Name:Paul Farace Age:27 Record Label Affiliations:Kick It, Caffeine, Badbwoy Bass, Real Hype
Farace Interview
Ez bro, big ups man for bouncing out your wicked fresh breakbeat vibes! All your tracks out now are hot and bumpin! How do you feel at the moment with your North American breaks style busting out? Farace:It feels great! I am very happy to be able to represent the US and be part of our up and coming new breaks sound. Being from Florida I have been around breaks since I started, but just recently the breaks production level has stepped up big time and I feel very honored to be a part of that movement.
What’s your favourite original track and remixed track that you touched so far in terms of quality in music production? Farace:For an original it would have to be “The Life ft G.Thomas.” It’s a bit more progressive than you would normally expect from me, but that was a tune where I started hitting a certain level on mix downs and it has a really driving snare drum and rolling bass line that I love. For remix, would have to be my current remix of Sonic Bee ft. Chunk N Attack – Nu Skool Skank. That remix came out very well and I was able to play some original guitar and bass on that track. It has been doing great on the charts and is currently #3 on the Beatport Top 100 breaks!
You are part of Kick It Recordings, did you start it up–can you tell us about Kick it Recordings please? Farace:Yes I started Kick It. Kick It was basically born out of the fact that I wanted an outlet to put out originals and I also wanted the chance to push the Florida/US Breakbeat sound into the top ranks of our genre. It was also so that I could produce and engineer some of the up and coming artists from the US and help develop their skills. Kick It is now just around 6 months old and the label has seen some great success so far with top 10’s on all the major charts from no less than four of our artists! We are very excited to keep pushing the envelope both in ourselves and in the scene.
Your constantly putting out all sorts of wicked breaks, how does the creative process work in production? Farace:It’s pretty straight forward as I make music very quickly. I usually finish 90% of a tune in one sitting, anywhere from 3-8 hours, and then live with it for a bit a tweak it down to as close to perfection as I know how. It’s usually like this: the track comes out great and pushes the session into overdrive or I can’t get anything working and the session goes straight down and I stop. That’s one thing I have learned to keep productivity moving, if something isn’t working after 10 or so minutes just dump it and put something else in. If something isn’t working, it just inst working – so replace it with something better. I usually try to write a track a day, but that has become less of a reality with a lot of the extra business work that comes with it.
What are your standards for production Monitors in your sound studio? Farace:KRK Rockit RP8’s, I love them. The Mackie’s are too harsh in the high mids for me. I can work on the KRK’s for 12 hours and never get ear fatigue. Love the bottom end on them too.
How did you lads meet up with the everyone to form the Kick it recordings crew? Farace: The original crew is all from Jacksonville, FL. We all live here and I figured I knew how to produce and engineer. People like Trevor Rockwell and J2K already have an excellent name as DJ’s, so it only made sense to get these guys in the studio! Other than the Jax crew we have Momenta from Canada, Jake Shanahan from New Hampshire, F-Word from Russia, and many other great artists coming on board for remixes. You will have to just wait and see who’s coming!
What is your musical background? Did you, go to a musical or a sound tech school of any sort? Do you play any traditional musical instruments? Farace:I have played guitar for about 18 years, since I was a little guy. I only taught myself so I mostly know all the chords and scales. I can’t just jam out to other people’s songs, I just know how to play my music and also improvise on progressions. I have a sweet Les Paul and if you hear a guitar in my track I definitely played it! For production and engineering I did go to FullSail in Orlando, FL. They basically teach you what and where to extended your education if you are serious about a career in music. They definitely fill you with information overload, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. The best part about it is you never stop learning. That’s what drives me; The music and the fact that you can always do something different, new and exciting. You never stop learning and that is a cool feeling.
Can you describe the Farace sound to new listeners please, and what is your favourite production style if you have one? Farace: That is very tough to answer as I have such a wide style. But if I had to wrap up everything into one, I would say it is a driving, pushing club sound that still retains musicality to draw you in. I pull from so many influences as I do truly love all good music no matter what the genre. As for my favorite production style, Breaks! People say I make “tech-funk” or “tech-breaks” but I just say I make breaks! I am not one for the over-labeling of our music. I always say there are two genres, “good and bad.”
