Opening 2024 with a steady string of high-octane originals which included “Hate,” “Shibuya,” “Foolish Survivor” and his most recent coming in the form of “Running Cold,” Felmax looks to make his presence felt throughout the remainder of the year with the finesse of a veteran and the creativity of a visionary.
With the bass music scene currently thriving and the Miami native still buzzing off the release of his monstrous 9-track CHIMERA SHADOW GARDEN EP, we took the time to catch up with Felmax!
Felmax – CHIMERA SHADOW GARDEN EP | Download |
TSS: You’ve been a part of this music-making scene for just about a decade now – what are some changes you’ve noticed over the years??
Felmax: Definitely some massive changes! I’ve noticed how the industry tends to shift through time and if you can’t, in a way, adjust to whatever that shift is, you can fall behind a bit. This is why you notice my sound shift and change with time; it’s a progression of me as a producer but also as a listener!
TSS: How has the bass music scene, specifically, changed since you first emerged onto the scene??
Felmax: Well, I think when I first came in it was pretty simple to get on the road or to have some level of success with just a flip or two on SoundCloud. A festival trap remix before would land you at Ultra or something insane! Now there’s so much more to it; also, obviously, bass music has changed and evolved so I’m noticing saturation being pushed as opposed to before where everyone was supposed to just sound “clean”. Also, the underground today is getting a lot more love than ever before, which I think is super cool!
TSS: How would you say your sound has evolved since your remix of Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” remix??
Felmax: Oh man! That’s an old one! To be honest, more than my sound has changed since then… My sound, my knowledge, my techniques, my intent behind the DAW – I feel like I’m a completely different producer now. Looking back, I was nowhere near prepared or ready to be putting music out then, so I have no idea how that song did so well being so terribly mixed. But my sound has changed drastically; in those days I was mainly using trap drums and 808s and vocal chops as opposed to now where I’m doing full sound design layering, texturing, saturating, and so much more processing. I used to be a bit more trap-based and I still have that influence in my music, but at this point, it’s just bass music.
TSS: What would you say has been the key to success and longevity??
Felmax: Another great question, and thank you! For me, I would say it’s because I adapt and change with the times. I don’t want to be left behind or try to sell a product to the market that is clearly no longer in demand. I love making music and what I’ve learned is if you want to do it for a living, it is ideal to look at the landscape of where music is and educate yourself on that, and in some way shape or form try to take an influence from it. My sound has evolved and changed and it will continue to! Had I stayed closed-minded and said “no it has to be this way” I feel I would not be in the position I am in today. Adapting is important.
TSS: When it comes to DAW, what is your weapon of choice these days??
Felmax: FL Studio and Ableton! I’m a 15-year FL user and a 7-year Ableton user so FL is my main but my process is this: sound design in Ableton, write ideas in FL, write the song in FL, mix and master in Ableton. I know it’s back and forth but it’s what works for me best!
TSS: When you have a rough week or hit a wall creatively, how do you get back on track??
Felmax: To be honest, this might sound crazy but I don’t ever hit a wall creatively, to me that’s a myth. What helps me is I write all kinds of different music; I have records with NLE Choppa, some with PartyNextDoor, some with Chinese Kitty. I constantly switch where my head is and what hat I’m wearing. In a day I’ll write like a bass tune, 3 hip hop beats, a lofi tune, a reggaeton tune, and a pop song, and constantly changing helps me not hit a wall. What did happen earlier in the year is I just felt like I needed to learn something new, meaning like I want my music to sound better than it does now, simply because I have a drive to be better and consistently level up. With that being said, I had to learn new tools and figure out what were those things I wasn’t doing, what are the sounds I’m not using, and then using and doing more of that!
TSS: You always seem open to collaborating with artists more often than not. Why do you choose to go that route as a producer??
Felmax: Most definitely! A lot of the collabs I have are with my students and I’m honored to be able to use my platform or whatever I have to be able to help spotlight them in the way I would want someone to spotlight me! And as far as non-students, I just love writing stuff with more brains in the process, lol. Two minds work better than one,
TSS: Give us the scoop on your recent single “Foolish Survivor” and how it came together.? ?
Felmax: “Foolish Survivor” came together around December when I was writing new music for the new year. I wanted to do something sampling JJK (I always do, haha), and I wanted the intro of it to be kind of plain yet eerie, which is what you hear now. I wrote it inspired by the Mahito vs. Yuji fight from the “Shibuya Arc” and just wanted to write something that I felt signaled and pulled from the energy of what I was watching. I used some of the new Ecraze and Graphyt stuff for the main bass and layered it with some of my own stuff in Phase Plant, processed that with some minor tweaks in Multipass, and BOOM! FOOLISH SURVIVOR
TSS: That was the third single from your new CHIMERA SHADOW GARDEN EP correct? Tell us a little about the creative process of putting your latest body of work together.?
Felmax: It is! This EP kind of just came together, honestly. I was contacted by Create Music Group to release with them, and I put together what I felt was the most cohesive and accurate representation of where I am today as a producer, what I listen to, and all the things that inspire me. I’d love to say that I thought this concept through for the whole thing and put it together and this and that, but that would be dishonest. One thing that I did do, about a year ago, I really started experimenting with blending my different sounds in production. For example, Shibuya is half a hip-hop record; the intro for “Never” is literally a Bad Bunny beat type beat I made. Plus, seeing that I write all my music to anime, in a way, all my music has a tying thread. However, once I did know what the songs in order were going to be, I did go back to each record to tie them together a bit better and reworked some of the older records to feel a bit more modern.
TSS: Now that we’re quickly approaching the midway point of 2024, what can the world expect from Felmax throughout the year and beyond???
Felmax: You can expect a whole lot of music from me, some massive collabs, really insane collabs. So far in 2024, it’s the most I’ve toured, and it’s been such a blast, so expect a lot more shows from me! More backend production work/credits as well, to be honest. I’m working with some Grammy-winning producers, writers, and some legendary chart-topping artists. I’m just excited to showcase every side of me as a producer.
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