Receiving his first cassette deck player at the age of 7, Conforce was then introduced to the world of house and techno by a relative. With gabber noted as one of his earlier influences, being immersed in the genre in his early teenage years, the Dutch producer and live performer soon found his style after an introduction to the works of Autechre and Monolake. Now a core Deslin artist, Conforce has also released on Clone, Rush Hour, Frustrated Funk and returning to Echocord for a new mini LP via his Silent Harbour alias this summer. Releasing under a variety of monikers over the years, we caught up with Conforce to find out why it’s important for him to have a different name for each project, the inspiration behind the new Silent Harbour release and the process of translating ideas to productions.
You’ve released under several alias’ over the years, why is it important for you to have these different names for your projects?
Freedom of creativity and further exploration of musical timbres and productional approaches. Taking distance from certain external expectations. Sometimes you’re just shaping different sound timbres over a longer timespan that do not fit in with any of the existing projects. But it evolves every now and then and that is good. It’s not that I want to use different names but it’s a must because I love to vary to keep myself interested in the music. In general for me it’s about deep sophisticated electronic music.
Do you feel that your mood and environment affects your productions and what alias you work under?
I’m not aware of this but for sure this can contribute, if I lived on a tropical island with coconut trees I would probably make a different type of music. Or maybe not haha. The fact that I live in an industrial harbour city now does help feed my creativity in the sense of inspiration maybe and it helps me to visualise certain things via music. I would say 75% comes from within and the other 25% is external for me. I think it’s a challenge not to be affected by too many external influences because in a big city you’re overwhelmed by things very easily. The studio is in a certain way a way to escape a bit and a space where I get into my own zone.
Next up is a mini LP under your Silent Harbour guise, what was the inspiration behind this collection of tracks?
Wavetable synthesis and a reverberation studies with some new effect units. I think I wanted to do something with a bit of classic dub techno influence again and make it slightly more atmospheric. there were also some technical motivations to do this but that’s not so interesting to talk about. At some point you have a consistent selection of tracks that make sense together.
What the was the process behind the making of ‘Noctiluca’?
It’s a combination of tracks made over a longer timespan focusing on chord driven evolving patterns, grooves, deep kicks and loads of reverberation. The earlier silent harbour albums were slightly more experimental and leaning on dark ambient electronics as well infused with dub elements. I think for this EP the focus is leaning a bit more on 4/4 orientated beats, in general the pace is quite slow in the Silent Harbour tracks but there are some exceptions. For the rest it’s a lot of focus on outboard gear, I think 80% is all made out of live takes and performances that were later post processed a bit to get it into the right shape. There is a focus on “less is more”.
How did your relationship begin with Echocord? Why did you choose this label to release the LP on?
I’ve known Kenneth the label owner for a long time now. The first Silent Harbour album was released via Echocord and over the years Kenneth and I stayed in touch and we’ve played together often at Tresor. Recently I told him I had something in the making that focused a bit more on classic dub infused techno and before I knew it we send these tracks over to the mastering studio. I mean they have been doing this type of sound for so long, you know, the post basic channel thing. For me it was important not to sound too much like that and I had to force myself to make a more varied selection. He seemed to like it a lot, without hesitation this was released.
Do you ever go into the studio and find it hard to translate your ideas? How do you overcome it if so?
Yes sometimes it’s a struggle, I’m currently in such a period actually. You have all these nice tools but no ideas or fresh energy and I keep sketching instead of finishing things. Sometimes it’s frustrating because I think in final results. So I change parts in the setup or take things apart from the studio to focus closely on certain tools and learn more about crating my own sounds. You need to have a subconscious feeling or motivation to make something. It’s never a solid idea, just a dose of curiosity and positive energy to make something that surprises you. And you’re like, did I make this today? With some tracks I don’t even know how I did it and would be unable to repeat it. Technical skills also block my creativity. They kill the naivety of plain music making sometimes. Very boring. Usually when I feel my inspiration isn’t flowing I try to avoid the the studio. Most of the times if I’m in the mood I start investigating my gear inside out and take it apart en see if there’s anything I didn’t know about. In most cases I start making my own sound banks and this can generally be a spark for inspiration. It’s also very possible you’ve been doing the same thing for a long time and you need to throw things around and change your workflow. New gear can generally be a source of inspiration but it’s the easiest way actually.. I often find myself being stuck in GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome ) periods. But in general gear is overrated to be honest, I can be a huge inspiration but also a big distraction…
Do you prefer hardware or software? What is your favourite piece of equipment and why?
I use the best of both worlds. Sometimes my tracks are hybrids sometimes fully digital and sometimes fully outboard produced. It depends on the type of track also. It’s fun to record a few layers live and then post produce it into a full arrangement. Or sometimes I just leave it as it is. I think I’m totally hooked to the electron digitone now.. Such a crazy punchy sounding synth that has mojo and loads of sweet spots. Software wise I don’t use a lot of vst’s anymore, it’s mainly digital effects processing. Audiodamage has some killer plugins. Also hardware drummachines, digital or analog are simply brilliant. I think programming beats with a mouse is lame. I often do it but to be honest, programming a step sequencer is so much more fun and intuitive. Nothing can beat my 808, I tried everything from clones to plugins to samples, anything. Nothing has the mojo like the real one. But it’s a very overused machine of course, using it in the right context again is something I always try, to be honest I made tons of tracks without one and wouldn’t need it but gosh… it makes life in the studio a lot easier.
How do you connect your productions to your live sets? Do you often produce with the performance in mind?
With livesets I don’t focus on tools or loops. Just on finished productions or projects that are unreleased and sometimes released. I split them in layers and tweak them live with some external effects and I’ve found a kind of hybrid form of performing with my own productions. On the side I do additional drum programming. For live sets I certainly like to sweep the floor but I try to keep it deep and sophisticated as well. Plain tools are too boring for me. I approach it more versatile, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. It’s always a challenge to keep the energy floating with your own music.
Outside of the studio, what do you like to do to switch off?
Dive deeper into my wine education and knowledge. I’ve got three diplomas in both wine theory and analytical tasting. It helps me get closer to my taste profile and certainly takes me somewhere else than the music does. Music is just music you know. There are too many interesting things. Maybe I have too many interests because I also like to hunt for authentic real characters in the streets of Rotterdam, street photography is something I’ve always been doing on the side also when going abroad for shows. All the times I went to Tokyo I spend a few weeks photographing and documenting life on the streets. It’s fascinating. www.borisbunnik.com
Is there anything in mind at the moment that you’d like to achieve creatively?
Spend some time on a new Conforce album, I made too many sketches and haven’t decided yet where I want to go with the sound palette of the whole piece. It’s always a transparent process to be honest. You keep searching and searching, sketching and just messing around. My creative intuition is a strong leader. I used to be more impulsive and naive, it’s something that I brood on now for a longer time until I’m fully satisfied but things are never perfect or finished, sometimes you just feel it makes sense and then I just go naked by sharing this.
I’d also like to get better in my social interaction skills in the streets with my subjects for my street photography. It’s always a challenge to feel comfortable in awkward or challenging situations with strangers. In the end I would love to have a consistent honest series of pictures that tell a story just like I do with the music albums.
‘Noctiluca’ by Silent Harbour will be released on the 17th August via Echocord