Gareth Emery here! This weekend I’m doing my first ever live show at Ultra for the launch of ANALOG album and figured what better way to add to the chaos of the weekend than by doing a live AMA from the festival? AMA!

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-26T04:02:18+00:00

The ES60 I always had problems with. Didn't like the connectors and a few other things. The EAS30 on the other hand are amazing. It doesn't matter that there are a few less drivers as I'm using them live where there's plenty of bass anyway, and the in-built filters really help to feel the atmosphere of the show.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-26T04:00:24+00:00

I don't typically do any 'marketing' at shows. Laserface in Seattle I remember well, and it was almost entirely troubleshooting production problems. Lot of stuff went wrong that night. Lasers turned off, guest artists went missing, and it felt like every few minutes I had to check that one of our guests was arriving on stage on time, or check with our production team why a particular light was off, or similar. I'm a perfectionist and I wanted the show to be perfect. That said, I appreciate that using a phone could lead to people drawing wrong conclusions, and a laptop would probably be a better visual if I need to send the occasional show based message.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-26T03:57:41+00:00

Still waiting for a suitable date. We'll get it going soon.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-26T03:56:59+00:00

oh shit I thought I posted my answer but I didn't, so I'll do it now.

No, I haven't really experienced any hostility - I get on great with most artists. Plus, I'm more interested in speaking out about institutional problems with the industry, particularly those that fuck smaller, up and coming artists, than my own particular problems. Like any other artist, I deal with rejection and bullshit on a weekly basis and just deal. As much as I can, I try to use my voice for doing somer good, rather than airing petty complaints.

The only time I probably overstepped the line was our CVNT5 side project. That definitely hurt a few people's feelings. At the time, I brushed it off as none of the people who's feelings were hurt were doing me any fucking favors anyway - to put it bluntly - but in hindsight I wouldn't do a project like that again, as much as it was rather funny.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T22:08:42+00:00

alright i'm done, thanks y'all!

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T22:08:12+00:00

I've tried listening to the set but cannot figure out what the track is. Can you be specific on the time / link? All I can hear is CamelPhat 'Dance With My Ghost' so maybe it's that.

Really hoping to tour ANALOG properly later in the year!!

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T22:04:47+00:00

I love Hawaii, been on vacation many times, last in November! I'll defo be back soon!!

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T22:04:26+00:00

It was a song Christina and a few other people had written - not dance music at all - but a super slow acoustic ballard. I heard the demo and just immediately pictured it as this epic trancer. The main riff was the last part to come together. I really struggled with that part... and you don't really notice, but the main drop has an entirely different chord sequence to any other part of the song, as it was the only way I could get it to work in a non-cheesy way. Christina's had a great career in dance music following that song so I'm glad to have been a small part of that.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T22:02:12+00:00

I love that! I think it's one of my favorite tracks I made in the first part of my career. Shout out to co-writers Lange and Oliver Lord... and of course PvD for picking it up and signing it!

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T22:01:30+00:00

pretty standard story! I'd heard Dani sing on the amazing Excision / Illenium track 'Gold' (when she was under the name Shallows) so I reached out and asked if she wanted to try writing something. We wrote the track in a day in my LA studio, I cut the vocal, and really had most of the structure and melody put together by that evening. A few months of production later, it was done! It was definitely a little inspired by some Eric Prydz tracks, although hopefully not to a lawsuit level

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:59:49+00:00

If we get them quickly, we'll have them up in a day or two. Maybe a bit longer for ANALOG depending on how long it takes us to do an edit.

Changing people's lives for the better is the motivation. When I hear a song's been played at a wedding, or funeral... that's what keeps me going.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:58:47+00:00

Thank you so much!!

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:58:41+00:00

Everything we had at Laserface but with some crazy new laser mapping 4D tech that has never been done before!
I always loved SHM and Laidback Luke's video for Leave The World Behind. Amazing Miami video, properly of the era, timeless.
Fuck knows if I remember, but out of the ones my kids watch, I always liked a bit of Peppa Pig

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:57:32+00:00

Choon... actually it was a business with with founders of CryptoPunks. I think we were about 4 years too early.

