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Image Credit: dc11

Interview: dc11

An Interview with the Parisian techno producer

Written by Stromkult on .

dc11 aka Lucas Marchal is a producer based in Paris, France known for his energetic live techno sets. In this interview, he talks about his approach to production, playing live, making music as a young father and the joy of tweaking filter cutoff knobs.

Stromkult: How did you initially get into electronic music and music production? Did you DJ before? As far as I understand it, you currently only play live, right?

DC11 (Lucas Marchal): Yeah, I’m a shit DJ (laughs)! I leave it to the pros. I respect DJs, but that’s their job! I’ve been into music my entire life, but I came to electronic music pretty late. I was more into guitar music, hardcore, stoner, doom stuff and so on. For a long time I was involved doing shows and doing radio for almost ten years. Then one of my friends was getting into techno. And really the thing that got me into electronic music was Sandwell District.

I remember that was the case for a lot of people at that time! (laughs)

They had the same kind of imagery as a lot of the music I was familiar with, so it was easy to get into it. I had a friend who was playing in a grindcore band and then he went straight into the pit of techno! There were a lot of people who had a similar path, coming from the punk and metal world. So little by little, I got more and more into techno and electronic music.

But then, for a long time, I did everything around the music, but I never really got into making music myself. But one day, me and some friends pulled together some money to buy a keyboard for a friend’s birthday. And we went to a store to buy it and then I was thinking to myself “I should also buy something for me.” Because I was — and still am — listening to a lot of ambient, so I thought “I can make some ambient loops!”. So I did some research and bought a Teenage Engineering OP-1 because it was a bit of an all-in-one solution.

A few months later, there was an exhibition in Paris about the history of electronic music that I went to. And also Modular Square, the modular shop we have in Paris, was doing an introduction to modular synthesis workshop, similar to the ones they do at SchneidersLaden. I went to that workshop, but I came out of it thinking “this isn’t for me, this is too involved”.

But then, a week later, I bought a Moog Mother32, which I guess is the gateway for a lot of people getting into modular synthesis. And, well — that was the end of it (laughs)! I eventually ended up buying a Eurorack case. I bought the Complex Oscillator from Verbos and started trying out different modules. So this year, it’s been ten years since I started with the OP-1. I really started from absolute zero. I knew nothing!

So you started out with only hardware, using a computer with a DAW like Ableton came later?

Yeah. I had a friend who I observed making music on a laptop, he didn’t even have a MIDI keyboard. And I just thought “this is exactly what I don’t want to do” (laughs)! But then I saw a video on the Intellijel Metropolis and I thought wow, you can music by clicking switches and moving sliders? That sounds fun! So I instantly had that connection [to hardware]. I never thought about using a computer at the time, what really appealed to me was just turning knobs. Then of course, later I got into Ableton. But even today, for me, most of the sound generation is coming from hardware. I mostly just use Ableton to record the sounds.

So you gradually bought more and more gear, including a drum machine, so you could start making full songs with just hardware?

Yeah, I bought a drum machine, but that was a bit later, since I just wanted to make ambient initially. I bought some FX pedals, including the Strymon El Capistan, which I still use quite a lot. And I would just get lost for hours and hours, playing with the sound on sound mode on the El Capistan. Then I thought about adding some more rhythm, and bought an MFB Tanzmaus and started to make ambient with beats. And I guess gradually I got into making techno. I ended up selling the OP-1, because it doesn’t have a grid and my sense of rhythm is pretty terrible (laughs), and instead bought an Elektron Digitakt almost as soon as it came out, which was a huge step that got me closer to what I wanted.

Then I also sold the Digitakt and got more into Eurorack, getting a big 12U case. I guess there was just a lot of buying and selling involved (laughs), especially during the first few years. But then I eventually built a proper modular groovebox, with an Erica Synths drum sequencer and a WMD mixer module. That was really fun, especially during the pandemic, when I had a lot of time.

