Artist Page

Biography, the long short version.

The beginning
I was only just 7 when I picked up a guitar for the first time. I chose to learn guitar because I my mother played me a record by the Flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata and I found it beautiful. I was drawn to the rhythmic structures and high energy. Learning to play Flamenco guitar, visiting many concert and then performing myself and playing in bands was a wonderful experience. When I was around 12 years old I read an article about the start of a new academy: The Rockacademy. That’s when I knew I wanted to go and study there when finishing mid school. During my teens I played drums for a few years as well and then came into contact with DJing via a friend and was immediately hooked.

First contact with Techno
When I went to my first real big stage party (Shockers) it felt like a revelation when I walked into the techno room while being there for the hard house originally. I was completely blown away by the immense energy. I remember one set in particular by Thomas Krome that made me realize I wanted to create techno. So I picked up a DAW, (Reason), and started producing. Not long after that I became a fervent idm listener as well. Which is a genre that has had a big impact on me. Great artists like Autechre, B12, Ochre, Abfahrt Hinwil, The Black Dog and many more were a big influence to me.

School years and collage
Let’s just say my school years weren’t exactly a pretty story. I never really felt comfortable at school and felt out of place. After finishing mid school I had to work a few years before I was able to apply for the Rock Academy and by then they had started with a new producer focused program. I went to the audition and was accepted. Unfortunately the combination of not feeling home in that city and the focus of the school being a bit too mainstream made me decide to look further. I changed to the Academy for Popculture in Leeuwarden and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. The alternative vibe, and the freedom of being able to set up your own projects was exactly what a lot of creatives that went there needed. It was a real breeding ground.

At the academy I picked up bass guitar, recorded and mixed bands, did some song writing, and performed with various bands as a (bass)guitarist through the entire country. And all the while I kept creating electronic music. It was a joyful experience.

Troubles with the whole promoting thing
As with many creatives I had a tendency to be pretty insecure and have known long periods of depression. I think this contributed to the fact that I wasn’t that set on promoting myself or sending out demo’s. It’s something I still find tough to do actually. Unsurprisingly after graduating from the academy I fell into a black whole, not really knowing where to go next. Luckily my computer nerdery helped me get a job in IT and so I moved back to where I came from, Utrecht. Working full time and not feeling very fulfilled took it’s toll on music production. Those were some of my least productive years.

Encounter with Digitakt & Xone:DB4
After a couple of years of working full time I made the choice to get my focus back on music and found a job where I could work 3 days. This gave me plenty of time to create music and keep learning. This was around the time I bought my first piece of hardware: MFB Dominion 1, which I still have and love. During these years I was already starting the long journey of finding out how I wanted to perform live after having decided pure DJing wasn’t really for me. I tried everything from digital DJing with loops and a bunch of controllers to Ableton live clip launching in combination with Native Instruments Maschine.
It was when Elektron released the Digitakt that something clicked in the back of my mind. Compact yet powerful. That’s when I came up with the idea to combine the things I loved about DJing with performing own music live. I started looking for DJ mixers that would combine these worlds and stumbled upon a mixer I had seen years before that when I was still DJing but kind of had forgotten, because it looked like a bit “too much”: The Xone DB4. Looking at it again and reading the manual blew my freaking mind. It was that moment that it became an immediate and very clear picture in my mind. The combination of two Digitakts and the power of DB4 would give me everything I needed to produce and perform a live set with aspects of the DJ workflow combined.

YouTube
So when that connection set of the feeling of being back on track, I knew there an essential thing I really needed to get better at, and that was showing my work. Getting rid of perfectionism and just show work! You might know the book that was at the heart of this: “Show your work!” by Austin Kleon. If not, I can really recommend it. It’s small, easy to read and super useful. That’s when I started with the whole YouTube thing. At first the idea was to share how I was going to try and get better at showing my work via a vlog. But it quickly grew out to be more of a music channel where I could be creative and basically do anything I want by adding video into the mix. It opened an important door that freed me of any boundaries. A completely open playing field to do with what I want. This was the environment and mind set where I started recording sampling sessions, tutorials and more.

And now
So here we are. A couple of years into this wonderful YouTube story and the love I got from fans that enjoyed the video’s and learned from them has been nothing short of amazing. It has been such a big motivator to keep working hard and share as much as I can. Because of it dreams I had since starting to play guitar at 7 years old are coming true. Now I teach, create, perform and start to get more jobs in music. Slowly but steady I’m reaching the goal of being able to do this full time.

And really, I have to thank my family, friends, and you as a subscriber for that. The positive reactions and love I received for just showing what I love to do has been the biggest motivation and joy. So sincerely, thank you for listening, watching and following me.

Cheers,
Dave