Do you think knowing music theory helps you or do you just go by your ears and heart? Farace: I do know some music theory and I am sure it helps a lot, but most of the time it is just improvisation. I get a tune and just run with it. I think that when you do know theory or some theory it helps tremendously even though you don’t realize it on the surface. I am constantly reading and learning as much as possible too.
What’s up with your hometown Jacksonville? Are the heads really getting down to breaks in general or what? Farace: We used to have a huge scene and I used to have an awesome DJ career that started here. It started for me in 1999 when I secured a residency at our biggest after hours club in 1999. It started to fall due to the passing of the Rave Act years ago. I was DJ’ing 5 nights a week to packed crowds on a very consistent basis, but it started to slow and that’s when I decided I wanted to learn how to make the music instead of just playing it. That was in 2002. In 2003 I went to FullSail and now 5 years later here we are. I feel that was a very good decision as EDM is taking back off big time now! I am very excited for the future.
When and how did you get into breaks and production? Farace:I was about 16 and went to my best friends sisters boyfriends dorm room! He had two Technics and a mixer. I walked in, it took about two seconds and I knew that was what I was doing for the rest of my life. That was my introduction to EDM. Then when I got back home it was straight to the CD/Record store where I picked up my first electronic CD “DJ Icey – Continuous Play” and the rest is history! As for production, I talked a bit about that before, but basically one day I just knew I wanted to make the music that brought so many awesome loving people together and I wasn’t stopping until it happened. It just feels good to know you made someone smile or touched them in some way. It’s great to see so much success so far and that just drives me to do better and better.
You have also made tracks for legendary American record label Caffeine, what’s up with them now and are there any more future projects with them? Farace: Yeah I have some great remixes for Caffeine coming up. Dj Micro and John Debo re-launched Caffeine last year and it has been doing great, again. I am also in a house group with a friend Travis Erick called “Discoveri” that is on Caffeine and that is how I got hooked up with the label. Micro and Debo are really great guys and I feel very honored to work with them. They have definitely been through it and have a wealth of knowledge and information. They are the kind of people you can trust have your best interest at heart, they are just good people. That’s one thing I have learned, you are the people you surround yourself with.
Are you an old school raver or what? Farace:Oh hell yeah!
List some of your favorite electronic producers (past/present): Farace:I have to say that I love all “good” music but here is a list of some of my favorite electronic artists (in no specific order); Hybrid, Daft Punk, JXL, Chemical Bro’s, Icey, PVD, Moby, Crystal Method, Pendulum, Alex Metric and Kissy Sell Out to name a few.
What does your studio consist of? Farace:Imac 24in 3.0 Intel, Logic Studio, KRK RP8’s, MOTU Traveler, Evolution MK-249C, Novation Nocturn, Gibson Les Paul BFD, Taylor Big Baby, Ibanez GSR Bass, Electribe EMX, Stanton C324 x2, Pioneer DJM400 and some foam. I used to have a ton of hardware, but now do most everything in software besides recording signals in.
What are you using to produce nowadays? Logic audio? Live ? Cubase? Farace:Logic! I have been using it for about 7 months now and absolutely love it. I was on Nuendo 2.1 for the 5 years before that. The only gripe about logic I have is the audio editing. While I have got much quicker at it now, it’s just not as up to par as some of the others. It more than makes up for that though!
What is your favourite Compressor and eq software plugins? Farace:PSP Mixpressor (mmm) and PSP Neon (mmm).
Any weed in your studio? Or are you straight and clean? Farace:If I don’t have any, look out. You’ve been warned.
What would be your dream track to legally remix? Farace: Wow that’s tough. I will go with Michael Jackson – Rock With You.
If you were stranded on an island and had a portable record player with enough batteries to play one last track,,,which track would you choose to listen to? Farace:Finished Symphony or Expander.
Shout outs: Farace:Breakbeat Fans! The Kick It crew! Florida! John Debo! Micro! Chunk N Attack! Travis Erick!