I was just recording everything as a single stereo track and recorded a lot of tracks that way. During the end of the lockdown period, I put some tracks on Instagram and one track got released on a label, and that was the start of it becoming something a little bit more serious. It was nice to get the validation of having it released by someone else. I later got the confidence to also just release my music on my own, but initially I think I needed the validation from someone else.

When you started to make techno, was there a specific sound you were inspired by ?

I think my main influences are still the same now as in the beginning: Mike Parker, Luke Slater, Token records, Sandwell District, Sleeparchive and so on. Mike Parker is definitely a big one, I’ve always admired the simplicity and timelessness in his music.

Did you initially have trouble with making your music “sound techno”? I think a lot of people tend to struggle with that, since techno is a genre with a pretty specific way of doing things.

I think the fact that I never did any kind of other music before and just do everything by ear has helped, in a sense. Also working with modular has really helped me with making happy accidents. Especially with the Verbos stuff, the Voltage Multistage, the Complex Oscillator — they just make it easy to get the sound I had in mind. They also have a great interface to work with. So I’ve never really had the problem of being like “this sounds too musical” (laughs)!

What you said about the Verbos modules makes a lot of sense, since Mark Verbos is specifically developing these modules for his own purposes of performing techno live.

Yeah! Personally, I’m also totally incapable of doing anything but a loop (laughs). I can’t do a proper chorus, I can’t do anything else, so techno works for me!

What was it that initially drew you to modular?

Like I said, just the fact that flicking switches and moving sliders could result in a cool techno riff completely blew my mind. When you’ve never touched a synthesizer before, just touching the cutoff knob on the filter — it’s an endless source of joy (laughs)! I also quite like the patching process. Since I’ve started with modular, I just got very used to that kind of workflow. The first fixed architecture synth I got is the Oberheim/Sequential OB6, which only happened last year! I only discovered things like velocity and MIDI ten years in. I was like, this is pretty nice, having presets (laughs)!

just touching the cutoff knob on the filter — it’s an endless source of joy!

But yeah, I just find patching relaxing, and I like thinking of problems that I can solve through patching. What I really like is to have a repetitive loop going on the modular, and then to think about how I can turn that into something you can listen to for five or six minutes, using things like random modulation and sequential switches. For me the question is really how to turn a loop into something interesting, and to me that is an endless source of joy, basically.

Do you have a favorite module?

I would say the Verbos Voltage Multistage. It’s pretty much the start of everything I do. Also the Verbos Bark Filter Processor is quite high up on the list. Initially, I didn’t really understand it, because I didn’t have enough knowledge of synthesis at the time. But then I tried it at the store, and the guy at the store just sent some white noise through it and moved the bands I was like “phew!” [makes “mind blown” motion]. You know, there’s a few moments in your music journey where your mind is blown, and that was one of those moments! Being able to slice the sound into twelve bands, I just thought that was amazing and incredibly powerful. I still use it in every live set I play and use it for sound design still, since it has a very beautiful tone.

I also recently got the Intellijel Atlantis and I like it a lot. It’s very simple but it has a great tone. Another, somewhat crazy, purchase I did was the SM-1 from Cwejman, it’s amazing! I think these are my favorites. And the Moog DFAM, I guess it’s a synth, but it’s also a module.

(Lucas's Studio)

What’s your approach to playing live? What’s your current setup and  how much of it is improvised, versus pre-recorded samples and loops?

For a while, I did everything with just my modular case, because I didn’t have any extra space in my room! When I moved into my current apartment, I finally had more space, so I switched from the modular groovebox approach to a proper drum machine and bought a Jomox Alpha Base.

Some friends that run the Résilience events in Paris did some live streams during the pandemic and they asked me to play at one of the live streams. And at that point, all I was doing really was playing and improvising with my modular case, all day long. So I said yes. That was the first ever live set I did, with the Alpha Base and my 12U system. And I decided to fully improvise it.

