#33: How to Stay Inspired to Write and Produce Music | Totta

Totta is the Swedish artist who brought the world a vaporwave concept album that takes its listeners on a journey through nostalgia and heartache. She's a 27-year-old artist from Sweden who's been growing her solo project "Totta" since 2020. With a multitude of EPs and collaborations behind her, as well as her releases in her punk band "Arre! Arre!; she has finally released her debut album in the spring of 2022.

The debut album "poolhouse.exe" brings a mix of 80's vaporwave/synthwave, pop, and ambiance. With a heavy focus on dreamy vocals and atmospheric samples, she creates the cinematic experience of a simulation program gone wrong. The sense of escapism that permeates the album creates an inviting and mysterious narrative for listeners to enjoy.

Welcome to the poolhouse.exe experience and remember, don't forget to W A K E  U P.

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Transcript

Marc Matthews: 0:00

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 master in music for over 50 years. And I wanna share what I've learned with you. Hey folks, and welcome back to the inside the mix podcast. And this is another that live episode on Facebook in the, uh, inside the mix Facebook group. Um, if you are joining us, thank you for joining us. And in this episode, I'm very excited to welcome our guest today. Henrietta Edlund AKA Totta. She is a 27 year old artist from Sweden. Who's been growing her solo project since 2020 with a multitude of VPs and collaborations behind her, as well as her releases in her punk. She's gonna share with us, her musical story and the production and inspiration behind her debut album, Paul House dot exc, and that hi daughter. And thanks for joining me today. Where are you joining us from?

Totta: 1:08

Thanks. I'm joining from mal Sweden, some of the most Southern te of Sweden, basically. Oh,

Marc Matthews: 1:14

amazing. Amazing. You are the first, uh, Sweden artist that we've had on the show. So that's, uh, that's fantastic. Lovely stuff. I know.

Totta: 1:21

I'll happily represent all of Sweden. brilliant.

Marc Matthews: 1:24

Brilliant. Um, I did see on social media and I know you, you, you email me or in the week about performing live, um, mm-hmm , which is amazing. It's great to see artists performing live again, and we'll, we'll come back to that and later on the episode, but, um, I'm just gonna read a bit more of your bio here. So we've got the debut album, Paul House dot exc brings a mix of eighties, vapor wave synth, wave hot and ambience with a heavy focus on dreamy, vocal and atmospheric samples. So you create the cinematic experience of a simulation program, gone wrong. The sense of escapism that permeates the album creates and inviting and mysterious narrative for listeners to enjoy. That's an amazing description I must say. Um, and I love that. I love that description. Um, that's what I'd really like to do just to start off with, um, anytime I get a new artist on the podcast is just to learn a bit. And so the audience can learn a bit more about your sort of musical background. So can you tell us a bit more about your life prior to Toto? Where, where did, where did music begin for you and how did it begin?

Totta: 2:18

Yeah, sure. I, uh, I started extremely early cuz when I was young, my mother was a piano teacher and she worked only with teaching students, uh, from home. So the, the house was always filled with just piano music all day, every day. So I started with her when I was about three years old and uh, stuck with a piano until I was about 11 I think. And then I picked up the drums completely randomly out the blue, I guess, such a weird. Super cool and non awkward kid to be the piano kid who also loves to tap dance. Yes. Tap dance. that makes, so when I was six years old, I, uh, I started taking tap dance classes and I think I've just always been a little obsessed with music in general, but especially rhythms. Um, so I really loved that when I was 11 in school, I just saw that in the music room, they brought in an electric drum kit, uh, for the first time. And I was like, oh, what's this? And I used to just stay behind after class in school and, uh, bang on the drums until finally I just convinced my parents that I needed to get a drum kit. So, um, quite a bit of schooling when it comes to piano, music and classical music. But I dropped that kind of maybe when I was 13 mm-hmm, uh, transitioned over into drumming instead and drumming and mainly self-taught I think I took classes for like half a year, but I think it was scared to death of my drum. Uh, who would just loudly bang a cow and yell at me to stay in time. And I was like, okay, I guess. Um, but yeah, so piano and drums are my main thing. And, uh, I took a bit of an odd journey with it. I played a lot in different bands as you do as a kid, uh, just as the drummer, but was always very involved in writing the music as well. I've always loved writing music on the piano. Um, and also singing. I was mainly doing dance and choreography for the majority of my life. I think up until I was 24 when I had a bit of a career switch, but I think the, the combination of working so much with music as a dancer, and then also having the background of being a, a piano player and a drummer all culminated into this, um, Odd perspective on music and movement and the atmosphere of music. Um, and then I, I took a bit of a side turn and just fell into the punk band alga that you mentioned before. Yeah. And, um, that's when music started basically going well for me, I guess in little Sweden in Southern Sweden, in punk, Sweden. Yeah. That little niche. Uh, we managed to make a bit of a name for ourselves and won a big music award in Sweden just oh wow. A couple years ago. And started gaining some traction with that got invited to south by Southwest and such, but amazing because of the pandemic couldn't fucking go. Uh, it was, oh, can I curse on this? Yes.

Marc Matthews: 5:25

Yes, of course you can. It's fine. I should've told you that off air, but yeah, it's fine.

Totta: 5:29

my bad. No, no, that's fine. But yeah, so basically it, uh, it, I would never have expected myself to be a punk drummer primarily. So I don't listen that much to punk music, really. I like the drive and the energy of it, but, um, yeah, it's a bit of a side side turn from what I expected. But basically from that, I, um, I started wanting to take music seriously and it kind of sparked this wish to produce and create on my own completely, uh, which led me to finally making the solo project. It feels very stereotypical. No, the drum Marine like a punk band rock band metal band finally gets themselves a proper do set up. Yeah. Uh, and just begins producing random shits, starting with lofi and then falling into Sy wave.

Marc Matthews: 6:23

Amazing. That's quite quite a journey. Um, I'm, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't think that this actually, to be fair, I could tell you what the, the music scenes really like in Sweden, but I didn't imagine it had a, a punk scene that's amazing to hear and get invited to south by Southwest is impressive. And it's gut that, that you couldn't make it. Yeah. Um, so you mentioned there, so you've, you've done drums. Uh, you've got piano and obviously you're singing as well. So obviously you come from that sort of band environment. So you, you you're well adapt to playing live. So what, what is it you think that you, you said you was producing lofi mm-hmm and then you moved into see the synth wave because you, I mean, are you totally in the box when it comes to your sing? Oh, sorry. Your singing your songwriting in production. When in the box, as in using your computer or do you have hardware as well? Uh, no.

