Roman Flügel | In The Studio With
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ew artists are able to inject a sense of soulful sustenance into the quirky world of electronic music. While some genres are burdened by their own dogmatism, Roman Flügel’s multifaceted approach has always been enlightening. Since 1995, the German workaholic has amassed seven solo projects (including Eight Miles High and Soylent Green) and nine collaborative aliases. To illustrate his diversity, you only have to look at Flügel’s output. Despite not arriving until quite late in his career, his solo debut album Fatty Folders (2011) was a journey into mellow Tech House, followed three years later by the punchy Electronic Pop of Happiness Is Happening. Meanwhile, this year’s All The Right Noises once again demonstrates Flügel’s eclectic mix of styles, falling evasively between the apertures of traditional House and Techno. In terms of sound creation, Flügel is a hardware buff and synth fan, having amassed a hefty collection over the years. However, while he is more than happy to absorb what the digital world has to offer, Flügel does not consider himself a laptop producer and would prefer not to be defined by the technology he uses. More important is his commitment to sound itself and his ongoing desire to locate the source of his creativity.
FM: Some people might not know, but the first music you got into was EBM, which is a Dance splinter of Industrial music? Roman Flügel: “That was definitely part of my youth when I grew up in the ’80s. It was between ’84 and ’86, right before Acid House hit Germany I would say. There was this period of time when I was really into that electronic music, which was coming from Belgium: bands like Front 242, Nitzer Ebb from the UK and Skinny Puppy in Canada. But things changed very quickly when I heard the first Acid House tracks back around ’87. I’m sure there are still a few EBM fans here and there, but back then it was all part of my youth culture.” Your latest album All The Right Noises is very serene. Was writing and recording the album an antidote to the hectic world of DJing? “I would say it’s always been like this for me. Growing up with Techno in the ’90s, there was always this ‘night’ experience, but then you also had the next day and a big part of that was stuff like Warp Records and the more chilled sound. So while I’ve released plenty of 12-inches and club music, I’ve also made music to listen to or home listening music. I would say that with this latest album, everything is more connected to me.” Your music’s always had a strong identity, but would you agree that you’re a non-conformist? “I’m trying to achieve this and it’s not something that I think about too much, but I think it’s important to not just imitate. Of course you might start imitating in the beginning, that’s how you learn how to do things, but then it’s very important that
you try to shape your own sound and character within the music you’re making.” Much of the music on the new album was a result of live takes. Did you want to avoid quantising or perfecting the sound too much? “Some of it was live takes with less quantising, just playing with my fingers, recording and then doing little edits here and there. But that approach is something that’s changed over the years. I’ve finally found it more interesting to be less obsessed with perfection, whatever that means, and having a certain amount of levity within the creation process, just letting things happen without trying to cleanse everything.” Does creativity still come naturally to you, or do you have to work harder to cultivate an environment in which you can be creative? “First of all, it comes naturally, but it’s a lot of work at the same time. If I don’t go to the studio and do something every day, there’s hardly anything coming out. I need to have this constant workflow to do something I’m satisfied with at the end. I usually go into my studio every day, where I can be playful and start to record and use those opportunities I have to trigger my creativity. If I lean back and wait for something to happen, nothing will happen.” Does experience allow you to throw out what’s unnecessary from the production so you can focus on the essence of whatever you’re trying to get across? “I definitely feel that a lot more these days than when I first started. Over the years, you find your own way to treat instruments and their possibilities, and I found out that it’s a lot more important to keep the essence of what you are trying to create rather than recording track after track after track.” How do you get a clear separation of sounds and how important is sound placement? “Well for me it’s always about putting the lower frequencies in focus. If you do club music, there is always the balance between the bass drum and the bass frequencies, which is very delicate. I found out at a certain point that it’s very important to separate certain frequencies from each other to get a good result in the mix. For example, there are always some frequencies that are a bit disturbing and make things a lot more difficult to mix, so I’m looking for those disturbing frequencies and trying to separate things in the stereo band by working a little bit on the EQ.” Do you adopt certain principles for EQing? “I’m not usually too harsh when using EQs. I don’t use them to extremes, just to come close to the sound I want to have because you always have to find a balance. If you push a lot of treble then you probably have to push a lot of bass as well, but that doesn’t make the music sound a lot better in most cases. It’s the same with mid frequencies; they can be really harsh in the beginning and you think they’re going to sound brilliant, but after a while they actually sound quite annoying.”
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