Inside The Mix | Music Production and Mixing Tips for Music Producers and Artists

#24: How to Write Successful Synth Pop Music | Maxthor

March 22, 2022 Maxthor Season 2 Episode 1
Inside The Mix | Music Production and Mixing Tips for Music Producers and Artists
#24: How to Write Successful Synth Pop Music | Maxthor
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Show Notes Transcript

Coming out of Spain in a haze of neon lights, electro-synth pulses, and eighties rock brilliance is Maxthor, a three-piece with a unique and original retro-futuristic sound.

Forging a broad spectrum of influences, Maxthor takes the irresistible echoes of eighties giants like Phil Collins, Billy Idol, and Survivor and filters them through their lens of synth-driven futurist nostalgia. The results are intoxicating; insanely catchy songs, beautifully crafted and drowned in the electronic atmosphere and synthpop hooks. There’s metal, Italo-disco, and retro aesthetics in the mix - it’s a cocktail of sounds that makes Maxthor a truly unique proposition.

To listen to Maxthor, check out Bandcamp at: https://maxthor.bandcamp.com/
To follow Maxthor on Instagram, visit: https://www.instagram.com/maxthor/

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Marc Matthews:

You're listening to the inside the mix podcast with your host, Mark Matthews. Hello, and welcome to the inside the mix podcast. I'm Mark Matthews, your host, musician producer, and mix and mastering engineer you've come to the right place. If you want to know more about your favorite sense, music, artists, music, engineering, and production songwriting, and the music industry. I've been writing, producing, mixing, and mastering music for over 50 years. And I wanna share what I've learned with you. So welcome to the insider, the mix podcast. And in today's episode, I'm joined by Lewis Delta a, he is one third of Spanish outfit. Max, th in this episode, we'll be discussing the birth of max th the latest single far away, and also a Napa coming single as well. And the similarities and differences between songwriting for documentaries, Spanish pop, and max do so. Luis, thank you for joining me today.

Maxthor:

How are you? Thank you. I I'm well, thank you for having me in, in your podcast.

Marc Matthews:

It's my pleasure. It's my pleasure. So this is the, for the audience listening. This is the first episode of series two. So we've been out of action for a few months. So, um, I'm, I'm eager to get things going again. So, um, can you just tell our audience where you are joining us from. Uh,

Maxthor:

I'm in I'm I'm from Spain and I live in ante in the coast.

Marc Matthews:

Fantastic. Fantastic. Much brighter than it is over here in the UK. Yeah. Yeah. So I've got your bio here, so I'll just briefly run through it for our audience. So forging a broad spectrum of influences. You take the irresistible echoes of eighties giants like Phil Collins, the EP behind me, we were discussing off air our Phil Collins EP, uh, Billy IDO on survivor, great influences and filters them through the lens of sense driven futuristic nostalgia. I love that description. Intoxicating insanely chy melodies songs, beautifully crafted and drowned in the electronic atmosphere in synth pop hooks. There's metal Italo disco, and retro aesthetics in the. It's a cocktail of sounds that makes max store a truly unique proposition. That is a fantastic description. I must say. I love it. Thank you. Yeah. so I was just going through your social media earlier today. And, um, so you've got a new single we'll we'll touch on that a bit later, but for audience, can you just tell us the, the name of the new single when it's gonna be, when it's gonna be coming

Maxthor:

out? Ah, the new single is coming out, uh, uh, this week on, uh, on Friday, Friday 18, it's called, uh, since out of this world. And yes, a new single is more like disco with, uh, sax on it. So yeah, very exact to, to share it.

Marc Matthews:

Fantastic, man, what I'll do is depending on when this episode goes live, I'll obviously put links to all your social media websites and also links to the, the songs as well and the new song. So what I like to do Louis is just start off with a bit of, um, a background of, of yours. So life before. Max haw. So can you tell our audience a bit about your musical life prior to max? Th so how did you get into music? What inspired you to, to be a creative?