Totta: 7:10

Completely digital. I think, I think I may have borrowed an analog synth or two from, uh, the guy who mixes a master my stuff. And mm-hmm audio engineer. He has quite a few now. I think I borrowed one for just a, a little melody here or there. Yeah. That I wanted something better that I didn't have a plug for, but basically it's, uh, it's not a style choice as such. Um, I'd love to be able to work more with actual hardware and, um, and such, but it's cheaper. Oh, a hundred percent. I use only free plugins and I use primarily splice if you know of that sample.

Marc Matthews: 7:53

Yes. Yeah. I use splice as

Totta: 7:53

well. Yeah, such a great, I I'd recommend that for anyone. Um, early in, uh, starting up their solo project, if you just want a good sample base, um, With a variety of sounds and drum sounds and such it's, it's quite good. It's decent enough to get you going at least.

Marc Matthews: 9:23

Yeah, I would agree. Um, and I used spice myself for that, for that reason. I was actually, I had a podcast interview yesterday with, uh, the artist called Russell Nash and we were discussing this and how I used splice to, to get influence if I've never, if I've ever got sort of writer's block a creative block. And I can't think of an idea I'll often go to splice and just, or if I've got a song and I'm thinking actually I can't design the sound I want, but I've got the key and I've got the tempo. I'll go on splice and have a look. And it's amazing. Isn't it? The, the wealth of, um, really, really good samples on

Totta: 9:52

there. Yeah. And it, it's funny, you say when you have writer's block that you go to, cause it's kind of the same. I, I use it in a similar way sometimes when I feel like, cuz it's lovely making things completely as a solo artist, but you do lack that kind of, um, we call it bold plank in Swedish, uh, somebody to bounce ideas off of. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and I use splices kind of that way. I'll listen to different loops. Uh, and I imagine it as if I, if I'd have had a bass player, I'd have gone up and said, I want something funky. Can you just play something? And we'll see if we can F figure something out. Mm. And I'd have the bass player try out or refer to. And that would inspire me. That's what I kind of do with splice. When I listen to different samples and loops it, um, it can kind of get you own creative juices going. Usually I'll just get an idea and then I'll go find my own sound for it and make my own version. Um, but yeah, it's a, it's a really good, uh, way to get out of your own mind.

Marc Matthews: 10:48

Mm, it's interesting. You mentioned that I've never thought of it that way, but it, that is true. And that's the reason I use it. Cause I, I come from a band background as well, and I would've done the exact same. It would've been, I case if someone comes up with a riff or baseline or a vocal hook and you're kind of like you bounce ideas around, but now I don't have that. Um, I never thought of it that way. And that's the way I use it's literally, it's like a soundboard thing. Okay. I can't, I need to, I need a bit of help, immediate help. And I immediately go to that, that reference that sample. I, no, I never thought of it that way. That's quite true. That was part of my workflow. Um, I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that. That's good to know. yeah. Um, so going back to your, the, the music side, I think, yes, I, I'm gonna come back to, uh, sort of moving into synth wave in a bit, but, um, what I wanna know is like you, you sort of, you mentioned drums, piano, punk. Was there a, like a poignant or like, uh, a moment? What, what song artist or album had, uh, really long lasting effect on you as an artist or really inspired you to be in a, be a creative?

Totta: 11:45

Um, I'd love. I was thinking about. But I, I always, I struggle when people ask about inspiration like that. Cuz I think it's because I started with piano when I was three and equally as much as I played and learned the piano, I just started writing music. I'm not saying I wrote good shit. I wrote trash, you know? Yeah. But I've always made stuff and it's this, you know, I'm a, like I said, I used to be a dancer as well. I've just, uh, very, it sounds so like I'm full of myself saying that I'm just naturally creative. I'm not saying that I'm good. I'm just saying that I, I always make things. I always walk around singing random stuff and uh, I have an acoustic piano I just always have had and I just always sit and make stuff. So there's nothing that like sparked me from being a non-musical person to being a musical person. I feel like I've always just been, um, I guess a lot of back. The classical, uh, oh wow. Okay. Piano guy, because that's what I played when I was a kid with my mom, because she loved him. And then, um, weirdly enough, I feel like I'm might get hung out to drive for this. I've listened to a couple bands a lot, and they kind of influence me the Beatles classic, listen to all of their albums multiple times. And, uh, the continuous harmonies, I think of almost always having dubbed vocals plus harmonies on top of it. That just sounds natural to me. And then a bit of a side Swrve system of a down with their Armenian, the Armenian, um, the, the scale that they use. I don't know the music theory terms for it, but it's, um, it's got a bit of a different. Melodic, uh, structure to it. Um, and that just always, I I'll catch myself. Sometimes I have a song called Tom in hand, uh, Swedish route, take my hand. And, um, it's got that weird. Somebody said to me after the live gig, they're like, what, where the fuck did that come from? It sounds kind of AOB. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen to a lot system of a down as a kid. And I think it just stuck with me. And then I'm just a huge hip hop head. So Don amazing in love with beats. Um, yeah. So a mixture of those things, nothing that sparked a clear transition into wanting to make music more, just a full on immersion and obsession with always listening and working with music as well as creating. Ah,

Marc Matthews: 14:26

that's amazing. That's, that's quite a range of inf influences. Is it quite a range of like going from the Beatles to system of a down? Is that the toxicity album? All of them,

Totta: 14:34

all of them, literally all of them,

Marc Matthews: 14:36

all of them. I won't like the, the only one I've listened to is toxicity. And, um, this is any, any system of down fans listening now, it's probably the only album album I really listened to. I was never a huge fan. And I think I was probably the only person around at the time when I they're still a big band. Now, I dunno if they're still. I think again, I think they do every now and again.

Totta: 14:54

Yeah. They came together for some fundraising gig, um, a while back, but yeah, no, it was never, um, I used to play in like indie pop bands and such, and it was very uncool to like system over, down, cuz they were like cheesy metal. Uh, but I had such a deep love, you know, I didn't just love chop soy and toxicity. Yeah. I love the like hidden tracks. They have fucking a Wutang cover.

