Robert Vadney (Ten Questions with...) Exclusive Interview

Robert Vadney is a Greek-American trance producer who has been creating music for over twenty years. He is the founder of the Trance Roots label and has released his tracks on labels such as Joof Recordings, Perfecto Records, Pulsar Recordings, Trance Roots, Pulsar Dark, Lost Language, and others. Robert shares his thoughts on trance music. Join us for an exclusive interview with Visions of Trance.

1. What is Trance music to you?

RV: It's a main part of my life. I was age 12 in 1996 when Trance began forming its own genre at the end of the Rave era and it captivated me instantly being about as energetic as Rave but introducing a sense of euphoria with dreamier, more emotional melodies and massive Super Saw variations that left me in awe. Though I remained closer to Rave mentality than the formulaic Trance - I liked to mangle various things and inject some Trance into them.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mBN5d5ueKMDW2-yDVAjV0rXzt4JfEXuuA&si=Ej5zUTC48j7-gxza

2. How do you perceive the state of the current Trance music scene?

RV: Most of Trance music became too pop and "Dutch recipe" for my taste and ever since the generic mainstream overload, the scene seems full of people only concerned about their personal social glam than the actual music.

Ironically, today's trendy "Techno" is far from the initial Techno sound but closer to the initial Trance sound than the Trance scene, though sadly full of posers also. The sense of authentic wondrous music, skilful DJs, magical nightlife and raver unity of the mid-to-late '90s was phenomenal and unparalleled. In that decade I loved practically all genres, they were all booming with life, emotion, artistic creativity & exploration.

3. What are your goals in producing Trance music?

RV: After spending some years at the heart of the biz my initial goals went in the opposite direction. Seeing nothing but egos, shams and little to do with the music I love led me to just do my own thing at my own studio under the TRANCE ROOTS brand. Aside of Trance and other genres under other aliases I'm involved with sound design & film scoring. Recently I released "Love Letter", a first EP under my new alias "The Trance" dedicated to reproducing the genre's early sound to sprout new classic-sounding anthems and there's more of that on the way. Also I never got to release a Rave album because I was too young, so I produced it now and it's coming soon under a dedicated new alias. I promise this album will make you re-experience the authentic '90s Rave sound & aura, plus heavy inspiration of a personal all-time fave: "Music for the Jilted Generation".

https://tranceroots.bandcamp.com/album/trr010-love-letter?fbclid=Iwb21leAQ7aNdjbGNrBDtowmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHvPV9vB-iQYmtdJg_LbwRZCRHCcSRQge6a_UMw_gSeQyIylzLh-zX_kPftow_aem_MTF4FTE9lR1W2t_ABzWcaQ

4. Who was your inspiration to start producing Trance music?

RV: I was never inspired by a specific person or group but rather tracks from random artists & groups - I just wanted to make music alike the stuff I liked.

5. Which song are you most proud of and why?

RV: While most people consider my best tracks only those played by Tiesto, Armin etc, I would say "Fallen Angel's Symphony" - being my first and most played "Gothic Trance" track which everyone discovered me from - it's even remixed by Paul Oakenfold. It's important to me to be recognized for differing and having my own identity rather than just furthering the formula of the establishment. But of all my releases, only "The King is Dead" ever found place in a D.TRANCE compilation - a dear series of my teens, so this means a lot also, especially since it was released via my label.

6. Will your future releases be collaborations with other artists or are you more into solo productions?

RV: I don't have any collaborations in mind, nothing against collabs, just already have too many projects ongoing but you never know, always open to ideas!

7. What inspires you to create Trance music?

RV: Rarely there's a specific inspiration, many times a riff or even a full track forms in my head and then I materialize it but most times I just play with synths and start building tracks - I like to surprise myself as well as you!

8. What hardware and software do you use to create Trance music?

RV: Many excellent soft synths by Cherry Audio, GForce, U-HE, Synapse and more, though mostly I love FALCON workstation. I use some hardware FX pedals though most of my soft FX are Plugin Alliance, Eventide, D16, IK Multimedia and even though I moved to Logic I can't help but still use some dear Propellerheads (or "Reason Studios") as plugin - Dr.Rex is a great tool, I would love a replica in hardware with an analog filter. But I'm not as much in the box the last years, it became too lifeless & boring so I brought back some hardware.. as a Trance nerd I use VIRUS C + JP-8080 but also SH-201 because it's cool, makes me feel like a teen again and it annoys Trance purists. Instead of Devilfished 303 I have TD-3-MO (I'm sorry Whittle). I drum mostly with TR-8S but also jam with the classic Electribes. a mini Triton+ (aka MicroX) has a library of classic '90s+'00s sounds. an SE-02 takes the place of a Minimoog & SH-101, at times I use PRO-1 & WASP mainly for few characteristic patches which sound most amazing directly from the machines. I use a SOLAR 42 also, it's not intended for Trance but I use it for many things - very lively & electric experimental instrument - you can hear it in tracks like "Afterparty", the lead arp synth and you wouldn't know it but I use a Seaboard too, paired with an MPE app for assigning any synth's parameters to its 5 dimensions for super-expressive playing & hyperrealistic instruments. I'll stop talking now, why did you have to ask about synths.

9. How do you perceive the influence of social media on the career development of a Trance artist?

RV: Unfortunately since the world has its head buried in the cellphone or pad, then this is where we must exist and instead of just focusing on music creation we're focused on trying to post content that breaks the web. Personally I miss the time of early simple internet and cellphone, before everything became robotic and trashy. MySpace era seems to be the web's peak, then Facebook came and life as we knew it started becoming mangled.