Maxthor:

Well, so I, I started at a very, very young eight, uh, I, I I'm a drum. My, my main instrument is drum. So I used to play in, in metal band. I was like really deep into, into the metal world. Yeah. Especially in extreme metal. That's, that's what I, what I really like. Uh, but I'm also open to all kind of, of styles. I, I always loved eighties music. Uh, I love, I dunno, classical music, world music. So I started when I was 15, 16 playing drums in a band. And later I became interested in, in music production. So I started using the, the computer and, and I decided to start my own project. Like I think, uh, I had the complete control of it, like right in the music, uh, mixing mastering, like everything. So that's why. I started master, but as I told you, mainly I I've been always in, interested in, in writing songs. I really like, like songwriting and I started with, with bands and then I, I felt fell in love with, with a studio work. Yeah.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. I know that feeling. It, it is so interesting. This is a common. And I say this pretty much every episode, I think when I talk to other artists about their influences and their backgrounds, and it's the metal theme again, like I'm sure the audience listening now know that I'm from a metal background as well. Um, but metal seems to be almost synonymous now with, uh, like our style of music, which is amazing. Um, yeah,

Maxthor:

many E even all, all the producers working now in, in the states, like making pop, like max Martin, those guys. Everyone was involved into metal. So I dunno what, what, yeah. What explanation of

Marc Matthews:

that? There there's a nice crossover there somewhere and it is great because the music coming out is fantastic. And it's interesting. You mention mentioned that because when I was listening back through your stuff on SoundCloud, I didn't tweak initially, but then a song came on. I was like, hold on. I recognize that. And it was wasted years by iron maiden. Mm-hmm and then I was immediately, I was like, all right. Yeah. Yeah, here we go. It's it is another, it's another metal. Turns synthesis, you know, but a great cover. Nonetheless, one of my favorite maiden songs

Maxthor:

too. Thank you. Yeah, it, it was, it was no easy to decide which one to pick up because I've always wanted to, to do a iron maiden cover. And I, I was trying to figure out which track was the ideal for that. And. Finally, I, I, I picked wasted gears, but I Romanian is a band I really love. Yeah. Is the band that started me into, into the medal. So yeah.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. I love that band. I got a friend of mine in a band. I was previously in. Who's a massive, massive maiden fan. He's a bassist though. He's Steve Harris style bass. Yeah. He plays bass like an it's. It's like he plays bass like an animal. Um, I don't quite know how he does it. Shout out to Matt if you're listening. Yeah. So wasted years. So on that track, are you playing guitar on. Track or is that one of the other guys

Maxthor:

I'm, I'm playing everything on Mac store. I mean, uh, although we are a, a three member band. Yeah. The thing is that all the music in, in Mac store is written and performed by me. Oh, wow. And the band. Yeah, the band is just a life band. Oh. I mean, we, we only act, uh, as a band when we play. Uh, but all the work max store music, the songwriting like lyrics and yeah, I play guitars saxophone. I sing, I do like all the stuff and the bandies just for the life sales.

Marc Matthews:

Man. That's impressive. That was one of my questions. Future answer was, um, future down the line. We'll circle back to this, but I was gonna ask you about the guitar, the saxophone, the singing, and who does what? But we'll come back to that shortly, but I multi-instrumentalist man. That's

Maxthor:

super impressive. Yeah. The, the thing is that I'm, I'm mostly a, I'm mainly a drum, but there are not like real drums in master. Because it's electronic drums. Yeah. So my main instrument is not been played there and I'm play the other instruments,

Marc Matthews:

uh, the irony. So you are a drummer, you actually play drums. You play everything else, but drums. Yeah. Nice man. That's crazy. Um, So go back to life, like, um, get, when you got into music, can you tell our audience a bit about like your, so you mentioned that you played metal, an extreme metal. How, just before I go onto the next question, like, so, so what sort of extreme metal can you give us? Like an example?

Maxthor:

Yeah, me, the, uh, was black metal was. The, the kind of metal that, especially Nordic metal, everything like, like death, melodic metal, black metal. Yeah. But I, as I told you, I, I always like, like heavy metal, like iron made and even blink water and all kinds of metal, but, uh, black metal was like my, my, really my first passion as,

Marc Matthews:

yeah. So like, uh, as a listen, Like DMU Bo's year, like crad of filth.

Maxthor:

Uh, I, I, I was, I was a really huge fan of cradle. Phil.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. Got old Danny filth. Yeah. I,

Maxthor:

I, I saw them live a couple of times. Did you? Eh, yeah. I, I, I don't really like what they are doing now, but the first three albums are men. I love them.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. Is it a ghost in the fog? That song that's a quality song. I think it's called that. I'm sure it. Okay.

Maxthor:

Yeah. Yeah, that, that one is from the latest album. Is, is the first album. Yeah, the principle of evil make flesh empire. Yeah. And, and, uh, thatcan her embrace was the last one of the good. Yeah. A phase of , but love the band very original.