Marc Matthews: 15:23

No really? Yeah. Fucking meet to

Totta: 15:25

hair space. It's just, um, if you dig deep, they're a, they're a wild, wild bunch. And especially I think I love. Two things quite clearly, the drummer has a clear way of splitting the song into chapters and that, that I've actually taken quite literally with me into my punk music with AGA that I'll try to very clearly indicate a verse transitioning into a chorus with different type beats, always switching, very rarely just sticking to one thing throughout and adding solos much, rather just giving background in different chapters. So to say, uh, and then the harmonies, the way that they harmonize with each other is, yeah, I'm obsessed with it. And I, I still am to this day. I think

Marc Matthews: 16:10

I call like the vocal phrasing as well, cuz like I, it was around that new metal era, wasn't it. And I think I was, I was a big sort of like libi Papa rope, Lincoln park. And then there was system of a down and then there's P OD and there was all these other bands. Coming from America. Um, I think there was a back a, which represented the UK. Dunno why they're doing that. Um, but the vocal phrasing of, uh, surge is, is something to behold as well. Um, and it is different. Isn't it like, like you say, you've got those, I, I dunno what the mode or, or the scale is that they use, but it just makes it interesting. And it's great that you can incorporate it in your own music too. I, I thought about, cause I quite like Spanish and flamenco music and I thought, you know what? I quite like to incorporate that into my music, but maybe I will one day I think I wanna get my head around a bit more or maybe I should just dive in. I don't know, but it's cool that you were able to get it into your music. Have you ever, ever got any other sort of around the world from one of a better way of putting it, um, sort of influences in your music?

Totta: 17:03

Yeah. It's funny that you mentioned Spanish. I am, uh, part Spanish. My grandmother's from Spain. Oh, cool. Uh, so there's always been a bit of like Santana and such playing, uh, in, around the house as well. And, uh, the same song actually that I just mentioned, Tom, in hand, it has this. Very Latin vibe beat, uh, as well as a guitar solo. That also sounds extremely like a Spanish guitar. Um, with just me pretending that I can play, I took some guitar lessons and I was like, I'm sure I can start playing guitar in my tracks, but no, uh, I'm too trash. So , I just play it on my, uh, uh, synthesizer as a MIDI file. And I try to like fake drum by hitting the notes, lower notes to higher notes as I play on the to try to make it sound like it's more real, but I don't know how well I managed. Um, but that, yeah, a bit of a Spanish flare sometimes comes through. Um, but otherwise, no, I don't know. I guess there's, uh, I'm submerged in the Swedish, uh, culture of music. I think that we generally. Lean towards a kind of melancholy vibe. Yeah. Even, even joyous songs. It's like we have this twinge of just a melancholy vibe somewhere in the production. I think it's because we get too little sunlight and we're all depressed for half a year. It's literally just something you go talk about. If anyone's down from September to like, I dunno, March, everyone's like, yeah. You just winter depressed. Ah, okay.

Marc Matthews: 18:42

Figures. I, I, I was gonna ask that actually, when you mentioned about the melancholy, I was gonna say, was there anything to do with sunlight and, um, so right

Totta: 18:50

to that for me also, why I'm reflecting my fucking screen, cuz I'm so pale um, yeah.

Marc Matthews: 18:59

yeah. Uh, it's still a, I tell you what going on. So tangent here, it's always a place I've wanted to visit. Um, there's a particular. Brand cause I'm quite a big metalhead and there's the, um, the sort of like the, the Meow death as they call it in, in, in heavy metal. Mm-hmm and a lot of it emanate from that, for that from, from Sweden.

Totta: 19:17

Yeah. Northern Sweden, the metal

Marc Matthews: 19:19

Gothberg sound. Oh, cool. Yeah. Um, I'm kind trying to think of bands off, outside my head now. I think inflams are from Sweden. I'm sure they are. They are. I'm sure they are.

Totta: 19:28

Yeah. Yeah. Isn't uh, metallic as well. Swedish.

Marc Matthews: 19:32

Oh, Lars. Lars is the drummer. Yeah. Yeah, he is. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Me Swedish and Larz

Totta: 19:38

and uh, Opeth right. Yes. Yeah. My, I remember the big, I mentioned that ARA, my punk band won a music award. We were chucked into the rock and metal category and we won over Opeth and I think I broke my own heart cuz I'm an OPPA fan. I was like, we don't deserve this. I know. That's incredible. Yeah. But yeah. Well, I mean we, oh God, let me never have it said public loan line that we don't deserve this. I'm sure we deserve this. I love my band. I love my band mates. I just felt intimidated as a drummer who loves Opeth being like I'm it is. Yeah. I'm not being modest. I'm not that good. You know, I'm a punk drummer. I just play hard and fast. Um, but yeah, but that was wild.

Marc Matthews: 20:21

I was gonna say some accolade, didn't it? I mean, OPPE though are like are well entrenched in this, in, in music and like big I would imagine. So that that's well done. That's that's very impressive. But no, going back to it is one of the reasons why I wanted to, would love to go to Sweden just for that, for that. And to experience that and like getting out and about, to be honest, um, Well, I digress. What we're gonna move on to now is, uh, sort of the birth of the, of, of, to, as, as an artist. So you mentioned earlier that you got a, you got your laptop and you moved into production. Yeah. Um, what made you sort of kickstart that side of things? Cause you you're in the punk band. Yeah. Which is different to, to low fine. And moving into that pop and synth wave an ambience sort of music. What made you pivot into that genre?

