With Jiminy Hop having new music out now on Suffused Music we catch up with him for the latest episode of 12 Questions.
1. How old are you, where are you living and how long have you been producing and Djing?
– I‘m 27 years old from Saint Petersburg, Russia and producing for a 5 years now. I was Djing 6 years ago and now I‘m back again.
2. Where do your musical roots lie, what are your first memories of electronic music and when did you know you wanted to pursue it seriously? Are there any particular productions or artists from the past that really made you think to yourself ‘this is what I want to do.”
– I went to the musical school for an 11 years since I was 5. My first meet with electronic music was in 2008-2009. I wanted to pursue it more seriously in 2011, but it didn‘t happen until 2015.
Alex Banks is my “number one”. I love his production and sound design. And what about progressive house, Yotto is my favorite. His tracks i found very emotional and perfect produced. I use his tracks as references. There is a lot we can learn just listening his tracks.
Another one who influenced my life is David August. His boiler room live set inspired me to make tracks which I released on labels.
3. How difficult was learning to produce for you in the beginning? Did you take any Audio Engineering programs or production courses to help you out or are you pretty much self taught? And did anyone give any advice early on that really helped?
– It was pretty hard to learn produce. I took one course in Saint Petersburg, Russia where I have picked up basics in EQing, compression and etc. Later there was only YouTube videos and talking with my friends who are producing too. There was one really good advice which I’ve received from Ewan Rill: „Produce tracks and send them labels.”
4. What parts of the production process do you find the most difficult and what comes easiest for you? When you do hit a creative block what helps you through it?
– Two years ago the hardest part was to complete tracks. Now it is to “find the right sound“. Mostly there are some ideas in my mind, the sounds, but I don’t know how to make it in DAW.
Another one is “balance between trends and sound which you like”. I have learned a simple thing. If you produce the right tracks with the right sound and follow the trends your tracks will be played and will be bought.
And the last one is “find the right label for particular track”. Through the months and years your label list is growing. And there is a question like “what label should I send this two original on?”. How to find out it? Just listen what kind of music does label release? Does fit your track to it?
5. What’s a normal day like for you? Do you have a job outside of electronic music? And what do you like to do when you’re not working on music?
– I wake up, make breakfast, go to work. I mean, went to work. I used to be a bartender.
During the weekends I spent a lot of time producing and watched tv shows during the breaks. I love snowboarding, skateboarding. But last few years there were no time because of necessity to work on new tracks. Now i have started to work on tracks of different producers (can’t say the names because i had promised not to disclose this information ) to improve sound of them. This is a great experience in feeling tracks and understanding what is wrong and what is right, what sounds good and what has to be replaced or changed.
6. Apart from electronic music what other genres do you listen to and who are your favourite artists outside of electronic? and do these genres or artists have a direct effort on your own productions?
– I love Coldplay, Radiohead, Oceansize. And these bands inspired me in producing my album (which is not a progressive house). I tried to make the weird cool sound like Radiohead makes, combine it with amazing harmonic melodies and pads like Coldplay does and add a rhythmic non-4/4 stuff, you know, like Oceansize uses a lot.
7. What was the first and last physical (CD, Vinyl, Cassette etc) piece of music you bought?
– the first one I think there was a cassette of “Limp Bizkit” or “Blink 182”. And the last one there was a CD with electro house collection for my DJ sets.
8. Tell us something about yourself that might surprise people?
– I stutter and totally okay with it.
9. Which producers in your opinion get consistently overlooked?
– I don’t know. The most of producers I know or I listen to are famous already or making progress pretty well. And those who are not are just not produce high quality production.
10. Which producers consistently inspire you? And where else does your inspiration come from?
– Stephan Bodzin and Yotto mostly, Roger Martinez, David August. Inspiration is not known by me yet. I can’t control it.
11. There are countless producers out there trying to find their way and create their own unique sound, what advice do you have for them?
– Some advice I received: Finish your tracks. Make more tracks. Send your tracks to labels. That’s it. Simple.
12. If the final DJ/live set of your career was next week what would your last track be?
– Michael Jackson – Black and White
‘Le Mans’ is out now on Suffused Music, you can purchase the release: here