Marc Matthews:

When you saw them live. I dunno if they were doing it then, is, was it at the point whereby I know if I remember rightly they had like these artists on stage with angle grinders who would like have a metal plate and they would use angle grinders against themselves. Um, I don't Don, I I'm fairly certain that happened. I'm fairly certain it did. I know

Maxthor:

when I went to a, to an cradle field gig, like more like 25 years ago or 20 years ago. A long time ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Marc Matthews:

Um, maybe this is a bit later then I'll tell you what off, off air after this. I gotta go look this up. Um, I'm I'm sure that happened. I'm sure it. But it's probably like later, further down the line. so, yeah. So you mentioned you got into like extreme metal and metal. So can you remember like the first song that really got you into, or inspired you to start creating music? Was there like a song or an album or maybe an artist? I

Maxthor:

think the, the, the first album that, uh, really got me into, into music was fear of the dark, but by iron maiden. Oh, cool. Also manure. I really loved manure in that, that time. Yeah. Yeah. The dream of a, still that album is, is great. Uh, and yeah, that was the, the first album I started to listening on repeat like, man, I really, because at first it sounded like noise to me. Mm-hmm I didn't understand what was going on. Like okay. The. This is noisy. I don't understand what , what is happening over there, what the drama is doing, but when you start listening to it on repeat, you start appreciating, know the skills of the musicians there, the melodies, the armies. So, yeah, maybe I would say fear of the dark worlds. One of the most important albums, uh, as an influence for me. Yeah,

Marc Matthews:

it's a, it's a great album. Isn't it? And it's interesting. You mentioned there about how, like when you first listened. Certain certain metal and like heavy rep metal, hard rock and that sort of thing. And it starts out as noise. And I think when I play songs to, to people who don't generally listen to metal, that's what they hear. They just say, oh, it just sounds like noise. But once you get beyond that, you actually listen to the artistry and the musicianship and everything and the songwriting and the composition that goes into it. You realize actually this is like really, really impressive. Yeah, definitely.

Maxthor:

Yeah, man. And the, the same happens. I remember the first time I listening, I listen to, uh, uh, non melodic vocals, like growing vocals was Tuda. Oh yeah. Nice. The Brazilian band. And I hated it. It was like, what the fuck is this? Like? Yeah, he's a screaming. I didn't understand why someone could like that. And finally, you, you learn to appreciate. That kind of BOS it's yeah. It's not easy to, to get into those vocals. You learn that it's more about texture expression. That's melody is not the only important things in, in, in vocal. So it's another way of expressions, but it takes time. It happens like, I mean, jazz music is the same. You need to understand it's a different language and, and you need to learn to understand it. Yeah.

Marc Matthews:

I, that's a really, really good way of putting it a really articulate way of putting it is, is like another language. And you, it takes time to understand that. Yeah, I totally agree. And I, I went through the same phase, I think the first, what did I listen to? I think it was cannibal Corps, um, and initially listened to it and I was just like, man, this is, nah, this is way too extreme for me. But now further down the line haven't been in bands and stuff. It's one of, I went, I've watched cannibal Corps in Bristol and it's like one of the best gigs I ever went to. Uh, I, I love it now. It is great. And I remember the. The proper first band that I listened to with, with growling or screaming in was, was, and got, probably got into what I think was kill switching gauge end of heartache, which is like the metal core metal core era, like the early nos, but they're very much the same. And it is you learn to appreciate the emotion that goes into, into those vocals and the music.

Maxthor:

Yeah, man. And, and there's sets up a huge variety of, of growing singing because. You have high beats vocals, like really deep Gros and every single has his own like texture and personality. It's amazing.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. I totally agree, mate. I totally. So moving on to sort of like the birth of, of max fourth. So you mentioned there, one of my questions was gonna be, where did you meet? Pablo and it's wa I'm assuming Wing's got the same surname. So is he your brother? Is he a cousin relative? Yeah.

Maxthor:

It's is my real brother. It's my younger brother. Yeah.