Totta: 21:10

Yeah, it's um, I think it's because I'd been making songs in the band, in the punk band, we make them very collaboratively. We're all part of the process. And just having our music do well and feeling like, oh, I'm making songs that are actually getting played on the radio. It, it was such a clear validation. Uh, I kind of wish that I hadn't waited for that, but it's, uh, because I'd been a dancer for most of my life, I kind of always felt like I had my musician friends and they took music seriously, but I wasn't allowed to occupy that space because I'd chosen dance and that was my life and my identity. Um, but then when things started going, well, like I said, I kind of felt like, oh, maybe, maybe I'm allowed to actually make music cuz people are taking the, my ideas seriously. Um, so because of that, I, uh, I, I just started wanting to make stuff on my own to see if I'm allowed to choose everything. What kind of music do I make? And it was. An extremely scattered and wide range of music that I started making to begin with. I've always, like I said, I've always made music on the just, uh, piano music and thought about going into more like movie scoring and that type of stuff. Um, so started by making, uh, a Purdue I'm making, uh, producing some of those tracks, getting to add actual orchestra to things that I'd written, um, long ago. But then I guess just coming from being a huge hip hop fan and trying to make beats, the kind of lofi vibe just came naturally because I couldn't produce things very high quality, and I listened very much to lofi at the time. Um, so my very first EP it is it's me stretching my legs and trying out production basically. Yeah. I feel like I go from, um, The single kiss me is a pure trap song. It has insane drops towards the end mm-hmm that are like clearly trap music. Just, uh, I remember I wanted a siren in the production of that song and I didn't know how to get one. So I literally pitched, um, it didn't pitch, but, um, added effects to the vocals and wind like, eh, into the mic and then just stretched that out. And I was like, that's a siren kinda, you know, it's very, um, me just trying to figure out what I can do. Um, and then I think I did a collaboration EP with an American producer who gave me beats, um, or he produced the songs and I just came in and put the vocals down and they were much more lofi cuz that's what he did. Yeah. And I think that pushed me further towards the lofi kind of vibe. So. My next project also had kind of a baseline of low five productions, low five beats, nicely it's E if you're a drummer, you like making chill beats and have a kind of weak spot for ambience and atmosphere. Yeah. And then you also have a background as a piano player. It, it kind of just went hand in hand cuz it was easy to just find a nice sounding, um, electric piano and put down a cool chord progression and it would sound halfway decent. Um, but I think in that second, second solo EP that I released, you can start sensing that I'm, I'm kind of, uh, beginning to dive into. Creating more cinematic sounds. Yeah. Um, I got really obsessed with wanting it to sound like the song took place on the moon in a kind of Spacey, uh, atmosphere at a diner on the moon was what I was thinking. So I started incorporating samples of people talking at a restaurant and playing shit over the radio at the same time as the track was going. Um, but only like dipping my toe into it still just very playful in my approach to music, no red thread between the songs. No big concept. Just really, yeah. Still, really just trying out production. Um, and I'm, I'm glad I did that and I think I'll continue to do it. My kind of where I've landed now is that I think I'll always have a really scattered. Uh, approach to music making, I still wanna make more trap songs. For example, I was very far away from my synth sound. Um, I'd like to try my hand more at pure hip hop beats, uh, still, and rather than creating different alter egos and releasing under different names. I think I'm gonna have synth wave as my main genre and release full length albums in the synth wave genre, but do side projects, little EPS with just collections of songs in different genres so that I can keep it all under one name, but I can still, um, allow the breadth that I want from my solar project.

Marc Matthews: 26:28

That's really cool. It kind of gives me inspiration actually, to be honest, cuz I've, I'm in just sort of, to sort of summarize what you said there about having no common thread throughout your songs on your, on your release. It. And that you're trying out these different genres and, um, which is amazing, cuz it's very similar to my, my own self and that I've released, um, R and B I've released house I've released synth wave and synth pop, pop music. And interestingly enough, I'm, I'm in the process of writing an EP and one of the songs on there, it's like, I think I've coined it like trap wave. It's like, it's got like a trap beat and then there's this, this, these stints and stints and stuff going on over the top of it. But I'm still trying to figure out like where I want to go. Um, but the way you've described it there, I, think's amazing in that you've got that. Um, you're gonna be under one name, um, and it's gonna be synth wave. And then there sort of like sub. EPS are various different, um, sort of genres or like pivoting. Um, and I think I'm gonna take influence from that and I'm sure the audience will as well listening, because I think that's the way I'm gonna go down that, um, I've never thought of it that way. So you sort of inspired me to go off and do that myself, which is amazing.

Totta: 27:33

I figure, as long as you wrote, signed, uh, to a label and dependent on them to want to release everything physically, uh, then you're kind of, that's one of the benefits, no, from being independent and even where I to be signed, I figure I, I would like to keep the right to then produce full length albums and proper, uh, projects in the synth wave genre so that I. Aesthetically coherent, uh, in those productions, but still allowed to, uh, release digitally on my own independently. Like I do now, still in these little side EPS, cuz that's, uh, I think what will make any musician feel like they can do this for their entire life is the feeling that you're allowed to breathe and grow and try things out so that it always stays playful and inspiring else. It can always just feel a bit, um, stagnant. Do you say that? Yeah. Stagnant and

Marc Matthews: 28:29

the yes. Yeah. Um, stiff that that's that's the way I would describe it. Yeah. And I think that's great. I was having a conversation with someone yesterday. Um, I think it might been, I think it was on the, yeah, it was on the podcast yesterday. I thought it might been by WhatsApp, but, and um, the artists were saying how they're gonna introduce funk into, into their next production. Previously synth way, but they get introduced funk and we, and I was kind of like, yeah, it's great. I, I love hearing cuz a lot of artists come at Sy way from like these really obscure places. Mm. And then bring in these sort of influences and it just keeps it fresh and stops it from becoming stagnant as you mentioned

Totta: 29:03

there. Mm. Yeah. It's uh, I, I, that's kind of what I like about synth wave as well, calling it my main, uh, genre. I still feel like there is an openness to the synth wave genre that allows for me to make weird cinematic, atmospheric, uh, or the Spanish sounding stuff that I had as well as a pure, more disco, eighties track. Like there, there's still a lot of wiggle room within that genre itself as well. Um, But yeah, it's, it's nice to keep it

Marc Matthews: 29:39

mixed up. Yeah, totally. And I think that moves on to quite nicely to my sort of next line of questioning. So like moving on to the, the debut album. So the debut album's called Paul House. DOTC mm-hmm great name. So my first question, actually, before I move on to the music, why Paul House DOTC is specifically the, the executable file. Um, yeah. Um, sort suffix at the end,

