View Active ThreadsCreate an account on HarderFasterLogin to HarderFaster Information for Promoters Information for Advertisers Search HarderFaster About HarderFaster Link to this Page
[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!
Home | News | What's On | Annual Poll | Photos | Forums | DJs | Features | Music | Venues | Reviews | Links |

  Features
Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’!
Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases!
Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme!
Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works.
Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain!
Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September!
NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases!
Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup!
Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast!
Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music!
SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023!
The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023!
NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music!
Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project
The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22!
A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden
Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma
Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino
New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik!
PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records!
Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters!
N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood!
Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna
A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022!
'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022!
DJ talk with Psyrenzo ahead of his debut set at Tribal Village, the Steelyard this Friday 14th January 2022!
TENZO aka Overdrive talks freely about launching his new act which will be showcased at Tribal Village, Steelyard on 14 January 2022!
A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London!
Goa based party animal and artist extraordinaire Nirmal talks punk concerts, metal sculptures, flying and rippin' it up on a High Tide!
DJ Wired talks to us about the Rise of the Hope and parties, ahead of his upcoming set at Tribal Village on 14th January 2022!

Let me hear you say Waio

Reported by Nikki S / Submitted 23-04-17 19:11

With an artistic drive to create music encoded into his DNA, the half-Brazilian, half-Portuguese Fernando Seca exploded onto the psy trance scene in 2008 as Waio with over 200,000 plays on MySpace and reaching No. 5 in the Beatport charts. Following a succession of massive tracks over the past 10 years, Waio has since firmly established himself as one of the world’s leading psychedelic trance acts.

In between all of the jet-setting, tearing up dance floors at the biggest festivals on the planet, and just ahead of becoming a father for the second time, we caught up with Fernando ahead of his forthcoming performance at one of London’s most iconic venues, Troxy, with Infected Mushroom on Friday 28th of April.




Hi Fernando, thanks for taking the time out of your very busy schedule to catch up with us.

It’s my pleasure to share some time with you guys.

Tell us about your musical background. When did you first start producing? How did you get into it?

I played the violin from when I was six years old until I was 12, when unfortunately my teacher died and I decided have a break.

It was at the time when Napster and Soulseek and all of the internet era had started, so I found myself downloading trance and psy trance music.

I was curious and wanted to know how they made those electronic sounds and found the amazing synthesizers and their electronic sound. It doesn’t take long to search on the internet how it is made and find software and some basic information about music production.

At 17 I released my first music and was invited to play at The Gathering Festival in Japan, one of the biggest trance festivals in Asia.

With all of your globe-trotting and jet-setting your passport must be getting very full! You have taken to the stage at some of the biggest festivals across the planet: Boom Festival (Portugal), Ozora Festival (Hungary), Universo Paralello (Brazil) and many more. What has been your most memorable/best gig to date, and why?

There are always plenty of parties with their particular memories, but Boom Festival in 2016 was something very special over all of the time that I’ve been making psy trance.

What exciting gigs/festivals do you have coming up in the near future?

I will be playing in Tomorrowland at the B2B Stage as well as EDC Las Vegas, and I am very happy to bring psy trance to such huge events in the US and in Belgium.



On all of your tours you must have seen some interesting things and have some stories to tell. What has been the most interesting place that you have visited? And what is the funniest thing that has happened to you (or another artist) whilst on tour?

On one tour I was in Mexico with a couple of other DJs and the promoter left us at the hotel and had not booked us a flight back. So they bought our flights back using fake credit cards! It was not that funny at the time, but it is a very crazy rock 'n' roll kind of story.

Let’s talk tunes and production. How many tracks have you produced/released? How long did it take you to produce your album? How do you know when a track/album is ready to release? How much tweaking and live testing do you do?

I have made about 150—180 tracks since I started in 2005, some are released and some are just available at my Bandcamp.

The album took me about five years from when I decided to make an album with a different concept. The tracks had many versions of each and I never could decide when to release it, so over the last two years I completely changed the tracks and I’m very happy about how it turned out.

For new music it depends: it’s hard to say how many hours you need to write one track, but it all depends on the producer saying when it’s ready. You can always tweak a little here and there!



Being classically trained in music, do you notice you have a different method to other producers who are more self-taught? In what ways does understanding music theory empower your style and creativity?

