Hands down one of the best parties that happened this weekend at Ultra was from Above & Beyond’s record label juggernaut label Anjunabeats. The pool party hosted performances by Mat Zo, Seven Lions, Norin & Rad, Andrew Bayer, Jaytech, Maor Levi and Beckwith. Soon after our interview with the eclectic Andrew Bayer, we got the chance to speak with Tritonal, the trance music duo consisting of producer/DJs Chad Cisneros and Dave Reed from Austin, Texas.
Tritonal may be a US based, but they are known world wide for their constant evolution and elevated sounds they produce with every single release. From giving us insight to how things came about, their working relationship and what is coming in the future, Tritonal spoke candidly with us in an in-depth interview below:
TMN: Thanks for sitting down with us. What does it mean for you guys to be here in Miami?
Dave: The funny thing is that we have always looked up to coming to Miami for a long time, especially when we started producing together and now that we have done it 3-4 different times it is still an honor to come here especially for Ultra and the random pool parties, you get to meet everybody and learn a bunch of new things. It is still a big privilege to be here.
TMN: You have played at the largest festivals, all over the world, where does Ultra/WMC rank amongst some of the other festivals?
Chad: That’s a good question. It is definitely one of the biggest in the world. I would put it in the top 5. I don’t know that I would necessarily rank Ultra as the number one right now; I think it might be EDC Las Vegas from an artist perspective not a fans perspective. And I say that because the amount of technology and production those guys bring in, not only with the LED walls and the sound and stage setup but also people dropping in on freaking airplanes, all the artwork they bring in from other artists, the choreographed dancers, and production and shows that goes on. It is just bigger because of the amount of space that they have. Last night we saw Ultra’s main stage and it was pretty kickass! So they did make some movement in that.
TMN: How do you feel about the communal feeling in Miami with electronic in general? Meeting people that you have collaborated with and talked via email and twitter.
Dave: It is very communal. Like I was saying, we are always looking forward to meeting artists and promoters and club owners and all kinds of people, it is a really cool event just for that. It is after all a conference.
Chad: You talk to people on twitter, you are supporting their tracks year round and you finally get to see Tommie Trash, Wolfgang, Andrew Bayer or Mat Zo or whoever, it doesn’t matter who they are, it is just good to finally say “oh There are those guys”, you catch up for a minute and you move along.
TMN: You guys just released “Bullet that saved me” talk to us about how the production came along.
Dave: With all of our production we always try to aim for something new, we like to be fresh with our music. We want to learn, we want to grow, we want to expand and it really began with that, just trying to be unique. Get a good vocal on it, make something with a great tune and just make it playable and fun.
Chad: Yeah, and the drop is like nothing we have ever done before. It is not even a synth, it is actually a reverb processed and reprocessed. A synth initially made a sound and not to get too technical but it’s a drop that we have never done before. For us we were really trying to be fresh in our sound design AND make something that had that bigger sound. We love it because we play songs by W&W, Deniz Koyu and Tommy Trash, these guys that are making MONSTER tracks and we are influenced by it. We love melody, we love vocals, we love the pretty stuff. We always will do something along those lines but we are just trying to expand upon it and take it somewhere else. Instead of just doing another “Lifted”, another “Everafter”, another “Slave”, those tracks were great for our career but they are done now. We can’t make another “Slave” and expect that it will impress anybody. It has been done. So that is our thought process in terms of where our heads at, for not only the single but the EP as a whole and all our future releases.
TMN: Speaking of production, we’re always interested in how a duo creates something. What is the production process like for the two of you?
Chad: I would say it is like a marriage. We met online researching production technics.
Dave: We are both producers, we come from different worlds but doing the same thing.
Chad: In fact, a lot of times on certain remixes and productions we get to a certain stage with the track where we are like “Yup! That is the lead, that’s the freaking drop, this is the idea, you run with it Dave and I am either going to do the radio show this week or finish this other original.” We like to be in the same headspace where the track is going.
Dave: Part of the whole creative process is to just be constructive on the fly. When things are already a disaster you just have to be willing to go, ok that is crap so let’s pull what we can pull out what we don’t like out of it and just continue on. It is part of the process; there is no way around it.