Totta: 29:58

cause it contrary then to my, uh, EPS that are kinda

Marc Matthews: 30:02

scattering. Yeah. Fantastic ones

Totta: 30:03

again. And I'll speak to you. Lovely. Thanks. Ly cinematic and like a Fullon concept album. There's a storyline that nobody will understand from listening to it. Nobody knows. I I've not written about it anywhere or told anyone about it, but I know , uh, and it's literally. It's literally meant to be a simulation program that's gone wrong. And I want pool house Dotz is the file, uh, that the person in this virtual reality is living in. Uh, so they start, they, the first song is the kind of transition from real life where you can hear a song on a radio that transitions into a really dreamy, uh, Revy vocal, where you can hear water lapping in a pool. And that's the kind of mental transition of the pool house loading in. And the first song is a very, literally the vibe I was going for was loading screen, uh, as if a program was just starting up. Yep. Um, and then it just goes on a journey of something going wrong, small little hints throughout the album of somebody trying to wake up and not being able to somebody trying to reach them. Um, but yeah, not getting through to them. And constantly the sound of water in either the pool or being underwater or a kind of paradise level that I have in this made up pool house program that I've made, uh, and transitions between each one, like literally a person going through different levels of a pre-planned program, uh, that they're meant to wake up from at the end, but they don't. Um, yeah, so it's, uh, , it's got an, an odd looking name, but it's kind of an overarching idea as well for making synth wave my main project. My next one. The that I'm working on now is extremely early stages. So I may change this, but I'm, I'm wanting to name all of the albums different programs. So this one was a pool house and all of the songs took place in this kind of imaginary pool house. And the next one is gonna be the same concept, a virtual reality, not where something goes wrong, though. Just a, the, a program that runs clean, but one that is a kind of nightlife city one. So I'm thinking of calling it midnight city because synth wave and midnight, you know? Ah, well, they. Marc Matthews: Yeah, of course. But, so, yeah, that's really, really interesting. So you, you kind of like, um, started answering my next question, which was about the songwriting and composition process. So you mentioned there, you've got this con and this common theme throughout, and there's the overlapping of the songs. Do you start with that idea? Do you have like a sketch board or some. Proverbial sketch board as it were, and then start fleshing it out with ideas or does it come once you start writing the song? Uh, it came, it came from fucking Reddit as all things do. Oh, wow. I randomly stumbled into something called aesthetic pools, which is like a subculture under synth wave. You get the vapor wave under that. You can find the aesthetic pools and, uh, literal spaces and such, and that those images, the artwork that some people make of these 3d renditions of eighties looking retro, futuristic, empty malls or empty pools, and such, just really got me wanting to write one singular song for a room, with a pool in it specifically. Yeah. And that became that, uh, loading screen song. And from that, I, I immediately just loved the concept of this imaginary space that I'd created. Uh, So it came from a very visual point mm-hmm and I think that's why the entire thing is so cinematic because it came from from images. Um, but that's not usually how I've structured songwriting and each song. Once I had the concept down from that first track, I knew, okay, I want all of the songs that take place in this imaginary world, then I kind of opened it up to my regular songwriting process, which can be just a beat that I wanted to go an eighties classic do doo do, do, do, do, do do. Yeah. Yeah. Do do, do do. Um, that'll be like, oh, I wanna make a song that's based off that. And then I'll let that grow naturally and I'll see where it fits into the pool house. So into the concept or I'll have a line, um, the very cheesy classic I'll never learn to love again. I just had that line hit me out the blue. Yeah. Um, and then I was like, yes, that is the drama that I need for this eighties love song. And that led to a song or the classic would be, I sit down by the piano and I just doodle until I find a nice melody or a nice chord progression. And I bring that, um, to, uh, to logic and try, try my hand at finding a cool sense sound. And one thing leads to another. So the, the songs themselves come from very different places, but the concept for the album quite clearly came from a visual, um, inspiration,

Marc Matthews: 35:32

interesting stuff. Yeah. It's quite cool though. I like that idea. The visual inspiration and it's, um, that sort of like sub genre, I guess, for one of a better way of putting it, I'm not familiar with, but now that you mention it, I have, I do see a lot of imagery with regards to swimming pool and MOS as well. When you. Scrolling through Instagram, for example, which is, which is really cool. You sort of went on to answer my next question, which was about the whole song writing process and how you kick off. So it, which, which is great. Um, so I mean, what I wanna move on to next is actually, before I move on to that is you mentioned there that you use logic. And I remember right at the beginning of the interview, actually, you mentioned that you used free primarily free, uh, VST. Yeah. My question's you is, is why, why is it that you stick with the free VST over buying? I mean, is it pure budgetary or is it the case of like you, you like to limit your, your creative possibilities?

Totta: 36:25

No, please send money. Uh, you know, no, um, it it's truly budgetary. Well, I would say it kind of goes hand in hand. I like, uh, to be forced to kind of dive into the details of what I'm given. If I'm given an overwhelming amount of material to work with, um, it can, it can be overwhelming. Yeah. Whereas here, I've kind of had to dig deep into every single sound and go really tweak sounds to try to make them sound original. Um, yeah. And it well get creative as splice kind of have my hands tied a little bit because I'd have to use, um, something, uh, that wasn't exactly the way that I'd imagined it. Uh, it, it's kind of, I think I'm not good enough of a producer yet to completely realize a sound that I have in my head, just with a synthesizer as some people truly can. Um, and so for my level of. Competency within production. It kind of worked out to not have, uh, too many options to be honest, but that being said, I would've liked to have had a, a few more drum packs for better drum sounds and, uh, just a nice, a singular nice thick collection of cool synth wave, sounding synthesizers, like a DX seven, um, type. Yes. Yeah. Just like some basics. Would've been nice. I think, I feel like what I've, what I could scrape together now has covered all of my releases, which is still what three EPS and a full length album. Uh, but for my next album, I feel like I'll be reusing too much. Uh, yeah. If I didn't get myself some new stuff, so I'm hoping to at least buy, uh, one or two new, proper plugins to use.

