Interview with Threnody

spacer It’s now time for the second chapter of the ‘DSOL MIX‘ series, mixed by Threnody, Sub Fm Dj and experienced producer with the debut album due out on the 24th of October on UK Trends and forthcoming releases on Red Volume, Betamorph and Mutant Bass.


1) Where are you now and what you are going to be doing in the next few hours?
Now I am at home on the sofa with my wife. I have had a busy day back at work after summer (I lecture Music Tech so have a long 6 week summer break!). Over the next few hours I have to listen to final masters of my album which I got today…. I will listen to it in the studio first and then on 2 pairs of headphones and also the laptop speakers to check it works on different systems.

I’ve also got quite a lot of new music to download for my show tomorrow so I will probably multitask and do that whilst listening to the album….then sleep!


2) What is your studio set up? Which tool is the most important to you in creating your sound?

My studio setup at the moment is a Macbook Pro with Cubase 6, Native Instruments Komplete, Ableton for live sets, an Oxygen 8 Midi controller and various plugins. I have Tannoy reveal monitors and a pair of technics for Djing (using Traktor Scratch these days). I have my guitars and cornet for some stuff I do under the Disrepute alias a load of old radios which are mainly in the studio to look good too!

Cubase is definitely the tool which is most important to me as I know it inside out and have a really good workflow on it. As far as synths go Massive and Absynth are my 2 most important synths at the moment and Kontakt loaded with some top quality samples of orchestral instruments is also vital to my sound.

Threnody DSOL02 mix by Darksideoflondon on Mixcloud

3) What was the first track you released? How did you feel about it?

The first track of mine which was released was a remix of a Forensics track on Dubkraft. This was quickly followed by my first EP on Rottun Recordings. It was a great feeling seeing my music in the shops although my first vinyl release (‘Threnody – Sound’ also on Rottun) was a bit more special as I had been playing vinyl for years and having my track on wax was amazing – also the artwork was great on that release.

The tracks on my first EP (Malicious EP) were quite special as I had used those tracks develop my sound as Threnody. I had been creating music since I was 10 years old and up until 2001 when I discovered grime/dubstep everything I wrote was using a guitar and 4-track to write noise stuff. The tracks on the EP were started in 2005 and I worked on them solidly for 3 years – adding more layers, altering parts, perfecting how to do a mixdown – really learning my trade as an electronic composer/computer musician. They came out in 2008 and it was a great feeling to see the tracks I had worked so hard on get a release and I think they stand up now as so much time and effort was put into them. Too often now kids spend an evening on a beat and think it’s finished and put it on soundcloud but they don’t give it a chance to breath and develop life.


4) When you’re not making/playing music, what are you up to? Do you have any secret hobby?

I have a one year old daughter so a lot of the time I am at the playpark or going to farms etc…. I am also a big football fan (I support Maidenhead United fanatically!) and I like Cricket too. I do a bit of part-time acting onstage and I also listen to a lot of modern classical music (Arvo Part is my favourite composer). So really my life is family, music and football and I could easily have an extra 5 hours a day of each.

5) Which is going to be your next release? What we need to expect from that?

My next release is the big one, my debut album ‘The Science of Silence’ which is coming out on UK Trends at the end of October. I have been working on the album for the last 2 years. Some tracks were started in 2009 and have been through a lot of developments. I have been playing most the tracks as they have developed on my Sub FM show so regular listeners have really heard them grow. I had around 16 tracks which were written for the album and I have slimmed this down to 8 tracks now with the others either released on Eps already or due out on various labels in the coming year.

The album itself is quite progressive whilst still having a dancefloor core. Lots of orchestral instruments, evolving melodies, glitch infused beats and drum edits with solid bass and floating atmospheres. The BPM range is 130-170 and it has been really good experimenting outside the 140-145bpm bracket that my early work was in.

Find Threnody

  • for bookings contact jef@methlab-agency.com
  • SoundCloud soundcloud.com/threnody
  • Web www.threnody.co.uk
  • Web www.uktrendsmusic.co.uk
  • Web www.methlab-agency.com
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