Marc Matthews:

So then going back to what you said earlier, so you do all your, the multi-instrumentalist, you do all the, the songwriter, the recording artist as well, and they are just there. To perform live

Maxthor:

with you. Yeah. Yeah, because the thing was, I, I am, I didn't plan to, to play live shows with max star, but, um, like three, four years ago, uh, they asked me to play in London in re future Fest. Oh, cool. And I, I say no at first, but then I started to think, okay, let let's let's play live, but I didn't want to play like me alone in the state with all the music in the background, like, uh, karaoke. That been amazing. So yeah, I ask, uh, my brother, uh, jokin who plays keyboards and Pablo is, is a really good friend of mine in. It's it's uh, funny things because I met Pablo because of my F favorite ever band who is open, you know? Yeah.

Marc Matthews:

Michael, like, IEL.

Maxthor:

Okay. So Pablo is the cousin of the bass player in OPPE? No. Yeah, yeah. Martin men. Yeah. And I, I went to, to an OPPE concert in Spain and I was talking to Martin like, like fun. Funboy like, can you, yeah. Yeah. And, and. and he said, Hey man, my, my cousin is, is living there in aand and he just arrived. He's looking for like some friends and okay. And now it's one of my, my best friends. Yeah.

Marc Matthews:

Oh, amazing. That's so cool. It's like proper third degrees of, uh, three degrees of separation. That's amazing. Yeah. That's so great. Yeah. It's got so many questions now ask about Opeth but that's a total, total tangent in, it's got off on a tangent in. So with regards to taking your music to the live arena, did you find it quite an easy thing to do? What were the challenges there to take? Your was essentially a studio project then into, and, and then have it turned into a live animal?

Maxthor:

Yeah, so it wasn't really challenging and it wasn't easy, uh, at all first because I was used to play life, but as a drummer and the good thing. Uh, when you play drums is you are in the bag of the state. Mm-hmm you have the symbols yeah. In front of you and you are not exposed. So it was the first time I, I, I, I had to sing and play guitar on the same, same time. So that was pretty challenging. But I dunno, when you start singing is you, you are nervous like, like the first minute, and then you are perfect. And technically it was, uh, it was difficult because we wanted to play them them the, um, every part life, but it was impossible because there are a lot of layers and, and track in every master song. So part of it is, uh, we, we played some background music, the electronic bass, some layer scenes. And, and we have the vocals guitar, uh, keyboards and drums live. So it's a mix between, uh, electronic setup and, and life set. Wow.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. There's quite a lot to take in there. Isn't it? It's quite a lot to do because it's, it's a conversation now. Like we're coming. I dunno what it's like in Spain, but we're coming out. The other side of this, this, this pandemic, and like bands are now and live music is hopefully gonna. Continue to, to reopen and you I'm, I'm talking to more and more artists about how they're taking their, or they wanna take their, their sort of, uh, projects on the road and perform live. And I think it's gonna be, um, a topical conversation for, for quite a few of these, these podcast interviews. And I have, I have, now I know I've got one coming up with a, an artist called Daniel hue. We're gonna be going through like how he's taking his life. And I think Zack vortex is also doing the same and you, you see all these artists and the challenges, it'd be nice. I quite like to do the same, the thing do it myself at one point. Way further down the line. Um, but how, how did you get the, were you approached then to play the, the festival in the UK? Is that the one in London? Was, is that right?

Maxthor:

Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was in London like three years ago. It was the year before the pandemic. Like, yeah. Now everything you say, like before or after the pandemic. So yeah, it was in June 19th, 2019. Yeah. We played that show. And then we play some, some months after that we play another show with Nina and another Spanish artist, sun in Barona. Yeah. And that was January. Uh, and that was the, the last one we play after that pandemic and shows.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. Nina. That's good though. Nina's awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

Maxthor:

How was that? Good. It was great. And, and she's a really nice girl. She and Lara, they're amazing. They're really, really cool people.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. Yeah. I bet. Oh, jealous much. That sounds amazing. That's that's pretty good. So that was your second gig then

Maxthor:

we just paid two gigs like London and Barlo, that's not bad.

Marc Matthews:

That's pretty good going for like, for your first two gigs. Yeah. Play. So, um, the name max max though. Um, I'm not gonna attempt to roll my ass. Um, where, where does that name come from? Does it, does that have a specific meaning?

Maxthor:

Yeah, so it's, it's a fun story because, uh, max store came there, there was a, a TV show in Spain in the nineties. Uh, it was called, I, I think in, in English, it's called like the goose game. It's like a board game. Okay. I don't know the game of the goose maybe.

Marc Matthews:

Is it a board game?