After that, it was just logical to continue doing live performances and I never turned back! When it became possible again after the pandemic, I then started performing in clubs. But doing that live stream was almost scarier, because if you fuck up, it’s on the internet forever!

Over time, the live setup has continually evolved. I’ve downsized my live system from 12U to 6U to make it easier to travel and also added an Elektron Octatrack. From that point onwards it’s been pretty stable, almost always a 6U system, the Octatrack and an additional drum machine and a couple of FX. I think this is a pretty good mixture. The modular is totally improvised, but I also have some backing tracks on the Octatrack. I use the Octatrack as a simple sample player. I constantly record loops in the studio, so before a gig, I go through my loops and bounce them to stems, especially the stuff that’s not easy to do live. But I try to keep these loops very minimalist, so I can always improvise on top.

So it’s a little bit like DJing in that sense (laughs)!

Yeah, it’s a bit like DJing my own material with improvisation on top. I often rebuilt tracks from the stems. But I can also change elements, like taking a bassline from one track and putting it in another track, so it’s a bit like remixing my own tracks. It’s always changing, and I never play the same live set twice.

You are quite active on Instagram, posting videos of your work in the studio. Is that something you enjoy doing?

Yeah, I quite enjoy that, and also doing longer videos on YouTube. I’ve always enjoyed making videos. When I started, I thought Instagram was a cool way to get ideas. I like seeing snippets and loops of peoples work on Instagram. But there weren’t many of these with good audio and video, so I started doing that myself, just because I enjoy it. It’s not a marketing exercise or anything (laughs)! And I’ve kept that habit, when I think I have something cool going on, I just record the video and sync the audio, that takes me ten minutes tops, and I post it.

And to be honest, almost everything good that’s happened to my music career happened because of Instagram. I got my first gigs through Instagram, and I’m still getting gigs through it. So I can’t complain! Of course, it takes up too much time and probably accounts for a lot of bad things happening in general, but for music, it’s very handy! I don’t take it too seriously, like “oh I really need to post something now!”. I just record when I think I have something cool going on.

You said you are a young parent? How are you balancing parenthood and music right now?

I’m fortunate to have a lot of time to make music. I was a stay at home dad for the first year and a half. She’s two and a half now. The first year, it took a bit of adjustment. You still have a bit of time early on, because they sleep so much (laughs). The time I had, I felt like I had to be super creative right away. So of course I didn’t do anything. Because if you get into that mindset of “I have to finish something!”, you never finish anything.

But then, little by little, I’ve managed to work around that, just saying to myself “I don’t care if it’s not perfect”. You eventually find a rhythm, but of course still, your time gets cut in half. Now she’s going to daycare, so I have the first half of the day. I treat music making as a 9 to 5 day job until I pick her up in the evening. I’m not a night owl, so I use the day when I can.

I see you have some nice outboard in your studio, like the Overstayer Modular Channel. Was getting into outboard the result of getting more into the mixing side of things?

Yeah, I bought the Overstayer, which was a big purchase for sure. The way I use it is that most of the time, it’s strapped on the master, so what I record is going through the Overstayer. I also have a couple of Elysia 500 Series pieces. Sometimes, I will bounce the synths or the drum bus through the Overstayer, but yeah, often it’s just sitting on the master, because I can’t be bothered (laughs).

Everything in the studio has individual outputs, so I can EQ in the DAW or add FX, depending on what I need. I usually do the big brushstrokes with the Overstayer, I think it shines when it’s heavy handed. I think it’s the best musical purchase I’ve ever made. Like, I could sell half of my synths, but I would keep the Overstayer. Probably half the tracks I’ve made wouldn’t have been released without the Overstayer, because they would have sound weak as fuck (laughs)!

And then you do more surgical processing in the DAW?

