Michel Westerhoff (Five Questions with...) Exclusive Interview & Guest Mix
Michel Westerhoff is a Dutch producer that has been releasing his songs for several years. His releases went to such labels as Phoenix Recordings, Digital Society Recordings, Ablazing Records, Above All Records and Redux Recordings. Michel wanted to share some information about his work. I invite everyone to read the interview conducted only for VISIONS OF TRANCE.
1. What are your goals in producing trance music?
My goal is to deliver uplifting trance music that gives you goosebumps. I like driving and energetic trance music. That’s why most of my productions are 138\140 bpm. Uplifting trance is what made me fell in love with Trance in the first place after all. It’s the genre that makes me feel happy or emotional, it touches my heart. So my goal is to create music that touches your heart. I spend a lot of time on my melodies and breaks because that’s where the soul of your track is.
2. Who was your inspiration to start producing trance music?
I’m 41 years old now. So back in the days Ferry Corsten really opened my eyes. I never forget hearing Out Of The Blue. Man what the F is this for great music. But also Gouryella and so many other artists/tracks that inspired me. Trance was really hot in The Netherlands at that time. I tried to produce in 1996 but it was a lot more harder to get started in comparison to nowadays. You needed hardware ( I did own a Yamaha CS2X) and knowledge about your DAW. I didn’t get my fingers around it to be honest. So I got stuck with Fasttracker II but the quality of sampled music that came from it wasn’t that good. 10 years later I followed classical piano lessons for about 5 years at a school of music. There I learned the basics of learning notes and understanding chords etc.. After 5 years I sold my piano and bought a Macbook. I started learning producing trance music in Garageband (2013) and soon bought Logic Pro 9. I followed producing lessons at DJ school Holland and there it started. I never stopped producing trance from that moment on.
3. Which song are you most proud of and why?
A very difficult question because a lot of tracks are inspired on personal experiences. But the track I’m the most proud of will be released at Ablazing (release date 16-12-2022) I wrote that track for my brother in Law that was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He passed away 2 months after I wrote this track for him. I played it on his funeral. One of my best tracks so far. But Childhood memories also has a special place in my heart. I wrote that one because of the great childhood I had, this track is also featured on a CD compilation (D.TRANCE 95)
4. What inspires you to create trance music?
The beautiful melodies to be honest. I love emotional and uplifting melodies. I’m a creative person and love music so producing trance is a great way to give my creativity a way out. I also love it when listeners of my music tell me my music means something to them, when it touches their hearts, that’s the reason I produce, really!
5. What hardware and software do you use to create trance music?
Hardware: I use a Mac Mini (i7 6-core / 32 gigs ram / 1tb SSD) 32” QHD IIyama screen / HEDD Type 7 MK II monitors (calibrated with Sonic Reference 4) M-AUDIO Keystation / Focusrite Solo / Sennheiser HD280 Pro. I Also have a Pioneer XDJ-RX2 for practicing DJ’ing��Software: Spire / U-He Zebra / Silent / Kontakt (NI Komplete) / Waves plugins / Fabfilter plugins etc… I forgot to mention my current DAW is Logic Pro X :-)