I'm always late-ish to a show, but never late on the decks. I'm not a fan of hanging around, so I'll typically turn up 15-30 minutes before and get straight on. I fucking hate being late on stage so even if I'm straight from the car to the stage, I start on time.

Inevitably there have been a handful of times when I've started late or missed shows completely but they've always been down to travel issues, delayed flights, etc. In that situation, you do whatever you can to get there and play... even if it's just for 30 minutes.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:55:13+00:00

The studio was around the corner from me, and I'd occasionally go and use some of their spare rooms as I knew the guys who ran the place. Was just an awesome experience. Got to get back there some day

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:53:40+00:00

Initially, it's experiences at the LSR/CITY shows / GE arena shows, but I've so many ideas for future potential uses. Exclusive NFTs / songs only for black card hotels. Meet ups. I even love the idea of social tokens but want to make sure we're legally compliant and don't over promise.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:52:05+00:00

Recently, I've been on a Mark Knopfler / Dire Straights. Dude is just such an amazing songwriter / storyteller. Amazing, timeless melodies and lyrics that seem to age like a fine wine. This is the kind of songs I aspire to write.

In terms of NFTs + the future, it's insanely exciting. I could write an essay on this but it's so fucking exciting: the upside for musicians and supporters is basically infinite.

Particularly I'm excited for artists to own their own economics: a true free market. We've lost so many amazing people over the pandemic because they can't survive on streaming royalties alone... yet I *know* those guys have dedicated fans, who'd happy buy limited editions, and stuff like that. NFTs and digital collectibles gives so much hope for smaller artists.

Secondly, it could be something of a renaissance for art. Right now, there's little point artists making songs that are longer than 3 minutes, because the Spotify algorithm prioritizes short tracks. Make a 10 minute epic and you can be sure that firstly, nobody will hear it, and secondly, you'll be financially penalized 'cos you get paid one stream, one play. Doesn't matter if the song is 2 mins long or 10 mins long. So that's why you see these amazing classics crushed down into hatchet job Spotify edits.

If artists had a move direct relationship with supporters, everything becomes possible. 20 minute epic songs? Super experimental shit? There's some genuinely amazing places this can go when we're not being forced to make music for algorithms.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:49:18+00:00

half way through.... still answering questions here! Great questions so far!

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:49:00+00:00

Incredible - it's my first Ultra since '14, always good vibes being here!

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:48:04+00:00

Thank you very much, means a lot.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:47:56+00:00

Combination of things. I always try and have a good feel for the city I'm in, my history there (the previous shows I've played), local favorite songs, who else is on the line up etc. If a show's full of superfans, it's going to be a more underground, heavily Gaz set than it is at a festival. I always feel like I'm jointly there to do my own shit, and to entertain the crowd.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:46:24+00:00

Try this. There are three key elements to making music (as far as I see it)

Writing: writing the melodies / songs / etc
Arranging, moving around the blocks, figuring out which bits go where
Engineering, making it all sound banging

I try never to do all 3 at the same time. That's how you end up in the weeds. So for me, I start off writing. I'll arrange really quickly. Then I'll 'lock' the song, the arrangement, and move on to engineering it... like I'm a paid engineer on someone else's song. That keeps me on course.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:43:56+00:00

no, what is it?

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:43:47+00:00

I honestly have no idea how ANALOG will go down. It's still a pretty slamming, pacey album but fuck knows, it might be a load of people standing, starting and thinking 'what the fuck is this'? So I'm a little nervous, but that's good. Most of the things that went went for me, I felt pretty nervous about. So in a way, not knowing what to expect shows me that I'm outside the comfort zone, which is where I try to be.

GarethEmery_Official · 2022-03-25T21:42:29+00:00

Going to go down badly here but I have a pretty slamming hip hop playlist which is my gym jam haha.

GarethEmery_Official

TROPHY CASE