; some more international gigs; many more releases; plus also some remixes!
How long have you been producing and what got you into it?
After dabbling in it for a while, I caught the bug. I wanted to stay up all night till the sun came up writing music so I got serious about it 2 years ago. Serious meaning I went and got the equipment I wanted to use, after learning what I liked to do and what I would need to do it!
What inspires you to produce the music you make? And do you ever find it difficult to produce new sounds?
Inspiration comes from everything but nothing really, just life I guess – it’s just what I love to do. I love making new sounds… If I ever get stuck with an idea within a tune, or I have a great idea for a tune but I need that sound first then I’ll sometimes just play around for hours making some new sounds and pretty much experimenting, on top of what I already know about sound modeling! It’s sometimes really frustrating, but so rewarding.
What comprises your current studio? And how has it progressed since you first began?
AMD Dual Core Computer, Access Virus TI, Roland JP8000, TC Electronics Processing, Waves Plugins, Native Instruments Plug Ins, Cuebase 4, Abelton Live 6 and a Mac Book Pro.
Where do you see your future with the TranceTribe label, any chance of seeing some remixes of your works done?
I hope to continue to produce music that TranceTribe will support. And as for people remixing my works, I think for some future releases I’ll definitely throw the call out for other producers to have their take on my tunes and put their mark on it to create a strong release package! I also would love to go back and do a remix of Involved and Too Many People at some point to take them in a different direction to the original.
How did you come up with White Glasses, it’s a very unique sounding track. Do you have any usual process when your making a new tune?
Sometimes when I ponder on my tracks too much as they develop I find it hard to decide if I like the idea or not! White Glasses felt good as soon as the idea came about and I went with it not differing from the original idea… After spending so much time in clubs, often when I get home I go and sit on the beach out the front of my house and soak in the warm sun and just wind down. White Glasses is my sound track for this…. Nice soothing keys backed by an unusual percussion track, it just rolls along oozing with feel good vibes. I love it for an early morning wind down, a mid week pick me up or a start of the night warm up!
When I sit down to make a tune I don’t have a distinct formula like some, for example doing the bassline first, or starting with a melody. Ideas come from everywhere so one time I might start with a vocal I write and construct a tune from there, or I might start with a percussion idea first
How do you come up with the names for your tracks, specifically your two new ones?
When I name a tune sometimes the initial idea, or what I was feeling at the time may influence the title or other times as the idea grows into a tune I get the name from the feel the track is giving me. “Ahhhh, there are just too many people here,” was a line that seemed to come out of my mouth a lot, be it at a massive festival or in a club. Now don’t get me wrong I love to party and meet new people, but sometimes I just love being alone so often I’ll want to retreat to the comfort of my studio and write some music. So as this tune developed one early morning when I got home, the name stuck.
What do you think it is about your releases that have seen them get the attention they have? Any advice for young producers?
I’m glad so many people have liked my music! I’m a nut for music with groove, with tribal or techy elements so I guess the people that like the similar sort of stuff that I do have related to them. When is comes to music, there is no black and white. Music is music, and people will hate yours or they will love it, you can’t please everybody. As a producer when you start thinking of what people may think, you will hit a brick wall. Just do what you love and what you feel.
What would you say has been your biggest achievement so far?
Gaining recognition out of Asia following the release of my debut releases on TranceTribe Records, with Involved and The Temple resulting in a gig request in Seoul, Korea. That was awesome and I am proud to have my productions supported both locally and also internationally by the likes of Kamui and Bart Claessen and having Japanese superstar Yoji Biomehanika put Kiki in his Top 10 for October 2007 which I was most proud of.
What can you say about your ‘Polaroid Girl’ project? Will those unsigned tunes ever see release, and how does this differ to productions under your own name?
Polaroid Girl is myself and Sydney girl Jessie Henry who is so passionate about the music, mainly minimal, techno and progressive trance which is similar to my own tastes. She is also quite a lyricist (not singing them, just writing them), and a star behind the decks! Jessie has some good ideas in which I add to my own to create Polaroid Girl tracks. Polaroid Girl’s input for Glass Trust was a bassline idea that developed the more time I spent with it, and I’m so happy with the result. But I think Polaroid Girl stuff will still hold a Patrik Carrera influenced sound no matter how far it strays from what I would normally do. In the immediate future I am mainly focusing on many Patrik Carrera releases, along the way doing a few Polaroid Girl reedits and remixes of Patrik Carrera releases with Jessie, as well as Patrik Carrera pres. Polaroid Girl tracks. As Jessie grows as a producer I’m sure we will work together more, and you will see the debut Polaroid Girl track be released maybe mid 2008.
What’s on the horizon for Patrik Carrera? Many new tunes to look out for?
On the production front as well as my releases on TranceTribe coming up I also have two new tunes due for release April 08 on Couture UK including Drowning/Push me Down and remixes for fellow Aussies Marlo and Bexta coming out Feb ‘08 on that same label as well as Mixology Records. After a hectic New Years / Christmas period I’ll finally be hitting the studio full time again come February to finish off some bits and pieces and begin some new projects!
You can catch Patrick Carrera every Friday night behind the decks at Sublime at Home Nightclub.