Marc Matthews: 38:59

Um, that's great. I think you, you, you sort of, um, you answered the question the way I imagined you would, which was, and the way I do it as well is I think it's great to have a huge Sonic palette and you can have all these VT, um, and you can have all these plugins, which is great. And then you could have this, this arsenal at your disposal for the audience listening. Now I'm making my hands really wide. Um, and then it, you sort of, I dunno, I can get lost in those. And I think being limited with my creative possibility, much like yourself, what you mentioned there means that I have to go deeper into what I have is pretty much what you said and, um, and really explore what it is that you have at the hand. And I also think, I think when it comes to synthesis as well, like sound sampling and synthesis, um, actually digging properly deep into it is the only way that you're really gonna learn. I think. Because I I've been down this road whereby you can have all these different synthesizers and I'll move from Sy to Sy, to Sy trying to find the sound I want, rather than actually, you know what, I'm just gonna focus on this, what, and see if I can sculpt it here. Mm. Rather than just waste time moving around. So yeah. I like the idea of being limited. I do definitely. Do I find that helps. I dunno about you, but it helps my workflow if I'm limited in terms of time as well, I find deadlines sort of help me otherwise. I just I'm gone. Um, so with your regard of your creative process, that kind of comes up with another question of mine when it comes to your songwriting composition, do you set yourself deadlines, do you think, right. Actually I need to have it finished at this point and then I need to move on or, um, is it quite, quite fluid the way that you approach your song, right?

Totta: 40:30

Um, no, I do think I, uh, give myself kind of deadlines. I think I'm used to, uh, literally from the work of being a freelance dancer and choreographer, always like anything that you do freelance, um, It's like it, it's not gonna work as a job unless you fucking do it and complete things. Uh, so I'm very quick to, as soon as I have song ideas, I'm quick to categorize them into projects. Then I prioritize which project, like I do very big timelines as well as, uh, small within a project. So yeah. Yeah, no, I do think I, I put deadlines. I'm not hard on myself though. If I muck it up, they, they dynamically kind of expand depending on what's going on in my life. But yeah, I, I think deadlines are really important also just to stop fidgeting with a track after a while, you know, you could Polish it forever, but at some point it's like, Yeah, you, you gotta let it go, you know? Yep.

Marc Matthews: 41:39

Yep. I totally agree with that. And um, I think I've had this conversation with quite a few, um, um, interviewee and it's basically the case. I think I, I didn't coin the term, but it's another podcast where they said it was binge editing. And I I've been known to do that where I just move stuff around. I'm like, well, why am I doing this? Like, and you just gotta. He's gotta cuz it's gonna be to the detriment of the music ultimately, but it's part of a learning curve. 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 to 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 to help 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.sy music, mastering.com for this free preparing a mix for mastering checklist. Let's get back to the episode before we move on to, um, the live music side of things, there was one track in particular. Um, we wanted to get a bit more information on which is. Deep dark. Now, I, I wasn't aware that you were a drummer before, but I did pick out the drums on this one in particular. Yes. Um, so if you can give us a bit of information with the gust, like the drum sound on that, because my notes I've got that it hits quite hard and I, I, I'm a big fan of like a lot of low end and hard-hitting drums mm-hmm and, um, and especially at the base up. And I think you mentioned earlier, actually, I'll let you answer those two before I move on to the next one. So the drums and the bass on that track. Yeah. How did that come about? How did you create those?

Totta: 43:22

Um, so the baseline, the, uh, the ARP is a sample. Thank you, splice. Um, mm-hmm and that was stranger. I I'd gone a completely direction with the sample at first. Uh, and I didn't like it and ended up not using it. And then I came back to the sample itself without the track that I'd made for it. And I was like, Ooh, it's a shame to throw the sample away, just cuz I made a shitty song. Uh, so I, I like I've, I've done that. I was like, this one deserves a second chance. And for some reason I was thinking, um, kind of the music that I listened to with my dad. He's a huge hip hop head as well, like, uh, grandma flash and old school hip hop. Mm. Um, and what's it called? Uh, the adult push me cause I'm close to the edge. Oh, it's an old, oh yeah. I know the song it's got these really classic, uh, doom doom. I don't know. It is just a classic, nice old school hip hop beat. Uh, and that kind of influenced the type of beat that I wanted to make. I wanted to make a beat that me and my dad would dance to. And it, it, I think that also took form in, uh, the track that you're talking about now. Deep dark. It has like a solid one minute dance break. It, or it does instrument instrumental break, but where it's just the bass and the drums, because that was really, uh, the driving forces in making this song. Um, but yeah, so it came from kind of a hip hoppy inspiration, and then using very, uh, clearly synth wave, uh, like single, a kick sample, and a Dr. Um, snare samples that I could build the beat completely on my own. Um, when it comes to the mixing of it, I have to shout up, uh, my audio engineer, uh joer that I use, um, an old music friend of mine who just made it sound tight and put punchy, uh, yeah, in a nice way, but still keeping it like synth wavy, especially not just synth way, but vapor wavy the kind of trashy sound almost, uh, to a lot of the songs. But so yeah, a bit splice, a bit of hiphop love and, uh, that's what was behind the bass and drums of that track. That's

Marc Matthews: 45:48

that's, that's really cool. It's, it's interesting that, um, it's sort of, I picked out the bass and the drums and it just so happens that the base and the drums were like the driving force behind the song. Yeah. Um, and I think that's probably why, um, I was able to pick them out as like really poignant and sort of standing out elements of the track. Yeah. Um, and I like the idea of, of sort of like tight, punchy drums. That's definitely the way I like to go with production as well. Mm. Probably another reason why it stood out anytime I hear those really sort of like tight, like for one of the better ways saying it again, punchy drums, um, with a, with that nice balanced, low end as well. Always as soon as I hear that, I'm like, Ooh, well that, that sort of like gets my interest straight. But my next question about the song was gonna be the vocal mm-hmm I think you mentioned it earlier about the reverb, the use of reverb. Yeah. Um, and, and you've got that wash of reverb on there that, that sort of like time based processing mm-hmm um, so on this track in particular, what was the idea there? Well,

Totta: 46:42

the, the reverb throughout the entire album is actually, it was it's based off of, Hmm. I'm not explaining this well at all. When I made this album in a demo stage before sending it to my, um, audio engineer, I had the same reverb preset on every single track, regardless of if I wanted to, uh, it to be a more disco, punchy track, or one of the super ambient ones I wanted it to cinematically represent being in the virtual reality. So it's a kind of a, it's a concept thing that the reverb is so, uh, extreme, regardless of the track, regardless of if it maybe suits the tracks general aesthetic, I forced the reverb on there because I wanted it to take place in this dream world where everything just sounded like that. Yeah. So yeah, it, I found it actually by using, uh, again, back to when you have limited knowledge or limited ability logic had a preset that wasn't for vocals, it was for, uh, experimental stuff. I think you're meant to use it for like, I dunno something else, at least. And it was called moving spaces and it was some kind of space Rever, uh, that was. Yeah, completely drawn out, extremely wet reverb that just never fucking ended. And I got really used to that sound. So I asked my, uh, my older engineer to try to match that in, uh, in some way, but the details as to how he did it. Uh, I actually don't, I don't know. I just say, try to make it sound like this. And then I, wh if it doesn't, um,

