About Sub Caesar Eat - Sleep - Produce Music - Repeat I'm an independent Dutch producer, working from my home studio in Utrecht. I produce dance oriented pop and house music. That includes anything in the music universe from Deep House and Melodic House to Tech House and Melodic Techno. I have been releasing music since 2021 and plan to keep on going until my head explodes.
Musical background I'm old enough (Hey, look up David Guetta, he is only 2 years older than me..) to have bought 'Celebration', by Kool & The Gang on vinyl as my first single, while this was topping the Dutch charts. So I grew up with a lot of disco and cheesy 80s songs that I collected on hundreds of casette tapes, as we all did back then. But my true love at that time was with bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis and Electric Light Orchestra. Space opera's, symphonic and progressive rock. My father was a professional player in a symphony orchestra. So I also heard a lot of classical music when I was young. Even now I can not resist adding strings to a track. I love how they glue everything together, and how you can create so many atmospheres and emotions with them.
Climbing the learning curve Despite attempts from my father, I never really learned to play an instrument, which I regret to this day, but at the time I just was not interested in playing. However I was always messing around with mixing decks, cassette tapes or CD's, speakers and music equipment in general. I loved technical stuff and tinkering with electronics. Also, as a kid, I spent most of my free time learning to program computers. Fortunately, computers and music production have teamed up big time. Creating music was always just a dream, but a couple of years back I updated my stone-age music software and I was completely blown away by what had become possible in the 10 years or so I had not been paying attention to it. I realized all practicle hurdles that had kept me from creating music before (like: I can't play or sing) were now gone, and there were just no more excuses. It had become so easy and so much fun to create, I was hooked. And then it became a mental challenge to finish stuff and put it out. I feel very comfortable now producing on a computer, programming synths - be it plugins or hardware - even old ROMplers and drum machines.
How I approach producing I think it is important to work from a feeling, and to use all your creative tools and skills to try and convey that feeling in a production. Plus, if it's a dance track, it has to be danceable. It has to have that energy and tension that makes you want to move. Counts as a feeling as well. Next, it is helpful to have a theme, or a strong connection with the title and lyrics to any decisions regarding sound-design and arrangement. Not only does a track make more sense that way, but it keeps you focused, while navigating dozens of ideas and setting hundreds of variables. When I start a production (commit to an idea), I realize time is of the essence. I have to get a rough track in shape before it starts to bore me to death from a creative point of view. The ideas happen in the early stages, the technical fine tuning later on. It is very important to try and keep that seperate - at least in my workflow - or else I will not finish the production.
Inspirational tracks and artists Currently I like to listen to Tech House, Deep House, Melodic Techno and basically any EDM track that offers a new perspective or has a very high sonic quality. For me Camelphat is at the top of that game. I can listen to 'Cola' or 'For a Feeling' ten times in a row. It's melodic, it's emotional, it's danceable, and just so well produced it hurts... One can only dream of achieving that level. Well, dream and work hard. Most recent hits by James Hype, John Summit, Piero Pirupa and ACRAZE are also in my playlist as they are so irresistible to dance to. They have that perfect interplay between the kick and the bass, that pulls you to the dance floor. One particular track that sort of stood out for me was Fisher's "Losing It". He makes it sound so easy (which it absolutely is not), and achieves so much with so little in that track. Extremely well produced to my ears.
Modesty is in order If you have listened to a lot of music, you tend to think that you also know something about making music. You hear something and then you think 'Hey, that sounds easy! I can do that!'. But producing has humbled me. Wrestling through my first (horrible) tracks, I came to realize ... I know NOTHING!

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