- The veteran Croatian producer gets emotive on this week's podcast.
- Petar Dundov has been a harbinger for Croatian electronic music since his debut release back in 1994. During that decade he established a close working relationship with Pascal F.E.O.S.'s PV imprint, releasing a string of 12-inches and an album (1999's Reaction) as Brother's Yard. As he explains below, these types of intimate artist/imprint bonds are extremely important to Dundov; in 2002 he begun a run of melodically rich techno releases through Belgian label Music Man (including the well-received Escapements LP) and continues to be aligned with the imprint to this day. Techno production is far from Dundov's sole concern: 2002 saw him release an ambient album through Jeff Mills' Tomorrow imprint, while away from his exploits as a recording artist Dundov runs studio and multimedia company Neumatik out of Zagreb, and streams his musical moods on the internet 24/7 via SynchFM. On his mix for RA, Dundov presents a patient hour of music that straddles the line between house and techno, building to a resplendent crescendo with Dundov's own "Distant Shores."
What have you been up to recently?
We had a single release at the beginning of the month, so I did many radio shows, promotional parties—the usual stuff. I received many remix requests; at the moment I am working on a new remix for Trouw Records. I am also mixing songs for a new album. I have a plenty of sketches ready to be turned into songs, collecting them through the whole year. It's time to mix everything and start preparing the album release for 2011.
How and where was the mix recorded?
This mix I did in my studio. I have a good listening room and it is great to record because I can focus on details. I used my laptop running Traktor and later did some levelling to make the mix more balanced.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?
The idea was to create a selection that will be pleasing to ears in respect of flow, subtleness and a latest selection of techno music that is interesting to hear IMHO. I started from more abstract stuff and gradually brought form to it. I think I found a good balance of deep, stretched-out sounds and melodic patterns throughout the whole mix.
You've remained with Music Man throughout much of your career. Why is that?
For me mutual understanding and trust between author and publisher is the most important thing. To be able to express new ideas with music, especially today in a sea of different releases, you have to have a consistency in presentation of works. The music that I do—as much as it is simple—is also subtle and to realize itself in its fullness you need to listen to it from a certain perspective. I am glad that I found people who can understand that and we have been working together for almost ten years.
Tell us about your work with the Neumatik studio and multimedia company as a sound engineer. What do you do there exactly? What do they specialize in?
Mostly I am working on production and mixing. I specialized also in sound design and from time to time have an opportunity to do soundtracks and special effects for film. People mostly visit the studio for mix-down sessions and more recently mastering. There are not so many studios in Croatia that are specialized in electronic sound; besides for my own productions that was one of the reasons I opened the company in a first place.
What are you up to next?
I still have to do some promotional events, and then I am full on into production. I have been experimenting a lot with new sequencers. After my last album expectations are big and I want to bring some fresh ideas and raise overall complexity of composition and sound. As far as things are going, the latest recordings I did have this quality and there is some extra work to be done, but I dedicated myself to this idea no matter if it takes some extra production time.
TracklistM. Rahna - Nuklear Summer - Neurotron Music
Intrusion - Never Forget – Ruin
Petar Dundov - Rain (echospace reduction) - Music Man Records
Echologist - Just A Ride (Anton Zap Mix)
Terence Fixmer - Phantoms
Heiko Laux, Steve Rachmad - The Broken Cup - Figure SPC
Andrew Duke – Geisha (Claude Young remix) - Nice & Nasty
Deetron - Collide – Green
Stewart Walker – Shipwrecked - Curle Recordings
Vladislav Delay, Sistol - Contaminate Her (Jori Hulkkonen remix) - Halo Cyan
Petar Dundov - Distant Shores - Music Man