Chad: It is all about developing your own language and communication is key. We have been able to do that. It has not been easy and we get asked all the time “Have you ever gotten into arguments? Do you ever fight? Do you ever disagree? And the answer is Yes, of course. We are normal human beings but you find that common ground and you find your place. I gotta be honest, I love having Dave because a of of time I thing something is great and in my head it is but I am still unsure and when I pass it on to him and either A) I get reassurance that it is cool and it just needs tweaking, or B) Maybe not and maybe it will give me an outside perspective when my head is so in. When you are so in the mix with something it is hard to step back and see the whole picture.
Dave: It is vice versa the same way around, when you are listening to something all day and you are like yea this is great, and when you finally step away from it, even if you come back to it you are like ok you know what maybe iw as wrong about that. Your ears are reset so it helps to have a fresh pair of ears.
TMN: So have you found through your experience over the years that one of you has a stronger suite in certain areas, writing the melody writing the drop.
Chad: Dave is better at running the melody he is just more musical inept.
Dave: and this guy is really good with arrangement…
Chad: I am pretty good with grooves and percussions and base drops and electro-y shit and I think that comes from where we came from. I was in the groove Sasha & John Digweed and baselines. Dave was from the Tiesto/trance full on note progressions. His mind is in big hook and big riff thing and so it is cool because right now our sound is like in flux a little. We are trying new stuff and sometimes we want to write a big lead and a lot of times we are also thinking about big drops and its great to have two sets of style. You can’t just play the same melody-melody-melody-melody else it is boring, and if you play drop after drop after drop there is no release. So it is a balance.
TMN: 2013, just for our readers what should they look for?
Dave: Definitely new music that’s for sure, we always have new material coming along.
TMN: Complete side note, how was your guys show at beta? I’m from Denver.
Dave: Beta has always been fun.
Chad: Last couple of times it has been sold out or nearly sold out. We played there for the ARC tour with Super8 & Tab. We love beta. Dark as freaking black and loud! It’s like a little Ministry of Sound but new. It is like a TANK, there are like 70 cdjs going that way [laughs], literally 15 turntable and you choose which station you want to play at. It is bizarre.
TMN: Alright lets go in the rapid fire.
TMN: James bond or Jason Bourne?
Dave: Uhhh james bond because its vintage, I like that.
TMN: So who is your favorite bond?
I don’t want to say Pierce Brosnan, who is the other guy, in like Octopussy? Roger Moore? Him!
TMN: Name 3 things that are always in your fridge, no matter what?
Chad: Green apple are in mine all the time.
Dave: I have water on my fridge and milk…
Chad: Yeah almond milk is always in there, I don’t read regular mix. There is always old hot sauce in there [laughs]
TMN: If your music was an animal what would it be?
Dave: Well to describe our music, what do we always say, it’s edgy and sexy
Chad: Yeah but it is smart so we would have to go with a fucking giant squid
Chad: I know what it would be, a triple meat, Whataburger with cheese, mustard and ketchup only and with a freaking large fry and coke.
Dave: That is definitely a tricky one, I think probably for me it is something super fattening [laughs] like Chad just said, something on the travel channel that I would never normally eat, like a fried dugout, a fried Twinkie and some crazy stuff!
TMN: Deep Fried Snickers?
Dave: [laughs] yes deep fried Snickers!
TMN: If you guys were stuck on a deserted island and only had one musician’s collection to listen to who would it be.
Chad: Coldplay
TMN: Most people take some time on that one! I am impressed how fast you came up with that answer.
Dave: we listen to Coldplay so much; we even listened to them today.
Chad: M83 and Coldplay, rock and trancy that is still kind of chill but still has energy.
TMN: Who is your favorite dj?
Dave: In terms of a DJ? Well I’ve always looked up to Ferry Corsten I think he is a great dj and always puts up a great show and he is a wonderful person.
Chad: I like Ferry too but I am going to go with Gareth (Emery), I like his all over the place-ness with his tracks.
That is all we have guys, thanks so much for taking the time with us.