Marc Matthews: 48:31

is that the, I, I use logic myself. Is that the, the convolution they have that use the space designer? That's the one I think is called. Yeah. Or do you

Totta: 48:39

use, uh, exactly, exactly, but it's a preset. Um, if you look into the preset, what they've used, it's the space, uh, uh, it's called space designer. Yeah. Space work. Yeah. Um, but the sound itself is called moving spaces in the experimental preset. Um,

Marc Matthews: 49:00

I can look into that because, uh, I'll, I'm producing to track myself at the moment and, uh, I've sent it to a few other artists and they've sort of said to me that you need re you need to like swamp that reverb, sorry, swamp, that vocal at this point with reverb. So I'm gonna go in and have a quick listening to what it sounds like. Yeah. A check

Totta: 49:14

out somewhere. I need to go putting the preset on and then like using that as a baseline and either trying to emulate it, uh, on your own or tweaking, it was basically how I got the vocal sound for the entire track before sending it to, uh, to my O okay. No, it's

Marc Matthews: 49:31

great. It's a great song. One of the reasons I wanted to pick it out was just to hear a bit more about the production. It's a great album, um, in total and I, I, I strongly encourage the audience to go and have a listen. And thank you. Thank you. Um, as I always do, I'll put the, the links to it. I'm pointing down now. I always do this on a podcast. actually, no, I've released videos now. So it does make sense for me to do that. Exactly. Um, but yeah. Um, I'll put links to it in the show notes so they can go away after the episode. And obviously if they haven't already go and have a listen to it. Mm. But I've just, um, what I'm gonna do is have a quick look on Facebook. Um, it's, it's not been a massive turnout, but we we've had two or three throughout. Um, and there's one comment from Logan, uh, who is an artist called fangs, um, who I interviewed. Ooh. I reckon back in, I wanna say episode 16, something like that. So, yeah. Thanks for, uh, big shout out for you there, Logan. Thank you very much. Um, I I've said this, this is the third time I'm gonna set now with these. It is quality over quantity when it comes to, to the audience count. Um, but what I wanna move on to next, we've sort of like discussed background. We discussed the, the latest release is the. Um, for you as taught us. So, um, interestingly last night you gig, um, I saw on Instagram amazing stuff. So can you tell our audience a bit about the transition from producing in the sort of, uh, home environment, the home studio or the studio environment to moving onto the state? Mm. Sort of what were the, what challenges did you face? Yeah,

Totta: 50:53

uh, I guess in the, the thing that feels probably overwhelming to anyone starting to produce a solo project is like, literally, how the fuck do I get anyone to listen to this? Other than like forcing my parents or my boyfriend to like, listen to this new thing I made. Um, and as awful and soul crushing as it can be kind of grinding away at a chosen social network platform. Picking one, like either Facebook or Instagram or maybe TikTok nowadays and trying to find the community that suits the genre that you're working in and then trying to make some connections there, uh, is a good way to just, yeah. I don't know, get your name in the right places and be a name in the right room. Also, collaborations was a big thing for me to collaborate with other artists as well, to make sure a again, I feel like it's very word of mouth almost. Yes. Uh, but over the internet and specifically in the music area among a certain level of musicians, I feel like with a, I could quite literally feel the transition with my punk band when we got public recognition, when we had an award and then suddenly. We didn't have to look for gigs or when we got signed or when we got a booking agency that these things are just non-issues after a while. But the transition from it being a real issue, like how, how do I get anyone to want to listen to my music? When all I wanna do is make the music, I, I don't enjoy selling myself or selling my music. Um, so it can be a bit of a, it can be tough work, I think, to, to make sure that to stay active on social media and such, but the way that I found I could contribute to the kind of word of mouth spreading of my music was by collaborating, saying yes to projects with people just doing, uh, helping them on a track, giving feedback somewhere, uh, engaging on a very musical hands on level with other people inside the same genre was a good idea. And it's through Instagram that just a. A Booker at a, a venue here in mamma had seen my release because I had I've the right people followed me on Instagram. So it showed up on the venues place and this Booker saw it and reached out to me. So it pays off, but it it's a bit of a grind. And I think the only thing that separates people who make it onto stages from the people who just never quite get there are the people who keep going for it. It's the same kind tenacity that's needed in the, the dance world. I keep bringing it back to that, but I, I think I have a lot of my discipline and approach in my music work. Uh, I, I have the dance world to thank for that because you gotta get used to a lot of rejection there and, you know, just keep going. Keep making projects on your own, keep releasing it and, uh, keep trying to collab and exist in musical spaces. And eventually you'll, you'll make it out. And when it comes to the pure technical aspect of performing live, um, the, the synth wave genre was kind of easy enough. I played completely to backing tracks zero live elements. Eventually I'd like to transition, to having more and more live elements, finding someone who can play the keys, uh, electric piano, having somebody to play a synthesizer, maybe even having electric drums on stage would be golden. I love the live experience, but with synth wave, I do feel that it's very possible. As long as you make sure to have mastered high quality backing tracks that you can definitely go out and play those one, one struggle that was finding of a playback machine. That isn't a laptop. I ended up having to use a laptop anyway, and there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. But it is a bit risky now, cuz it can, there are a million things that can go wrong with the laptop. Um, uh, and there used to be a nice device back in the day that you could, uh, use literally just for playback, um, that had the stereo output and uh, you just select your track, play it easy peasy. But nowadays you have to go into buying a, uh, sampler or buying a loop pedal, uh, buying these different things that aren't technically made to just be playback devices and then using them to, uh, play back your tracks live. So that that's something, if somebody's looking into going from just a living room to a stage is like, make sure that you have high quality backing tracks then, and make sure that you have some way of. Uh, playing those backing tracks live at a very high quality. The last thing in the world you want is to sound like a karaoke purist. Just the,

