Who are you? (Tell us more about what you do in life, where you live, your age, your real name, what elements could define you, …)
AERIX: I’m a Swedish guy living in Oslo, Norway, named Henrik. On weekdays I work as a UX/Digital designer, and basically every night I work on my music. I have a really childish sense of humor. If you listen closely, you can find some easter eggs in many of my tracks (including this one, try to find it)! If you do find it, message me on Instagram @aerixmusic and I’ll let you know if it’s correct 🤓
Tommy Tassev: I was born and raised in North Macedonia, but am currently swapping households between Switzerland and North Macedonia. Music has been a passion of mine for the 25 years of my life.
MALI: I’m a 23-year-old kid from the Norwegian countryside, but I currently reside in Oslo. I met Henrik while studying graphic design, and then we slowly built a strong relationship through music. A bulk of our ideas never make it to release since we’re mostly just trying to have fun. This will be the first attempt at putting our collaborations out there, and I’m hoping people will like it.
What’s the meaning behind your artistic name?
AERIX: I remember the 12-year-old me in the biggest outlet store in Sweden (really cheap and low-quality stuff) with my parents when I spotted a pair of jeans with the same name as mine, and I realised I had to make something new. That’s when I came up with AERIX. I can’t really remember if it actually had a meaning behind it — but I do remember thinking it sounded really cool. I still do to this day. I guess that’s either because it’s genuinely a cool name, or because I still have a lot in common with 12-year-olds.
Tommy Tassev: It doesn’t really have a metaphorical meaning. It’s my real name written more artistically and spelled the way it should be said in English. The double letters looked real cool to me, especially on my logo. That’s when I decided to stick with it.
MALI: It’s been my username in school since I can recall, and I think it’s easy to remember.
When did you start producing music?
AERIX: Around 8-9 years old, I started out with something called Dance Ejay, then started using FL Studio when I was in the first year of high school.
Tommy Tassev: When I found the Fruity Loops Studio software in 2013, I started focusing on music production and DJing.
MALI: I downloaded Ableton in 2016, right after I moved to Oslo.
How did it all start for you?
AERIX: My friend’s dad sold me a cracked CD with Dance Ejay (a prehistoric DAW) on it for 50 SEK (about 5 US dollars) when I was around 8-9 years old. I was hooked and that feeling never really left my body.
Tommy Tassev: I have been interested in music since my early childhood. That probably comes from being raised in a family of musicians. I remember when I was only 11 years old, I started playing the piano and singing in my school band. A few years later I started getting into music production and DJing. Luckily for me, my first live performance was in the biggest club in my hometown at that time. That’s when the adrenaline rush hit me and I fell in love with playing for big crowds.
MALI: I was obsessed with Skrillex at the time of moving to Oslo, and I got a bit carried away as I went down the fandom rabbit hole. As is the case with most producers, swathes of tracks never make it to release and are only played live. I wanted to remake a mashup to have for myself and share with fellow fans, so I downloaded Ableton and gave it a go.
Which style(s) of music are you currently producing?
AERIX: Tech house, bass house, future house, and at times some reggaeton and other pop genres for my singer friends who need a beat.
Tommy Tassev: I am currently producing everything that inspires me. I usually produce radio music future bass, future pop & deep house and for festivals and gigs, I produce house, tech house, slap house. I also produce a lot of hip hop & trap music as a ghost producer.
MALI: I usually produce various styles of pop music, but occasionally I work with AERIX on whatever project he’s working on.
Why did you choose it?
AERIX: Because I really love the rhythmic styles of these genres. I’m all about rhythm and grooves.
Tommy Tassev: For me it’s a form of art, hence the variety of genres. From techno to big-room, and from tech-house to trap, always finding a way to take people on a journey.
MALI: It’s all about energy and pace for me. I find that electronic music in general has a strong ability to make you want to move your whole body.
Why are you producing music? And more globally, what does “music” mean to you?
AERIX: Basically because I just feel like life becomes so much more meaningful whenever I’m making music, it makes me feel alive.
Tommy Tassev: I am in love with music, it keeps me alive and gives me a way to express myself in different ways. Basically music gives me freedom.
MALI: I just love the craft. There is something inherently meaningful about producing music when you are able to elicit strong emotions and perhaps connect people through a song you make.
Where do you get your inspiration?
AERIX: Anywhere really — from TV shows, radio music, nature sounds, and especially anything I find funny. I often record things off of Netflix and then use it in my music as a starting point. Some artists that inspire me at the moment are FISHER, Bakermat, Duskus, Disclosure, Ellis and Robotaki and quite a few more.
