Interview With Timo Maas

What's new in the world of Timo Maas, do you have any projects on the go at the moment?

I have a bunch of things going on right now. Rockets & Ponies is doing pretty well at the moment, and we have the next strong releases ready to go including an amazing club-based SANTOS album, the first one on our label. The next  TM album is also in the making, as well as several songwriting and remix projects.

Where did it all start for you, how did you get into music production? Or was it DJing that came first?

I started DJing back in 1982, so nearly 30 years. I started to produce music towards the end of the 80`s and my first release came out in 1994 and, I've had many since then.

What five pieces of studio equipment would you say determines your sound?

Santos ;), Moog, Ms20, Reactable, Rhodes.

You have done remixes for some big names in your career, how do you approach remixing? Do you prefer it to writing your own music?

First of all, the original music for a Remix must be inspiring, if it is then the ideas usually come automatically. Sometimes it's the sounds, sometimes it's the vocal. But in general the energy and vibe of the original is the key for the remix. Remixing is fun, to write original music is obviously a bit more of an intense process. I like it to do strange and different stuff.

What was the Tech House scene like when you were growing up in Germany, were there big nights going on?

I started going out to houseparties at end of the 80`s and played my first one also at the end of the 80's. Back then the German scene was hugely influenced by what was happening in the UK scene.

What do you think of the Tech House & Techno scene at the moment? Are there artists coming through at the moment that we should be looking out for?

There's a lot of people producing music these days. I absolutely love the work from my partner Santos, Maetrik, Adam Port, etc etc. But for my personal taste, it's still hard work to find the specials in the huge amount of music that's getting released every day. There seems to be too much average music really for my  personal taste but there is still gems to be found out there.

You recently created a sample pack for Loopmasters, how did you find this when compared to writing music?

It was a different experience and a very different approach to writing music. It was quite an intense process to create something so distinctive that can be inspiring and useful for other producers.

When you made your pack, were you worried that producers were going to be sampling, or trying to recreate your sound?

No, not at all. That's what it's made for!!!

What production techniques do you think are really over used and annoying?

Everything has been used really, every instrument, noise etc etc. But still, it's about the great idea. The most simple things can be the next big hit!

Do you have any advice for young producers trying to make it in today's music industry?

Just be individual, don`t try and copy anybody else.