Marc Matthews: 55:59

yeah. Yeah. It's um, there's a few things to take away from that. I think the first one is when you mentioned there about the whole finding a social media platform or an online presence somewhere and, and selecting one and sort of like building your visibility there, which is huge. Um, and it's something that I've, and, and also sort of summarizing what you said at the end there about how just be cons be cons, be consistent and just keep going as well. Cuz it can get quite deciding, I think for, I mean, I've been releasing music and I was in a band for well over sort of 89 years and right myself. So I've 15 years into this musical releasing my music journey, but it can get quite disheartening when, when it doesn't go. Right. But I think you're right in saying that you've just gotta keep going and keep continuing because people will fall off the wayside and then you'll gradually you'll be there, but it it's a hard slog. Isn't it? I think like with content as well, content. King. And, um, I hate saying that because a lot of the time I spend creating content rather than actually being creative, which, which kind of Beals me a bit. But, um, yeah. I, and it it's, it's tricky. I dunno what you think. No,

Totta: 57:04

I was just thinking I've quite like, or I'd like to think that I've quite thick skin about, uh, that side of things, but God, I feel right after I released my debut album just about month ago I released, um, I, I, you know, announced it on my socials and such, and then I think, uh, a week later I switched my. My profile picture to have it suit the aesthetic better. And I got more interactions with a fucking profile picture than I did for my music. And I was like, come on. Yeah, I, this is my heart and soul creations in this full length album. It's so much heart and dedication. And a little picture of my face is like what people care about more? I'm like, ah, that's. Yeah, yeah, that really took me like a, oh God. But you know, I, I figure it's, uh, it's just the way it is with social media nowadays. Again, the, the people who just grind away at it, go back to the studio, keep rehearsing, make, make more music. It's uh, it's the only way to keep it going, you know?

Marc Matthews: 58:12

Yeah. I think it's a glowing indictment. Isn't it really of social media, what you mentioned there and about how you change your profile picture and, and then that happens. It's um, yeah, it's nice. It's like when you release a new song and you get so many plays and then I dunno, I think I've released some random video, some random video. It might have been in my cat or something like that. And you just get more interaction interaction from that. Then this piece of work that I've slaved over for like six months. And then they're like, there's just this random animal doing something, or it might be something I've captured on the fly when I've been out and about, but that is the nature of the beast, unfortunately. Yeah. But to, uh, move on to what you said there about performing live it's, um, quite cool. What you said there about like, you obviously, it's important to have that, that high quality backing track that you're performing to and more artists I'm talking to now are taken to the stage. And it's great for me cuz it's something I wanna get back to at some point. And what I'm able to do through these interviews, just like cherry pick all these great ideas that our artists have. And then at some point I'm gonna have this Frankenstein of a life performance thing. Um, and maybe I'll dedicate a whole episode to how I've taken influence from yourself. And I spoke to Daniel Hugh about it as well. Who's on the same label as me. And, um, I'm speaking to, um, for the audience listening. Now, I'm gonna be talking to Zach Vortec next week. When I say next week, what's the day to today, it's like the seventh or something the end of, um, the next week in may. And I'm gonna get ideas from him and it's, it's great. And it's just great, I think, to see like music again. So I dunno about you incredibly missed it incredibly over the last year or so. Um, but it's so, so just to sort of summarize your, your, where you wanna take the life performance side of things, do you think you'll have, cause you're gonna be singing. Are you gonna be playing any other instruments as well? Would you, will you be the drummer that sings that?

Totta: 59:58

I mean, uh, I thought about it. I feel like I could pick out. Yeah, because I make everything on my track myself. Uh, I, I could technically play any of it, but I very much want to develop the, the singing and the connection with the audience and that performance. Yeah. Um, so I don't, I, I may very well change my mind at some point, but for now the goal is. Only singing, uh, only singing for me and then maybe rather gathering some form of live band from musician, friends who can, uh, who can play the instruments to give it a bit more, uh, dynamic. Amazing.

Marc Matthews: 1:00:41

So I think what we'll do is just, uh, to sort of like summarize the, the, uh, or rather conclude rather the, the podcast interview would be like, are there any key dates or, or any news or anything coming up on the horizon that you'd like to let our audience know about? Yeah.

Totta: 1:00:56

I, I thought about this when we asked it before and, uh, it's a tragic, no, not really. Um, that's okay. But I mean, there are plans in the works. There is a music video in kind of in, uh, production that might show up. Soonish maybe, uh, and hopefully a lot more gigs, but I guess it depends on how much of a Swedish audience, uh, you have, cuz I think I'll primarily be playing in my hometown a bit to get my feet wet as a solo archist here.

Marc Matthews: 1:01:28

Um, yeah, we, I was gonna say we do have, I looked at my metrics the other day and we do have some Swedish listening. Oh, couldn't say how many. Um, but there are some Swedish listeners. Oh yeah. We, we get about on the podcast. It's growing. Nice. Um, but we have a few hope. We'll have a few more now. Um, but what I'd like to just ask you now is where can our audience find you online? Where's the best place to, if you mentioned Instagram, where's the best place for them to. Sort of view on socials and your music.

Totta: 1:01:54

Yeah. I'd say socials is Instagram. That's what I try to be most, uh, consistent on. So if you're looking to find gigs or such that are coming out, keep an eye on my Insta it's Tata's voice T O T T a S voice. And, uh, otherwise music wise, I, I release basically everywhere digitally. So Spotify, apple music would be the, uh, easiest ways to find me

Marc Matthews: 1:02:20

marvelous. I'll add those. Uh, I'll put those in the show notes for everyone to go and check out. So tos a, a massive, thank you for joining me on this today. Um, it's been great to pick your brains on music and, and hear your background and story as well, which is, which is a fantastic listen, I must say. And, um, and getting. The songwriting and compositional process. So yeah, a big, thank you for joining me today. Thank you for having me. And, um, it's been my pleasure. Yeah, no, it's been brilliant. Yeah. It's been brilliant and good luck with the new music and the gig in as well. I'll keep an eye on Instagram and see how that goes. Yes. And, um, thank you so much for listening to the inside the me podcast. Make sure to rate us everywhere you list the podcasts, including Spotify.