Maxthor:

Is it there? There is a game. Yeah. It's like a, like a board game, but they, they did that television. So at some point you get to a place where, where, where you have to, to, to have like a, uh, you have to face that guy that was called max. And it was just a guy dressed as a cyborg, as a. Okay, but it was super lame. So it was like , but I really love that name. It sound to me like master man, that sounds super powerful. And I was, I dunno, I was 12, uh, 14 years old. And, uh, I, I knew, I, I, I mean, I say, okay, I, I need to use that name sometimes. What? So when I started this project, I say, okay, master that this way. And, and that's the only funny thing about master, because there's no jokes or fun in my lyrics. Sorry. It's super serious. It's like, But the, the reason of the name is yeah. Is, is fun.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah, no, you've mentioned like you gimme the story, like, like you say, the actual name sounds really cool and I wouldn't have associated it with, um, with something that like that, you know, I'm. When this episode's done, I'm gonna go away and think about what games in English involve a goose. There is one game, but it does involve a board it's called duck goose. You basically get around in a circle and touch someone on the edge until you say goose, and then they chase you. But I don't think that's the one. I don't think that's it. There's no max thought let's take a quick break from this episode so that I can tell you about a free resource that I made for you. It's a PDF checklist that describes what you need to do properly. Prepare a mix for mastering. So you've done the hard work and you love your mix yet. Suitably preparing a mix for mastering is often overlooked by musicians resulting in delayed sessions, excessive, back and forth conversation and frustration on both parts. I want. Fix that. So if you want this free resource, just go to www dot synth music, mastering.com. As this checklist will help and guide you to make the mastering process as smooth, transparent, and exciting as possible. So again, the URL is www dot synth music, mastering.com for this free preparing a mix for mastering checklist. Let's get back to the episode. So go my final sort of question about the berth of max store is like, did you, did you have an initial goal for the project and has that changed over time?

Maxthor:

Um, the thing is, uh, I think that the goal is still the same now because when I started max store, I, I didn't even plan to, to share it with people. I just wanted to, to learn some music production and do my own. And, and also especially creating music I, I wanted to listen to, but I, I couldn't find anywhere. So that, that kind of, of mix. So I, I just did it for, for fun. Now it's the same to me. I, I don't, my only goal is making the better songs. It's time. If every time I write a new song, it's I analyze it and, and, and think, okay, this one it's better. I mean, it sound better. I, I always want a better sound. Better structure, better songwriting. So it's like challenging myself, but I don't have any goal, like, okay. I, I want to reach 1 million Spotify listeners. I really, yeah. I don't care about that because what, what makes me happy is being here in my studio working. And when you finish a song and you listen to it and okay, this sound great that that's. That's the, the, the goal for me of, of making music.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. I totally agree with that. I think, yeah. For like when, when it comes to me writing music and making music as well, I just do it because I enjoy doing it. And like you say, each song, you sort of progress and you learn and you get better each time. And I think once you put a, a value or a statistic in mind, like you say, I wanna reach one mile, 1 million streams, or I wanna get X amount of follows and stuff. I think you lose sight of actually what you're doing. You're just trying. Yeah, I dunno. Yeah. I think you can easily lose sight of that creativity and it can then, then it become, possibly become quite, I dunno, like a part-time job then in a way, like, you know, if it is just a goal, someone set you and most of, and yeah, I think

Maxthor:

lose sight of the people quit music because of that, because they are anxious to, to, to be successful or mad that they, yeah, I've been playing music since I was 15. and I started like working as a professional because now I work as a mixing mastering engineer. I composed like for, um, I, I score, uh, I do music scored, but I started when I was 35, like making a living out of music and that's because I, I loved music and I just keep doing it because of the fun of. And, and that's important. Like if you like it. Yeah. You're doing it. Of course. It's great. When, when, when people likes your music and when I release a song and someone texts me like, Hey, I love your new track. That's amazing. Of course. But that doesn't need to be the, your main goal. Never.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. I think that's really cool, man. And I think it's great that you mentioned. Like age, isn't a barrier either. Like you mentioned there, like you're, you're 35, which is still young. I mean, I'm 35. I like to think I'm still quite young. No. And like, sorry

Maxthor:

about, I'm not 35. I mean, I, when I was 35, I started like making a living now I'm 43 man re man