It depends on how deep the producer wants to go in terms of the melody. Psy trance can just use one monotone and you can write one good musical monotone using detuned sounds, but it definitely helps to improve it by using more harmonies and melodies.

When you go into the studio, what are your main influences? Where do you get your motivation and inspiration from for starting a track?

It also depends the mood, or what I have heard, or some idea that just came out in my head – or a melody that’s come while playing some instrument. My latest tracks started with the main theme and the intro or the break and then the build-up.

Over the years you’ve remixed and collaborated with Simon Patterson, Killerwatts, Symbolic, Bryan Kearny, Sinerider and more. Who has been your favourite producer to work with, and do you have any exciting collaborations/remixes in the pipeline?

Each of them has their own unique way of work which is very interesting. I guess with Symbolic we got a nice dynamic way of working and it’s always a magic box when he sends me back what he’s done.

I’m finishing some remixes for Jordan Suckley and also have a track with Killerwatts, a new version of Wake up we made for 2017, to be release on their new album. Shiva with Avalon is apparently a promising release, and we’re very happy with that.



With so many releases, live sets and features on compilations under your belt, are there any plans for another album? What future projects do you have coming up?

I am slowly shaping my new album. I’ve already got a few tracks and I don’t pretend to change them like the last one. It may take a little time, as I’m working on a surround sound at the moment and it’s taking a lot of my production time.

For all of us studio geeks, talk us through your studio set up, and what set up do you like to use when playing live?

I use Dynaudio BM6 Speakers with Focal Sub6 and Adam a3x
Nord Lead 2x
Virus Ti Snow
Apogee Ensemble
Presonus Central Station
NASA Hackintosh (almost like a rocket)



Quick fire questions (that we’ve all be dying to ask...)

Mac or PC?
Both

Cubase or Logic?
Both have good features to be explored

DJ or Live?
Depends the occasion

Favourite soft synth?
Wiggle

Favourite hardware synth?
Nord Lead

Favourite piece of kit?
SSL Clone

What’s best for kicks: samples, synthesis or drum machine?
Good hearing and acoustics

What studio monitors do you use?
Dynaudio BM6A and Adam A3X / Focal Sub6

Sample packs or synthesis?
Synthesis

Do you do your own mastering or use someone else?
I do but prefer to send to mastering engineering

What’s your favourite plugin or FX unit?
Tone2 Warmverb

And most importantly … what’s your favourite drink?
Pure Vodka + water for no headaches



When was the last time you played in London (or the UK), or is this your first visit?

I have played many years ago in London, it was my first time and when I have spent a week with Leon (Avalon) doing some music, where we made Wake up and many other releases.

We are all very excited to see you perform. What can we expect from your set?

A lot of new music! I’m very happy I can blend my favourite genre of trance with the heavy beats of psy trance.

Finally, as one of the psy trance scene’s biggest acts, with a seriously impressive collection of releases and tour dates, do you have any advice for the aspiring DJs and producers out there?

You’ve gotta be original, persist on what you believe in and focus on delivering good music. When your music is ready, it will be when the music will speak for itself and people will come to you. Of course, don’t forget to have fun during the process, because if you have fun doing it, chances are someone will identify with it and that’s much more than just copying a trend.



Thank you Fernando for catching up with us... we look forward to your set at Troxy in London on Friday 28th April.

Event links

Event info
Tickets

Waio links

FaceBook
Soundcloud
Beatport



Images courtesy of Waio. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Share this :: Facebook : Digg : Stumble Upon : Delicious
Follow HarderFaster :: Twitter
Other Features By Nikki S:
Mechanimal’s Digital Nature album preview at London’s Psymera Summer Boat Party
Nikki S interviews Vini Vici ahead of their London debut at the Astral Circus presents Psy-Fi Festival London Launch party
Nikki S looks at making Babies, ahead of London Landscapes 2 at Ministry of Sound
Nikki S interviews Sinerider - one of the psy scene's fastest rising stars
Sonic Species gets ready to unleash the beat at the Astral Circus 2nd birthday bash
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
Comments:

HarderFaster Jump
Bookmark and Share
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. All other content is (c) 2001-2024 HarderFaster.

Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement | Text Mode