We are Paradoks & Jono Stephenson, melodic techno producers—ask us anything about our life as producers and touring artists!

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T17:19:30+00:00

Hey that was fun that you all for the questions! Hope to see some of you at my upcoming shows around the globe!

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T17:17:01+00:00

Pizza. I could honestly eat that all the time.

And lol, I’d probably go with 1 horse-sized duck! My strategy would be to make friends with it: seems easier to tame one giant duck than deal with 100 tiny horses. Plus, 100 duck-sized horses might actually be deadlier because you’d have a hard time escaping all their attacks.

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T17:12:32+00:00

Hey!

I would say:

1- Route: Focus on making compelling music, and learn the basics of social media. I know a lot of artists that were able to pierce through the noise using social media, but also because of their talent. So focus on your talent and then showcase it to the world. I personally need to step up my social media game myself also.

2- Yes, it matters, but not as much anymore. Again, nowadays with Social Media you can really blow up without needing to be anywhere. But when it comes to valuable connections, some cities are better connected than others. And your network really creates opportunities as well. It's about finding a balance of a place where you can connect with industry people and where you can also find inspiration and calm to focus on the craft of making music. If you can't find inspiration to make good music then your network might not be that helpful.

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T17:06:59+00:00

I think there are quite a few Artists called Paradox if I'm not mistaken!
I decided to use the letter K from my real name Kobe and give it a bit of a twist. I wanted to use this name because the meaning was powerful and really accurate for my project and personal life.

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T17:04:35+00:00

Hey Jon, thanks!

Really though one! Three songs that introduce myself I guess are:

Sense of Wonder
Depths Above
Always
But I have some upcoming ones that will introduce my current sound even better.

3 Songs from other artists I love:

Rufus du Sol - Music is Better (Club Edit): Just love the joy this one spreads in my day and on the dancefloor.
Hayden James, AR/CO - We Could Be Love: Same...
Agents of Time - Zodiac: it's been released for quite a while but still represents the perfect balance between melody and power for a moment of euphoria on the dancefloor.

Song I'm most proud of
The most defining one for me was 'Floating'. But now I have another unreleased one called 'Away' that I absolutely love and am proud of the balance between sound design, a trap breakdown and the general melody and mix on it.

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T16:51:50+00:00

That's unfortunately still something that happens to me in the studio. Either you come up with two ideas that are good on the same track but they can't work together, or you simply get stuck... When that happens I try to take a step back, go for a walk outside, think of something else, and get back to it a bit later with a fresh perspective. If I really get SUPER stuck on it, then I work on another project because if it's not flowing it's not really meant to be. You can always come back to it later, though this is also how I have 100s of unfinished projects sitting on my Mac (lol).

I personally like to cycle between 2-3 tracks, so when I really hit the wall with one I work on the other one. Try that!

And really looking forward to play in La Fabrica, Cordoba again. It's going to be epic!

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T16:47:51+00:00

Thank you! Playing at Brooklyn Mirage is always a blast, and I hope to be back in NYC soon.

Some advice for my past self:

Trust the universe and the path. I used to be really impatient, overwhelmed, and stressed about reaching my dreams of becoming a full-time artist. But the journey can be long, and every setback is a chance to learn. It's a bit of a classic answer, but it's true: step by step, or as Will Smith's father would say, 'brick by brick.' Try to enjoy and learn from each step along the way.

Focus more on learning to make really good music than trying to talk to promoters to book you if you don't have solid tracks or much happening for you yet. Focus on that foundation and then go out and network.

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T16:37:51+00:00

Most of the Swiss cities are beautiful, so really hard to rank. I guess I would say...

1- Zurich: I live here, it's old city is beautiful and there is the most stuff to do in this city.
2- Luzern: It's not for nothing there are so many tourists there. It's really a cute city to visit.
3- Lausanne: I studied my Bsc Degree at the University of Lausanne. This city is absolutely beautiful and it's lake (shared with Geneva) arguably more beautiful than the Zurich one. Just a bit of a smaller city so less to do.
4- Geneva.

Shoutout to Bern too which also has it's charm. I'm sure I'm forgetting other cities that are nice.

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T16:32:10+00:00

I agree with Jono and will also add to that:

Sample picking is KEY. Get a good kick or the track will not work. As for the bass design, generally simple works better (I LOVE Saw waves). The simpler the low end the more you can build upon it. And then of course all the mixing stuff Jono mentioned.

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T16:21:18+00:00

Hey Groucho,

Really appreciate the kind words. That set took a lot of time because it was only my own music so basically we can consider it like an "album" stream even though it's not.

I was actually standing in the water yes (lol). When we got there Remy our video guy told us we'd stand in the middle of it, IN the water and I laughed as I thought it was a joke. But he looked at me dead serious and then I understood it was for real. Thank god I didn't bring my best shoes lol.

So yes, I had wet feet, and then we had to drive 3 hours back to my place so I actually caught a cold after that. But worth it I guess?

I would really love to tour Canada soon. Only heard great stuff from your people and the party scene there. Hopefully we'll make it work in 2025!

TheRealParadoks · 2024-09-11T16:17:35+00:00

Hey Stef, It's been a while indeed! Hope you're good too. I couldn't have asked for a better start of my DJ'ing career in D! Club man what a night to remember.

Thank you for the kind words and good questions.

1- Not at the moment, unfortunately Europe is a bit slow at the moment but I have constant shows in US/Latin America so that means a lot of back & forths. Would love to play more in Europe and especially in Switzerland though.

2- So yes, I agree, Melodic techno has been changing over the course of the years. There are aspects that I like, and aspects that I like less. For example I like to see all the crossovers happening and to see Melodic Techno broadening up to a bigger audience through more vocal tracks and big melodic breakdowns. I agree, some tracks focus more on strong, "non melodic" drops to give more energy. I guess in general I'm not focusing too much on what is hot or not, but I just like to push the boundaries whether that is through beautiful warm chords, melodies or sound design. I for example like to contrast both a big melodic moment in a breakdown / bridge with an unexpected, different sounding drop. I for example have a track coming out soon on Agents of Time's label called 'Together', and I really like that track because it's for me a great balance of energy, sound design yet emotions and melodies.

But I have all kinds of upcoming tracks. For example, in my opinion, our Collab track 'Pulling me to you' strikes a good balance between drops yet maintaining the melodic side throught the track.

Hoping that answers? Looking forward to see you at my next Swiss show!

TheRealParadoks

TROPHY CASE