Marc Matthews:

you look really good for 43. Thank you. I'll give you that 43. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but no, even like you mentioned there, so basically you became like, Professional in the industry at 35. So it's, it's kind of saying to the audience, I guess, like, even if it doesn't happen in your early twenties or whenever, and you think, oh, in my I'm in my thirties, I've gotta knockout on their head. Now I've gotta go and get another job, cuz it's not gonna happen. It's great that I think there was another interview I had with another eyes and I, I can't remember who it was, but they were in a similar position. They didn't crack into the music industry and become a professional into their mid thirties as well. And I think it's like you say, if you don't. If you don't put a statistic in front of you that you need to aim for, you just keep knocking, you just keep writing music and doing what you're doing. And eventually, yeah, that's

Maxthor:

what I did. I had theory like regular jobs. Yeah. Like I work at, I had a lot of jobs and in the weekends I spend the weekend making music and. So doing it, don't surrender.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. That that's great, man. That's a, that's a great message to send out. So going on now to sort of like the, the songwriting side of things. So you mentioned there that you, you mix a master as well. But what I'd like to just delve into is the songwriting process. So, I mean, if we look at the track sort of far away, how did, um, and we'll, we'll come onto the new one in a bit. How does the songwriting session start with you? Like, do you start with an initial idea or do you just pick up an instrument and you start noodling away? How, how does the songwriting process start? So.

Maxthor:

Usually like 70 or 80% of the time, it starts with, uh, a melody I'm I'm just like walking my dog or doing whatever. And a melody comes to mind. And I, I, I picture the whole song in my head and just tried to, to make it happen. Um, but in, in, uh, with this drug with far away, it was pretty different because I, I just wanted to, to make an AB tempo song. Uh, I say, okay, let's try to do a song. That is, it goes really fast with that kind of. I was really inspired by Billy idol style. Like, it sounds like very like powerful, like, like music for driving at night. So I started with the beat and I say, go ahead, let let's make, um, uh, a nice beat and up tempo bit. And then I, I started trying melodies. One thing I, I always started is, is with core progressions. Because that that's really get, get me started, like finding a nice core progression. That sound, that doesn't sound too cliche is it's a, a great start point for me always. Yeah,

Marc Matthews:

no, no. I think that's a great way to start and I very much do the same. Um, when it comes to the songwriting, you have that initial idea. Do you do the thing where you're out and about? Where if you have an idea, do you like singing to your phone or anything like that and record audio messages? All.

Maxthor:

Yeah. Yeah. I, I use the, the, the voice note. Yeah. All the time. But if you listen to it, it's like so this is this song. Okay. I'm yes, like whistling or yeah, I use it all the time.

Marc Matthews:

amazing. So with regards to your music production, then I just wanna delve a bit deeper into that. Then what, uh, out of interest, what DAW do you use for your productions? Do you use one or do you use several

Maxthor:

I'm I'm using Aton

Marc Matthews:

live. Ah, nice. Do you use that live as ironically? Yeah. Do you use it live as

Maxthor:

well? It's it's it is great for that. Yeah. I mean I'm, um, I I've never used another one. I know how pro tools or, uh, logic works, but Aton life is really intuitive. You can learn by yourself. Yes. Trying things. And it's, I, I really life Aton life and I I'm using that for, for the life shows because it's really easy to launch clips and it's amazing for

Marc Matthews:

that. Nice, nice. It's one it's one D w I tried once. And I never went back to, but it's one of those ones where there's, it, it's kind of like a goal. I say goal. It is a name of mine to have a go with it again, but it's just finding time to use it, you know, but sort of moving on to the, the multi-instrumentalist side of things. So you mentioned that you play saxophone guitar. You I'm assuming you probably play bass as well. Would that be fair to say? Yeah. Yeah. Um, go, go on on. I was gonna say, where did you like have time to fight, to like master all these instruments? That's the

Maxthor:

thing I don't master the, the instruments. If, if you want to really master an instrument, you, you need to play like eight hours a day. Because when, when I see a, a top guitar player, Piano player. I am like, man, I wish I could play like, like that, but it's impossible. For example, saxophone, I, I can play saxophone. I'm a really super amateur. And I, when I record, uh, saxophone solos, I, I practice it hours and hours. I, I record like 100 takes till it sounds good. So I can play saxophone in a, in a life. So, but that's the thing. I, I, I just choose to know a little of each instrument instead of be, uh, a master of, of one of them. It's impossible to master a lot of instruments. Yeah, I

Marc Matthews:

agree. I think the, um, the general rule of thumb is, is what, 10,000 hours. And even then it's not mastering, is it? You got invest 10,000 hours. I mean, trying to find 10,000 hours into one thing. Is it Fe in itself. My next question was gonna be about the artwork. So go looking through your releases, like there is sort of cohesion, a link with all the artwork. Do you use the, the same artist for all of your releases?