Tommy Tassev: My inspiration comes from many world famous artists such as Sweedish House Mafia, Martin Garrix, Tiesto, David Guetta, MALA, Fisher, The Weeknd, G-Eazy, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, etc. I also gather motivation and inspiration when I go somewhere for a vacation or a walk in nature. I remember that my best-written songs always come to my mind when I am in a beautiful place in nature.
MALI: I’m inspired by many things, but my biggest inspiration is without a doubt Avicii. There’s something about the bittersweet melodies and lyricism paired with the powerful and memorable drops that really get to me.
What is one track that never gets old for you no matter how many times you hear it?
AERIX: To be honest, I don’t have a track like that. I’m in love with the discovery a brand new tune brings, and the exploration of new concepts, sounds, and genres to see what happens.
Tommy Tassev: Definitely the song from Sweedish House Mafia – ONE. I remember that it was the first EDM track I heard and to this day I play it on my live performances.
MALI: Avicii – Broken Arrows. I consider the majority of Avicii tracks to be timeless, but this one hits me right to the core.
According to you, what is the best way to develop a business in the music industry?
AERIX: I wish I knew. This is my Achilles’ heel, and I’m working on figuring that out.
Tommy Tassev: Lately I have been thinking a lot about opening a publishing agency or a record label. I am working on that and if it happens in the near future I will be very happy.
MALI: Just had a course about this in school, but I feel just as stupid!
What has been your favorite gig (show) so far?
AERIX: Well, since I haven’t had any gigs myself, I’ll say my favorite gig that I’ve been to. Bakermat @ ADE 2015.
Tommy Tassev: For me, Strumica Open Festival was one of the greatest experiences I had because I performed in front of more than 50,000 people in my town. When I was a guest at Strumica Open Festival for the first time, I remember that I had just started my career and I told myself that I would perform one day at that festival. Five years later I was a HEADLINE DJ and I SMASHED! So I want to tell you. Never give up on your dreams and work to achieve them.
Here you can see my live performance at Strumica Open Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Ad0mHoKTA
MALI: No gigs for me yet, unfortunately. The most insane gig so far was R3hab @ Sentrum Scene 2019. Could barely feel my legs for a month.
Do you live from your musical activities? If not, do you plan to make a living from music in the future?
AERIX: Not at the moment, but I’m working on making it a reality every day.
Tommy Tassev: Yes, I live from music at the moment and I have a plan to live from that in the future. I hope that the situation with the COVID-19 will end soon so that I can focus even more on my career.
MALI: I study music production, so my goal is to do music full-time.
Do you have stuff in preparation, future collaborations, or personal projects?
AERIX: I’ve got loads of new music signed that’s just waiting for its release date, what those releases are you’ll have to wait and see on my Instagram.
Tommy Tassev: Yes, I currently have many new signed releases and agreements with publishing agencies, but for now I will keep it a secret until the releases come out.
MALI: I have several projects laying around that I’m going to finish soon, but Peanut Butter is the only one for now.
And for the producers out there:
In what Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) are you currently working? And why that one?
AERIX: FL Studio 20. I’ve considered switching for a bunch of different reasons but I just know FL so well at this point that there’s no reason to switch. I’m open to learning the fundamentals of any DAW for collaboration’s sake — I know Logic well enough to record and collaborate with my friends.
Tommy Tassev: I started using FL Studio in 2014 and I do not plan to use any other program because I have gained a good workflow in FL Studio. I have also tried to use Logic Pro but for me currently, the best and fastest program for creating my ideas is FL Studio. So FL Studio for life! Haha.
MALI: I work in Logic right now. I record a lot of live instruments, so using Logic is actually a no-brainer right now. Might return to Ableton soon, as I’ve heard they’ve added better recording features now!
On average, how much time do you spend in the studio on a typical day or week?
AERIX: 20-30+ hours depending on how much time and energy I have left after my day job.
Tommy Tassev: I usually spend from 4 to 7 hours on a daily basis. Depends on my chores for that day.
MALI: I spend anywhere between 2-8 hours in my DAW every day.
Do you have any technical tips to share with us (composition, sound design, mixing, mastering, or anything else…)?
AERIX: There’s one thing that I’ve learned (and live by). Working on music every single day without exceptions — even if it’s just 10 minutes — is the biggest move I have ever made in my career. It’s crazy how much you learn by just doing something. Even if it’s bad. It’s progress either way.
Tommy Tassev: Just work and break the rules! But remember, to be able to break the rules you need to know them first. So learn every day and try new things in music production.
MALI: There are NO rules. Keep working on what you love and you’ll see that practice gets you there.
Let’s talk about “Peanut Butter”
What was your inspiration for this track?
AERIX: Before the session where we made this track, we had decided to drop all judgments and just have fun, try new things, and make something that makes us laugh. So the inspiration was more or less just having a really fun session. And also tech house, of which we’d recently become interested in.