I generally don’t do a lot in the DAW. But I’ve recently worked with a friend that is quite good with Ableton, and I’ve learned a lot from him. We’ve combined our approaches and I’ve been enjoying the results. So lately, I’ve tried to mix these approaches. But usually, I’d rather get the sound right at the source and not drastically change it afterwards. But when I work with my friend, we do a lot of software processing, pitch envelopes in Ableton, using Cableguys Shaperbox like crazy, that sort of thing.

So I’ve been trying these things a bit more when I’m by myself. But old habits die hard, so I usually still tend to record the track in one go, cutting a bit here and there and that’s it basically. For a long time, I could only record in stereo, so I got into the habit of getting it right the first time. I think that’s a good exercise and I’ve kept that habit, even now that I can multitrack things. I just don’t have the patience for arranging stuff, I’m not very good at it — although I am trying to get better and force myself to do it a bit more.

Again, what I find fun is tweaking synths. I don’t find things like arranging very fun. Sometimes, I wish my tracks were a bit more complicated, arrangement wise. And then sometimes, I think I’ve made an improvement in that respect, and it’s really just that there’s a drop for one second (laughs). But I’ve come to enjoy tweaking Ableton more these days. Now that I know a lot more about synthesis, it’s easier and more enjoyable for me.

But when I’m on holidays with just my computer, I rarely get the urge to make music. I just like sitting in the studio with my synths, basically. But sometimes, I wish I liked the software side more! I’m not into hardware synths because I’m a snob or anything. If I liked it and I was good at making music with just a laptop, I would love it — it would have certainly cost me much less (laughs)!

You have to find whatever works for you.

That’s what I always say, it has to be fun! If it’s not fun, there’s no point. Even something as simple as moving the decay knob on the hi-hat on the TR-909 is fun to me, so that’s what I like to do! To me, moving the trackpad on my laptop just isn’t very fun.

I see a poster for an exhibition of the painter Georgia O’Keeffe behind you. Are you into visual art as well?

I went to that exhibition with my daughter when she was still very young and it was a disaster (laughs). We had to go after only the third room. So I just bought the poster. But yeah, before getting heavily into making music, I was very involved with film and photography. I had a little lab and everything. I’ve always been involved with visual art, I still buy photography books and I try to go to exhibitions.

Do you feel like there’s a similarity between the creative processes of making music and doing photography?

I usually get inspired by other music, listening to something and trying to do something similar, even if something very different comes out. But I really like abstraction in photography and painting. It’s about texture and abstraction. And in that sense, they’re related quite directly. I think there’s a common “color” to the music and the photography and visual art I like. But I don’t see a painting and get inspired musically, usually. I don’t just wake up and have something I want to channel into music, for me, the ideas come more from sitting down and getting into the interactions between the synths.

I think that is also the case for many visual artists — the art is a product of the direct interaction with the material, like the paint and the canvas and so on.

I definitely can relate to that. Turning the knobs, tweaking stuff gives me something, and I give it something back. We produce something together. That’s what’s fun about it. You never know what’s going to happen. And sometimes, nothing happens for a long time! And you’re like “why do I even have all this [looks around the studio]!” That’s when I usually film a video or do something different, like making a sample pack.

I feel like those periods can also be productive, because you somehow come out at the other end feeling like you’ve learned something, even if in that moment, it feels totally pointless.

Yeah, you always end up learning something. Because if your mindset is “everything I touch turns to gold”, that’s not a very good mindset to have! Sometimes you feel like “yeah, I can do no wrong, everything I do is sick!” But then you listen to it the day after and it’s just like “meh” (laughs)!

if your mindset is "everything I touch turns to gold", that’s not a very good mindset to have!

You know, when I can’t make music for a while because I’m away, it often feels like I’ve forgotten everything. So I have to grind for a day or two to get back into it — just making five, ten or fifteen loops that are completely shit, until one that is good comes out. And for some reason that usually happens just seconds before I have to leave to pick up my daughter (laughs)!

You can find out more about Lucas' latest releases and upcoming live dates here.