Maxthor:

Yeah, the same artist who is my wife.

Marc Matthews:

how amazing. Oh, that's so good. You're so lucky. Cause the

Maxthor:

thes amazing. All the, the covers are designed by, by my.

Marc Matthews:

Is she, um, does she do it like professionally or is it just like a side?

Maxthor:

Hustle's she, she, she, uh, she, she is not specialized in like digital design. She's more like a painter, but for the covers I always came with with a concept or I have an idea and, and she helps me with like Photoshop and all that kind of. To, to get the idea. Yeah. Amazing. It's

Marc Matthews:

all my wife. It's impressive. They look so good. I, I, I strongly suggest the audience going a, a check out the music. If you haven't done this already. And B look at the artwork. Cause it is so, so

Maxthor:

good. Thank me. Yeah. Yeah. The cover is because I really love, uh, one another. Besides music books are my, my passion. I really. Reading. So I always like that kind, that, that, uh, science fiction books from the fifties 60 with, with those covers. So I, the, the master covers is like tribute to, to

Marc Matthews:

that kind of, of books. Nice. Nice. Definitely audience go and check those out. They, they do look so, so. So going back to right at the beginning, I mentioned that you do songwriting for documentaries in Spanish pop. How do you find the songwriting different? Or is there maybe it's the same? Is there similarities or are there difference? What are the differences between writing for? So when you say you're writing for Spanish pop, is that I'm assuming that's pop artists. Are you like a ghost writer? Yeah,

Maxthor:

not a ghost writer because my, my name appears on the credits. So, but yeah, I, I work with, with Warner in Spain with Warner chapel. Uh, so yeah, I, I work with some pub like, um, urban music, pop music, and I, I do like songwriting production. I love that it's really different from the max stuff. But as I told you, I, I love a lot of different music genres, so yeah.

Marc Matthews:

Nice. Must be a nice different thing sort of every, every day or two, then something different. You're working on a nice bit of variety.

Maxthor:

Yeah. Yeah. It is really different because when you're producing, uh, uh, an another artist song, it's all about his or her vision. Like I, I have to. Um, that person to get what, what he or he has in mind. So that's great. And yeah, it's really when, when you see that, that. I dunno, it's it's like, I don't feel, uh, that, that those pop tracks are like the work of another person is I there's, there's some, some about me in those tracks too, so

Marc Matthews:

yeah, no, no, totally great. There's gonna be an element of you in there as well. Isn't it? Because you, you sort of contributed to it. How, how did you get into that then? Were you approached by labels artists? did they want to work with you or is it sort of like, did you send out here's my portfolio of work just for the audience, for those interested in getting involved with like producing and working with, with other industries? Yeah. Well,

Maxthor:

I started, uh, I, I, I play in another project who that is an electronic, uh, trio electronic ban with, with lawyer Henry mm-hmm . Of old live friends here and we play electronic music, more like club music, we play festivals. So, so we got signed by Warner and they were looking for, uh, some, some writing production too. And they ask us, okay, who, who do you want to, to produce? Or, or who do you want to work? And we say there, there, there was a, a really popular band in Spain, in the eighties called meno. And we say, we want, and the girl who sings there is AKA. We say, we want to work with this girl. And the next day we were talking to her and the last album, we produced almost a full album and that. Amazing. So, yeah, that's how, how I started, but sometimes I just, if I like an artist, you, I, I will suggest like text that's him or her in Instagram and show, show your stuff and, and you, you don't need that label or a big, uh, publishing company to, to do that.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah, no, that's, that's refreshing to hear, I think, um, and it's interesting to use Instagram, is that sort of your main. or, or one of your main sort of like, uh, communication platforms with, with other artists and fans and your audience? Is it, is it mainly Instagram or do you use other platforms?