MALI: As all sessions with AERIX go; we joke around and play with my phone’s audio recorder. We were both obsessed with tech house as well, so that became our direction.
How fast did the track come together?
AERIX: We basically got the bulk of the idea down in one session, things usually move fast when you’re having fun and the creative juices are flowing.
MALI: I think we were a bit drunk when the track was made, so it’s a bit of a blur to me. We definitely got the idea down in one session.
What is the story behind this track?
AERIX: “Peanut Butter”, as it stands today, came to the world one late night in the early spring of this year, in a dark and secluded underground studio in Oslo, Norway.
It all started as a joke when MALI and I were fresh out of ideas and were kind of just sitting there, staring at the bright screen with an empty project in front of us. To get some momentum, we decided to lower the quality threshold and simply record random funny sounds and try all kinds of different weird effects and techniques just to see if anything would stick. At that point we had already formed an idea of the genre of the song — it was originally meant to be a more energetic bass-heavy, “mainstage” kind of song, but as we were going we noticed that the direction changed to something a bit more laid back. We then proceeded to spend a good hour or two of laughing — and recording a myriad of weird and obscure sounds.
None of us had previously done a track in this style, so we had to just wing it and try things to see if it worked. At one point MALI started singing into the mic with a melody he had made up while he listened to the buildup of the song, just for fun. It ended up sounding like something from a horror movie score or a Billie Eilish track, and with some effects added to it, it fit perfectly. MALI also recorded some ‘secret sounds’ of me (which I wasn’t aware of) that we decided to put in the track just for fun. That’s also the easter egg I was talking about earlier 🤓 At this point we were out of ideas and motivation to finish the track, and that’s where Tommy came in and brought the track back to life with new ideas and motivation. So, together the three of us made some finishing touches, sent it to Eonity and they liked it. And now, half a year later we’re just a few days from release. What a journey it’s been!
MALI and I were hanging out in the studio together in Oslo and played around with a pretty cool ‘techy’ idea we had found from earlier.
MALI: I’ll add that we had started actively using my phone to sample everyday sounds and put them in our tracks. A lot of times that can serve as a way for us to break away from our traditional workflow.
Finally:
Any important people in your life you wanna mention, thank, or talk about?
AERIX: I’d like to thank my family and my friends who always support me in both ups and downs.
Tommy Tassev: Yes, I want to thank my family because they are always by my side and supporting me.
MALI: I want to thank AERIX for including me in his projects and also for serving as a mentor for me in my journey to become a better music producer.
Anything you wanna add to end up this interview?
AERIX: To anyone out there reading this — you’re awesome. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this interview ❤️
Tommy Tassev: I want to end this interview with one quote that I am inspired by.
‘’Everything you’ll ever need is already inside you’’.
MALI: I hope people will have as much fun listening to the track as we had making it! Thank you.
Thank you very much for your time!
AERIX: No worries, and thank you for the interview!
Tommy Tassev: It was my pleasure!
MALI: Happy to help! This was great fun.
Henrik Nyqvist, also known as AERIX, discovered music in his hometown Halmstad as a child. Fed up with what he saw as “bad music”, the then eight-year-old Swede used his father’s Macintosh trying to emulate his idols Tiësto and Armin van Buuren.
Little did, the now Oslo-based producer and songwriter, know that this vision would become his ultimate life passion, catapulting him as an upcoming electronic music producer and inspiring other musicians all over the world to collaborate across different genres and musical expressions.
He still works with his well-known energetic and bass-heavy house music. However, the self-proclaimed musical adventurer has also begun working on pop and Latino projects starring artists like Fabrizio, Nasrii, and many more. A testimony of his ever-growing musical expansion.
Related artists: Blinders, Todd Helder and Tchami
Tomi Tasev (born 30 November 1995) known professionally as Tommy Tassev is a Macedonian DJ, record producer, and musician based in Saint Gallen, Switzerland.
The story of Tommy Tassev begins at 11 years of age, in the year 2006.
At that time he starts to sing and also plays the piano in the school band.
Years later in 2013, Tommy found a software called Fruity Loops Studio and started his journey in music production, and a year later he started DJing.
His first live performance as a DJ was in one of the biggest clubs in his hometown at that time, Club Select. In 2018 Tommy releases his first song “Broken” which changes him a lot in his music career. Six months later he releases his second song “One Look One Smile” and after that, his life completely changes.
In 2019 he performed at one of the major festivals in North Macedonia, the Strumica Open Festival. He has also performed at many festivals and clubs around North Macedonia and the Balkans.
In Tommy’s eyes DJing is a form of art, hence the variety of genres from techno to big-room and from tech-house to trap, always finding a way to take people on a journey.
Music producer and sound designer from Norway.
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