interviews

Mike Koglin

Welcome aboard Trance Hub Mike, it's a pleasure to have you here for an interview. How are you doing? You recently blew up the decks at a Gatecrasher event in India. How was the experience on New Year's Eve?

Hello, thanks I'm fine! It was great to be back in India again so soon after my last tour, which gave me the chance to play in Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. The Gatecrasher NYE party was definitely the biggest event yet, they've had a very impressive stage with a huge sound system and great visuals right by the beach. It was just fantastic to celebrate New Years Eve under the palm trees!

Tell us something about Noys Music. What kind of tunes are released under this label and how do you see it's future? Also, is there a funny story behind the name 'Noys'?

Ha ha yes there is a funny aspect to the name 'Noys', which is actually a play on 'Sony', only the letters are in a different order. Originally we've even used the same font as Sony but we've decided to change it a couple of years ago so we wouldn't end up in prison... As for the releases on Noys, they are often in the more techy, harder spectrum of trance but we have released some vocal trancers too.

Do you think you are known for co-productions more than your solo productions? Let's take Untitled Audio with P.O.S, it is one of the heavenliest tunes ever made! And why such title 'Untitled Audio'?

Thank you! Yes I love doing those collaborations, it can get a bit boring to work on your own all the time! My latest collaboration was done in Switzerland a couple of weeks ago with Nick Larson, it will be out on Spinnin in May.

The name for the 'Untitled Audio' track came about like this - when you record a piece of audio in Logic it is called 'untitled audio' by default ... so we've simply kept that as the title!

Since "Untitled Audio" went so massive, tell us about all that went into producing this tune, your collaboration with P.O.S and the inspiration behind this tune? Who engineered the melodic break down of this tune amongst you two?

P.O.S. stands for Paavo Oliver Silijamaki, who is one third of Above & Beyond. They have their studio next door to mine in the same building, and one night after a few beers we've made this track, it was finished by the early morning. Paavo came up with the melody, and I've made the drums and bassline if I remember correctly... There will be a follow-up quite soon!

Are you satisfied with your rank in DJ Mag? How about it's ongoing controversies?

Funny you ask, as only yesterday I had a few drinks with Lesley Wright, the chief editor of DJ Mag. She told me some crazy stories about the cheating she had discovered during the last vote, and we've had a good laugh about all the different ways people tried out to rig the voting results. But I've heard that there are methods of cheating which cannot be discovered at all, and I have to say that the results of the DJ Top 100 are quite inaccurate to say the least... As for my ranking I'm actually very happy to be in the Top 200 the honest way, and I'd like to thank everyone who has voted for me!

What can you tell us about 'Trance ID'? Why this initiative was taken and who else is involved with you in it?

Having been asked many times by aspiring DJs about easy ways of getting into producing and remixing I've decided to co-produce 'TRANCE ID', a VST/AU sample player plug-in which is out now on Ueberschall. I've made 10 of the 40 construction kits on 'TRANCE ID', each one containing drum loops, sequences, basslines, chords and so on, basically everything you need to build a great track. We've actually started working on 'Trance ID2', which will be out later this year, and this time we have some more top producers on board including Darren Tate, Mark Pledger and Pulser.

How important a role do you think the artist managers play in an artist's day to day chores and events?

Yep, it's quite important to have a good manager or DJ agent who has worldwide connections, there just wouldn't be enough time in the day to do look after those things yourself too.

You have globe trotted and performed almost everywhere and before massive crowds. What factors make you go on and on as a DJ and what you don't appreciate as one?

I love being on tour DJ'ing, it makes a welcome change from sitting in the studio every day. It's always a great buzz to play a new production for the first time on a big sound system and in front of a big crowd. I really enjoy traveling and getting to see different countries .. the only thing I hate is having to get up really early in the morning sometimes to catch the next plane! ;-)

"Calling You" with Anita Kelsey was one fantastic vocal track from your studio! Are we going to see more such productions in 2008? Or, are you sticking to non-vocal uplifting sounds this year?

I generally prefer instrumental tracks, but I will release a couple of vocal tracks again this year, male and female.

What are you engaged with besides making music and touring? We would like to know something about your personal self.

Well, unfortunately there's hardly any time for anything else besides the music. Running the label is quite time consuming too. But I'm big movie fan and I love going to the cinema. The last one I saw was 'I Am Legend', brilliant movie.

When a collaboration is done between two artists, the credits are mentioned in the title song. How is the financial part handled between the two producers?

I always split everything 50/50 with the person I did the collaboration with, so there is no argument there. The only thing you might still argue about is the order of the names on the record! ;)

It's been more than 10 years you hailed in Trance music scene, how has the journey been so far? As one of the pioneers of Trance music, you would have seen many artists enter this industry, please mention some of the most noticeable ones in your vision today?

Yes there have been so many brilliant artists since Trance emerged in '97/98, too many to mention. Unfortunately a lot of big names have since disappeared, but thank god there is always plenty of new talent coming out all the time. The two names that have impressed me most in the last couple of years are Sander Van Doorn and Deadmau5, both have really pushed the genre forward with their own unique styles.

There are some top DJs who are collaborating with Pop artists and doing remixes for them. This is somewhat appreciated by Trance fans. This whole genre merging isn't going very well with Trance. Is it?

Sure, the danger is always that things might go a bit too commercial or cheesy when it comes to pop being remixed by Trance DJs. But there are some great examples which have turned out very well, and there are some really cool bootlegs too which merge trance and Pop, and even Rock.

We would love to know about some funny incident that occurred when you were touring! The DJs have so many to tell!

The funniest thing that happened lately was when I flew all the way from London to Korea to play at the opening night of a big new club. When I arrived the club was not ready at all yet, they were still painting the walls, building the bars and so on. So the promoters had no choice but to call it all off and instead we went to the club next door and got totally wrecked till 5 in the morning.

What changes are you bringing in your studio this year? Can we have a sneak peak of your studio through words?

I'm actually planning to move into a bigger studio this year with more proper sound-designed walls and ceilings and so on but I'm still looking for the right location. When it's ready I'll have some pics on my myspace page!

It was fantastic interviewing you; we hope to see you soon again here in India. We wish you a massive 2008 Mike! Thanks and warm regards.

Thank you too!

For more info related to Mike Koglin check out the following links:
www.mikekoglin.com
www.myspace.com/mikekoglin

Written by: Apoorv
Compiled by: Mr. Yank