© Raymond Van Mill
Where are you currently based?
Amsterdam.
How would you describe your music genre?
A positive take on techno.
How did you get into music?
As a kid I grew up in an environment where house music was all around me. My neighbour and friend was a few years older, and he was into DJ’ing, plus my brother was also into house music. The night life in the city of Den Haag where we lived in the early nineties was also quite active, and I went to my first rave as an 11 year old. The event was called Rave The City in the Statenhal venue, and from that point the seed was planted.
© Raymond Van Mill
Have you always produced the same style of music, and what’s influenced any changes?
Broadly speaking; yes. I’ve always produced 4-to-the-flour electronic music, intended for dance floors. But within that range, I’ve sailed somewhere in between house and techno. In general I think it’s safe to say my music always has a pumping drive, combined with a certain warmth, its the kind of music that works best in the setting of a rave environment with lots of people dancing. Often when I DJ I play to between 1000 and 3000 people, and it’s those experiences that have influenced me as a producer.
What made you pic the alias “Man With No Shadow”, as it sounds very secretive?
I chose this name in a time where the things I did were kind of secretive, as I started my career in an underground scene that was active, but very much under the radar. We threw raves outside of the normal club circuit, and were very idealistic in our activities. The name kind of reflects my vision and dreams at a time when I was doing something spectacular and out of the ordinary. Many people don’t know this but I originally started as ‘De Man Zonder Schaduw’ which is the Dutch translation for Man With No Shadow.
I understand your next EP is out on Andre Crom’s label OFF Recordings, could you tell us a bit about the release?
Yes! I’m really happy with the release and connecting with the people at OFF Recordings. Musically I’ve been through somewhat of a similar process as the label… evolving from a more house focused period towards a more techno orientated sound.
We got in touch earlier this year and kept in contact until I had a selection of tracks that fitted with OFF Recordings current techno style, which in my own opinion makes this perhaps my most powerful EP to date.
Involving Drumcomplex for the remix was the icing on the techno cake, as he’s a very talented producer and a great guy to work with.
Could you talk us through your studio set up and what equipment you used to produce your OFF Recordings release?
I always work with an engineer so the engineers set-up is my set-up also.
On this EP we worked mostly with Ableton Live, and controlled it with the latest version of Ableton Push, which is as a handy tool for workflow. Getting started we also used the Electron Octatrack sampler, as its great for easily finding new sounds to mess around with.
Later in the process the focus switches towards resampling sounds to get a specific sound richer and thicker, which without going into great detail, is a process hard to describe. When resampling, the Moogerfogger guitar pedal and Vermona’s Retroverb are two of my favorite tools.
Outside of music what are your other interests, and do they influence your sound?
I’m sort of obsessed with the creative process in the broadest sense. That includes art and design, along with fashion plus anything that combines beauty with a practical use.
Photography © Raymond Van Mill