Maxthor:

Yeah, I, I use Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, but yeah, maybe Instagram is the, the main one. Uh, I don't really like been in social media all day in. I only post every two weeks. And, and I post when I have a new track release or, or something like really significant to communicate, but yeah, Instagram is really useful, uh, useful to. Communicate with, with your followers. Yeah, but not a big fan of what I like is doing music in my studio, but you need to, you need to do all that kind of thing. You, you need to, to know about marketing. Like nowadays it is like that

Marc Matthews:

it's grim, isn't it? It's like, I find that. I mean, I, I try and have quite a strong social presence and it is so time consuming, especially when I'm like, if I'm creating a video, like a tutorial video or something like. So rather than actually making music, I'm sat recording myself, talking about making music. I'm like, oh man, I really, I really just wanna be like finishing a song or finishing an EP, you know, but it's interesting. You mentioned that. Cause I was having this conversation with someone the other day and they were saying how they wanted to do a music production course. And I was kind of saying to them, I was like, that's all well and good. But you do realize, like if you do a degree or master's degree, if you do go down that route in music production, it's not just gonna be you writing music for two years. You're not just gonna be jamming for two years and have a degree at the end of it. You do realize there's gonna be marketing. There's gonna be business. There's gonna be financial plan. There's gonna be business plans, forecasting. There's gonna be all sorts of other bits and pieces. You have to do that. I think people don't realize if, unless you're actually an artist and doing it all yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Time

Maxthor:

consumer. You need to take care of everything. Like they, they are work how I'm going to promote this and. It's crazy, but well, it, its funny too. Yeah.

Marc Matthews:

Yeah. I, I do like it is. Yeah. You gotta know when to have time off though. I find sometimes I struggle with that to switch off. I dunno about you, but going on to, so what I like to just sort of like we're coming towards the end of it now is just to have a quick chat about your latest release. So it's called she's outta this world. I got, I'm assuming I've got that. Can you tell our audience a bit about what to expect from that song? Okay.

Maxthor:

So the thing is, uh, this year I, uh, I just want to start releasing some singles because people are asking me, when are you going to release an album or IEP, but. I dunno yet. I, I like releasing singles because you write them. And one month after the song is made you, you share it with people and that's great because it's fresh stuff. So this one, this one is more like the disco master days with that disco beat, I rely with the base switching between OC. so that way, and there's a saxophone too, doing like a hook in the cruises and yeah, I'm really happy with this one is, is really different from, from the far away track. I, I like, I don't like to repeat the formulas, so I'm, I just want to explore, uh, Uh, different beats or something. I, I haven't, uh, in the past with Maxar. Yeah, no,

Marc Matthews:

it sounds exciting, mate. So for the audience listening, if this episode has aired after the 18th, that song was released on February the 18th. So it's gonna be available on band camp, Spotify. I'm assuming across all different everywhere. Yeah. Streaming platforms and what I'll there is, as I mentioned, I'll put in the, in the description for this, obviously your, your links to social media and also the links. That latest release as well. So touching on social media, where can our audience find you online? Where's the best place to find you we've mentioned in Instagram. Do you have a website

Maxthor:

at all? No, I, I don't have a, I, I had a website, but. It was useless for me in my case. so, yeah, because, um, I dunno, uh, Banca is very important to me, especially, I, I, it's a great place to communicate with your fans and to sell your music directly. So it's great. I still use Facebook. Because it's a big, um, people is always complaining about Facebook, but some countries that really listen to max store like Russia and, and south American countries, they, they are, they have a lot of presence in Facebook. So I use it a lot. Uh, Instagram. Yeah, my, my, I had the website. I didn't update it and now it's gone. So

Marc Matthews:

yeah, it's one of those things. Isn't it. I find with my website, it's probably the last thing I ever go in and update. Um, I don't can't remember the last time I did an update on it. Um, but no, that's great. I'll, I'll put all those links in there. So just around things off Lou. So a massive thank you for, for joining me on this today. Been great chatting with you, and I think it's gonna be a fantastic first episode for series two as well. Really, really good Roy to, uh, to kick off the series. And I'm sure the audience listening would get a lot of, lot, lot out of this episode as well. So yeah. Good luck with the release. I'll, I'll look out for it and I'll help share and promote it as well. And I'm looking forward to hearing. And, um, once again, a, a really big thank you for joining me today. And I'll, I'll, I'll speak

Maxthor:

to you soon, buddy. Thank you for having me, man. Been a pleasure. What's super

Marc Matthews:

fun. Yeah, no worries, mate. I'll speak to you soon. Cheers. Bye man. Thank you so much for listening to the inside the mix podcast. Make sure to rate us everywhere you listen, list the podcasts, including Spotify.

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