Optics
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Biografía
- Optics aims to create tracks and sets that are filled with a certain driving power and melancholy, to tell a real story on the dancefloor and to let people enter a different reality.Nature, architecture, and art are Optics' most prominent sources of inspiration. The fact that the symmetrical structures within architecture and the pureness of nature, when consciously observed, can be of such an impact on the mind never ceases to amaze him. Both can be calming and thought to provoke at the same time. With him being born in Amsterdam, but having moved a couple of times to different places where concrete structures and architecture were both prominent, he was able to behold both fascinations. At the age of sixteen, Optics got interested in producing electronic music. Being influenced by various subgenres within electronic music, he developed an interest in both dancefloor orientated and experimental electronic music. During this phase, he started collecting vinyl records and began to increasingly attend techno events. This caused him to get in touch with some of his most admired labels and artists nowadays. Tresor, Ostgut Ton, MDR, Semantica, Arcing Seas, Token, Mote-Evolver, Blueprint, and Modularz are some of the labels that inspire most of his productions and DJ-picks. Collecting and discovering music, be it new or old, digital or vinyl is an essential part of the passion for music. The buzz of finding a relatively unknown track, which is absolutely killer, or coming across an unknown artist with a large and dope discography keeps the drive to discover and collect alive. Also having a piece of music ready for any given moment on the dancefloor is very important to him as a DJ. That’s why he is and will always keep collecting tracks. This resulted in a modest digital/vinyl collection of about 4.000 tracks already. When he started producing, he got, at some point, frustrated with software because he felt that it limited him in expressing creativity and a distinctive sound. He felt that there ought to be a more expressive and hands-on way to create music. This made him start to pay attention to some of the gear that his favorite artists used. After seeing Blawan and Surgeon play with all those ‘weird wires,’ he decided to investigate on their equipment. That’s where his addiction to modular synthesis began. Blawan is the main reason he got into it. The two leading parts of his current setup are his modular system and his laptop. The ability to go extremely deep into sound design is what keeps him attached to his Digital Audio Workstation. A lot of time goes into the to design of his kicks and bass to give his tracks a specific 'roll.’ Recording and editing samples to create complicated and intelligent sound textures are also a big part of the musical process. When playing one of his tracks or DJ sets he wants to let his audience slide in coalescence, merging the crowd and causing them to forget the whole concept of the outside world. With his side project ‘Coda Mirror’ being born this year, he's looking to find a platform where can expose his experimental side. Coda Mirror is highly influenced by artists like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto, Mika Vainiø, Voiski, and The Black Dog. Until now Optics has released tracks on Format Records, SOPTIK, Evod, Subsist records, and released his own EP’s on Dynamic Reflection (link below), Faut Section, and Warok Music. His first track on vinyl was released on Format Records last year, as part of a Various Artists EP with some renowned artists like Mike Parker, Jeroen Search, ROD TWR72 and Juan Sanchez himself. His latest release is a track on SOPTIK called 'Backyard Romance III.’ His EP on Dynamic Reflection got significant support from the scene, just to name a few: Marcel Dettmann, Slam, Len Faki, Matrixxman, Shlømo, Setaoc Mass, Chris Liebing, Joseph Capriati, Stranger, Etapp Kyle, Fabrizio, Lapiana, Eric Cloutier, Stephanie Sykes, Denise Rabe, Regal, DJ Deep, Keith Carnal, Electric Rescue, Amotik, Developer, Bas Mooy, Exium, Svreca, Opuswerk, Steve Parker, Monoloc, Yotam Avni, Volte Face, Electric Indigo, XHEI, Takaaki Itoh, Alderaan, Insolate, JP Enfant, Doka, Refracted, Wata Igarashi and Nihad Tule.