Heres an interview I did with Fred Mellon of Green Foot Studios. Almost everything about me is there, so get on and have a read...# --------------------------------------------------------------- If not in the studio, hes probably out ice-skating, at church or somewhere on a gig. Fred Mellon of Green Foot Studios caught up with this amazing producer to get some insight behind the man Anno. Fred: Over the past years youve branded yourself quite notably among the loyal house music supporters, especially during your times with Deep City Central. Can you tell us a bit on who you are, what you do and how long youve been doing it? Anno: My name is Nhlamulo K. Ndhlovu AKA Anno, Im a DJ, Producer and Songwriter from Benoni, Gauteng in South Africa and Ive been doing this for over 5 years now. Fred: Lets talk about the moniker Anno. How did it come about and what led to you settling for it? Anno: It came through a close friend of mine Salif Mohammed while growing up; he had a bit of some difficulty pronouncing my name, same way as you [hahaha], so yeah he started calling me Anno. It sounded cool and unique and when I began production I decided to use it as my moniker because everyone, including my parents call me by it. Fred M: Do you have any musical education, and if yes, what was your focus? Anno: Im a self-educated musician. When I started I couldnt afford to study music on a full-time basis since I was in my 1st year at varsity and didnt think changing courses was a great idea. So I resorted to buying and collecting books and PDFs by writers such as Tom Cosm, David Gibson etc and would lock myself in my room feasting on the info therein. I attained most of the practical knowledge on production by trying - failing and trying again until I got everything right, I never felt like giving up, not then, not now and not ever. Fred: Do you have your own studio, how is it setup and which gear are you using? Anno: Well Im a bedroom producer. I use a Mecer 3.6ghz CPU with 4gig RAM etc, I also have the Steinberg UR22 audio interface, M-Audio BX5 D2 studio monitors, Shure SM57 Microphone, Korg MS-20 synthesizer, M-Audio Midi-Keyboard, a tambourine and lots of amazing soft synths plug-ins. Thats all for now. Fred: Whats your current favorite software and hardware synth? Anno: Arturia makes some cool plug-ins and Im a fan. I recently bought the Korg M1 plug-in which gets most of the work done and I have this other secrete plug-in that I wont reveal here or anywhere [Laughs]. With hardware Ive tried the Roland JV-1080 and think its dope and Im also looking to try out the Virus TI, but for now the Korg MS-20 is my favorite machine. Fred: Which DAW(s) are you using? Anno: Im currently using Ableton Live9 but I started off with FL Studio and used it for many many years until I tried Live9 and instantly fell in love; because of PUSH, working with Ableton is even more exciting. I still use FL Studio occasionally though. Fred: I heard your working on your first solo EP. What is it titled and was there any sort of inspiration behind it? Anno: Actually its dropping in a few weeks under Fluxtuations Recordings and the launch kicks off in Phalaborwa on the 19th of July, more info on my Facebook page. I wrote the EP in memory of my late daughter and titled it Galaxy Love EP instead of Tribute To Mphoentle or anything like that; I just didnt want people to feel sympathetic and buy or support the music out of pity, no. Fred: Wow thats beautiful. How long have you been working on the EP and who did you work with? Anno: I dedicated around 3-5 months to perfect the songs. The EP is a big part of who I am and what I am, and I did all of the songs on my own. I did the Cherish This Moment song while traveling from Pretoria to Johannesburg on a laptop, then when I got home I went to Salifs studio and employed the Yahama DX-100 to add extra layers of synths and melody on the track. Fred: Wait, you said you spent about 3-5 months? That sounds quite a long time. Do you always take that long working on an EP or a song? Anno: I believe music has to be detailed especially if you want it to last. Usually I take less that 2 hours to do a song, while sometimes I dedicate most of my time to perfect everything because there are usually layers that need extra work or special attention. I also believe that the more time you spend on a record, the better it will sound. Last year around September I got booked to spin at my favorite club in Boksburg; I had my laptop, synthesizer and drum machine and just in the middle of my set I decided to perform something special in my late daughters memory and made the Would Have Been Wonderful song. It took me about 35 minutes to build everything together and when I lifted my head I found people staring at me [Laughs]. Fred: I remember that night very well. I couldnt believe what I was witnessing! Anno: Thats the night we met wasnt it? I still have fresh memories of the event and sadly the laptop I used to record the song got stolen few days after so I never got to release the song, instead I wrote another piece and titled it Someone Loves Me in its place. Fred: Youre undoubtedly an amazing talent and Ive been privileged to watch you perform and listen to most of your forthcoming releases and they all sound unique, with your signature sounds running rampage on each and every song. How do you manage to stay consistent like that? Anno: Its all in the hard work and dedication I put into every project. My parents are also very supportive of what I do and they drive me to work extra hard and be the best of me. So I guess its a privilege to have such support. One thing about me is I hate doing same sounding records twice since it lends me up in a corner, thus I always push myself to come up with new sounding material. Fred: Its a good thing that you have people backing you up like that especially family. Anno: Its important to have people like that, no matter the career or field youre in. A circle of trust and support cant be substituted you know. Fred: What more can we expect from you? Anno: A lot I guess. There are projects Im working on as Anno and others as Outburst. Currently Im finalizing 3 EPs Wrap It Up, The Forger Theory and Analogue Outburst and Im collaborating with a few of my favorite local and international artists on other several projects, hopefully Ill release them soon. So just keep it logged. Fred: Are you releasing a hard copy album soon? Anno: Not anytime soon. I want people to get familiar with my sound first then maybe after Ill think of a hard copy album. I just dont want to rush things at the moment and release an album that will maybe sell 300 copies [Laughs]. So no albums for now. Fred: Thanks for taking time to chat with us and all the best with your future. Lastly, how can one contact you for bookings, collaborations/remix requests and the like? Anno: Thank you for having me around. Bookings: bookings.anno@gmail or call 0604824421 (No private numbers please because I never pick) Collaboration or Remix requests: annodudes@gmail Twitter: @Anno_DOF Facebook: https://m.facebook/Anno.DOF Soundcloud: soundcloud/anno_dof
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 21:45:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015