Inside BB Awards 2016 - One day with Seth Vogt Interview

 interview N°12:BBA2016 -  Seth Vogt- Orlando (Florida)
 All artists nominated in the Breakbeat Awards 2016




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Seth Vogt is a producer and DJ currently residing in Orlando Florida. Seth has been producing dance music professionally since 1996 and has done remixes for many underground acts as well as being commissioned for remixes by household names such as The Script, Korn, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Trina, and more. Seth Vogt is the owner of M-Toxin Recordings and has over 200 professional releases to date on labels such as iBreaks, Dog Eat Dog Records, Illeven Eleven, Rat Records, Digital Records, Cognitive Music, Atlantic Records, Def Jam, Static System, as well as many other prestigious labels. Seth has been a resident DJ for HouseFlyz club nights in downtown Orlando for over 6 years, has played the main stage for both Future Sound of Breaks and Dog Eat Dog Records events consecutively during the Winter Music Conference in Miami for the past couple of years. Outside of DJing and producing Seth has done original vocals for releases on tracks by Agent K, Under This, Kid Panel, Avlish, as well as his own original productions. Seth Vogt's quest of finding new avenues to showcase his sound of melodic, bass driven breakbeat is a nonstop passion that is never-ending. 
For more information, affordable bookings (works well with small and large promoters), or remix requests feel free to contact info@sethvogt.com, message us here, or visit www.sethvogt.com. Thank you for your continued support.



How was 2016 for you? 

2016 was a great year for me musically and personally. I was able to DJ in quite a few new places and release quite a few new original tracks as well as remixes. I also stepped out a bit more in 2016 as a vocalist by being featured on Agent K’s “String Theory”, Phat Kidz “What You Got”, and quite a few of my original productions. 


WHAT YOU GOT
Can you tell us what your favorite thing is about your track? 

My favorite thing about “What You Got” was collaborating with the Phat Kidz for the first time. I have been friends with the Phat Kidz for quite awhile now. Outside of being talented DJ’s and producers they are both such great people. Collaborating as the featured vocalist was a really great experience and I am proud of that tune. 

Can you tell us about new projects you will be working on 2017?

2017 is already ramping up to be a very busy year. I just finished a remixes for G$Montana & NeuroziZ, Agent K, and D-Xtreme. I just finished a new original called “Like We Do” that will be coming out on Dog Eat Dog Records in February. I currently am working on a collaboration with Dustin Dynasty which is shaping up to be a pretty wicked banger. We also have a few new breaks tunes in the cue for my label M-Toxin Recordings. 

Outside of the breaks world I am working on a few deep house tunes with my brother Dylan .JK. Vogt and DJ Avlish along with my HouseFlyz pseudonym. 

Imagine yourself walking into the studio; please may you talk me through a typical day? What are your habits?

A typical studio session for me will start by pulling drum samples. I am always looking for new percussion sounds and I spend a ridiculous amount of time looking online for new drum samples to add to my library.  I start by auditioning new kicks, snares, and then move on to other percussion samples that will stand out to make the track unique. Once I have that established I work on getting a percussion pulse together in order to get the groove that I am looking for. After the percussion I move to finding synth parts that play off of the drum groove. If I have a good groove going on in my percussion I will almost hear the synth parts that are supposed to be there before playing them in and finding the proper sound. 
Once that pulse is established I move on to chord structure in order to build the bass line. I work with an 8 measure loop until I am feeling the groove of what I have put together. Once I am happy with that I move onto the arrangement of putting the song itself together. Honestly I could go on and on about what a “typical” day in the studio is like. I love making music and thoroughly enjoy every second involved with the release that time in the studio gives me. 

How do you go about choosing what software and plug-ins you use?

Because I have been using Logic since version 4 I feel as if I can almost use it in my sleep. In my opinion your production software becomes an extension of your thoughts and emotions at times when making music. I have my favorite plug-ins which have sounds I have manipulated over the years to give me what I consider to be “my sound”. I love spending time learning new plug-ins because it feels as if you are given a new sonic color to paint with. Adding something new to music the production process will always help create something fresh and unexpected. 

What’s the one piece of DJ/production gear you can’t live without?

Logic X - Hands down it has been an amazing ever evolving piece of software. At times a new version of any software will annoy you, but in the end Logic has always been a solid with making workflow more efficient with every version. 

Any particular artists/dj’s/ producers that really influenced you?

I listen to all sorts of music and all have a large impact on me. If I had to name a few…
For electronic music production I would say Hybrid and Sasha originally inspired me to do what I do. My boys Under This out of Latvia are always an inspiration and I am honored to have been given the opportunity to work with them on a few projects. Currently Left / Right, Plump DJ’s, and deep house sets by Dom Donnelly have been very big influences on me and the direction of my music.
As a vocalist and songwriter a group called Mansions On The Moon have been a huge influence. Their songwriting and the way they layer their vocals is just amazing. The latest Rufus Du Sol album has been a large vocal inspiration for my song writing and vocals. I am also really into a rock group called Circa Survive who musically and lyrically are genius. They put on such a phenomenal live show that I have had to see Circa Survive 8 times now. 


How’s the (electronic) music scene in this moment in your country?

This is completely my observation and opinion, but overall the electronic music scene here in the states seems very fickle. People in the USA for the most part want to hear only songs they know when they go out. It is almost always the same DJ’s all playing the same songs. We have some great nights in Orlando, but during those nights you see people walking up to the DJ asking for requests. The “it’s all about me and what I want to dance to” generation is never going to be open to something they have never heard. Personally, when I go hear a DJ I want to be inspired by hearing something new and groundbreaking or something they may have just finished producing before it comes out. I am not sitting here dogging the state of electronic music in the states. I am fortunate enough to travel all over the US and there are some amazing underground club nights scattered throughout the country. I am really talking more of what I see on the surface and what I deal with first hand.

Often particular cities are linked to certain sounds and sub genres. Do you think living in your city is reflected in your music?

Hell yes! In the 90’s when I moved to Orlando from Pennsylvania I was into punk, metal, and alternative music.  I walked into a packed club called Firestone at 3am. There was this guy with 3 turntables in front of him and he had the place rocking. I knew I had walked into something special. I later realized I had walked into a set by Carl Cox. Orlando always has had a leg up on electronic music especially in the 90’s. We used to have a weekend of Sasha or Paul Van Dyk and then have an amazing list of local DJ’s such as Icey, Chris Fortier, Jimmy Van M, AK1200, Dave Cannalte, Kimball Collins, Baby Anne etc. Outside of these great club nights there were also the producers making electronic dance music many of these guys played. I was fortunate enough to be in on the production side throughout these years and cut my teeth working with people like Bill Hamel, 69 Boyz, Alex G, Sam Mollison, AK1200, etc. I learned to use the melodic spacey sounds of progressive house and add it to a hard hitting breakbeat that morphed into what I consider to be  “my sound”. Overall I feel living in Orlando which always has had the best mix of house and breaks molded me into the producer / DJ I am today.

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