interview by Geno McGahee
DiipSilence is a very unique artist, bringing an electronic sound. Based out of LA, DiipSilence is gaining quite a following and continues to turn heads with its great sound. Scared Stiff had a chance to sit down with the musician and learned a lot about DiipSilence…
GM: Can you introduce yourself to the public? How would you describe your band, your style, your message?
Hi, I’m DiipSilence, a Chinese electronic artist-producer based in LA. My music is a fusion of visual and sound, I use lots of foley sounds, field recordings in my music to express the images in my heart. I believe “Everything Can Be Music,” even one sound can create a whole track of music. I use wavetable synth, samplers, granular synth to tweak an organic sound into the electronic music world. Hopefully, I can make the audience feel what I can feel, see what I can see, and hear what I can hear while listening to my music.
GM: What got you into music?
I can find freedom and authenticity from making music, this is the way that I can express myself. I’m not a good talker or writer, the only way for me to express my emotion and to talk to the world is music. When I was young, I learned to play the keyboard and guitar in high school. I bought lots of CDs and cassettes, music is my biggest hobby, but I never tried to make my career path in music. But during my graduate school summer vacation, I went to Dubspot in New York, this is the beginning of my career. I realize that I can make my ideas into a track with the knowledge I learned from there. After graduation, I went to LA to continue to learn audio engineering and started work as a mixing engineer and film post sound editor and designer. Started from there, I wrote my own songs, producing, mixing, just trying to make myself an independent producer-artist.
GM: What musicians/bands were your inspirations?
Jayjay Johanson, Coco Rosie are some of my early inspiration artists, especially Coco Rosie, using lots of fun toy sounds in their album, which inspires me to use foley and field recording in my music. I also get inspirations from Richard Devine and Tim Exile, they are genius of both music and technology, I’m starting to make my own patches in Kontakt and Reaktor under their influences.
GM: Talk about your latest album. What should the public expect?
My most recent EP “Reticent Path” is about six dreams I had, it’s a tranquil album, with peaceful instruments like acoustic piano, hang drum and guitar, etc. This is the first EP that I wrote with only acoustic instruments, this short description includes all the song titles: After Raining, under the Silent Eave, I dreamt in my Imaginary Forest, through the Enshrouding Mist, I become a Sorrow Isle in the Concealed Sea.
GM: What has been the best experience you’ve had being in the business?
I think the best experience was definitely in writing when I was realizing and using the sounds from nature to create very different sounds and make the sounds “Electronic.” Another one will be when I was doing live, seeing the audience closed their eyes and just listening, I know I can talk to them without speaking.
GM: What has been the worst experience you’ve had?
In the music industry, there is so much greatness and excitement, but also so much disappointment, frustration. For me, it’s either a good experience or a “lesson” that I need to learn. In this way, it changes how I view the world. If I think experience can be wrong and harmful, there will be another worse one, and another way worse one. For me, several lessons that I’ve learned are: get prepared for some music industry knowledge, such as music marketing, basic concepts of copyright/PRO/distribution/PR/record deal, etc. Don’t agree on things that you know nothing at all.
GM: With the changing mediums in the distribution of music, how difficult is it to make a living in the business?
The changing mediums in the distribution of music certainly changed my way of listening and making music. Average song length is shorter, and a great music video seems more natural to spread out online than just music, that’s why Instagram and Tiktok are more popular among music fans. As an independent artist-producer, I need to master more skills other than just music, such as marketing, video editing, mixing, and so on to make a living.
GM: Any final thoughts?
Next year goal: Keep making music and be thankful to be alive.
LEARN MORE
Streaming links of the latest EP: http://smarturl.com/reticent_path
All of the music: http://smarturl.com/diipsilence
Official Website: https://www.diipsilence.com/
