Erdi Irmak [Interview]

Turkish artist Erdi Irmak would have to be considered a veteran of electronic music at this point, with over two hundred discography credits across his eleven year career. The emergence of organic house in 2018 proved to be an impactful time in Erdi’s evolution as a producer, inspiring him to champion the sound in his own creations, and eventually landing releases via Nick Warren’s The Soundgarden, Hernan Cattaneo’s Sudbeat Music, Hoomidaas and Tale & Tone. This week Erdi adds -102C to his resume by reworking The Cobb's 'Yana' in spectacular fashion. We had a chance to catch with Erdi for an exclusive interview leading up to the release. Enjoy!

Hi Erdi, thanks for joining us. What is your current mood and what was the last piece of music you listened to?

Hi guys, thank you for having me for this interview! I feel good. Well, I just finished some tracks last night and I listened to them the whole day :))

How’s your year been so far? And what are your plans for the coming week?

It was a year in which I continued to work and produce despite all the negative situations that had happened in the world recently. That's why I feel a little tired but everything is fine.  Also, it's been exactly 2 years since I quit smoking today!

Well, I plan to finish some originals and remixes and I will be playing in Istanbul next week!

Do you consider yourself a DJ or producer first? And which do you enjoy more and why?

First I started as a producer and then I started DJing but my career progressed as a producer, not as a local DJ.

I love both!!! Since I have been making music for exactly 11 years, producing music has become a part of my life. I love to live with new melodies and different sounds in my mind all the time but the most important thing is to be able to implement these ideas that come to my mind!

I'm very excited to see the reactions of people when I play music.

Do you think growing up in Turkey had any effect on your career path into music? And if so how?

I don’t think it has any effect on my career path (if it has an effect, it has been in a negative sense probably).

What are some of your best memories from first going to clubs? Were there specific nights or sets that really made you feel you wanted to pursue electronic music?

It's been a long time since that, so I don't remember much, but I can say that it had a great effect on me.

Over the last couple of years or so we’ve seen a new deeper sound in your productions, how do you see this evolving in the coming years?

I always felt that I was more free and creative in deeper sounds instead of upbeat sounds and there were a lot of eps that I was working on before 2016. And after 2016, I slowly started to release something the way I do now.

Would you consider yourself just a deep or organic house producer at this point? Do you ever see yourself making progressive house again?

So yes, because now all my works are under the deep/organic house genre, but of course, I try different things from time to time and mix the experiences I have accumulated for a long time and create different sounds of my own. Thus, you can see progressive house sounds in my works.

I find your music connects very well with nature, what are some of your biggest inspirations when working on new music?

Well, that depends on my mood mostly but nature can be my biggest inspiration.

You’ve gained some nice notoriety within the world of deep and organic house since you directed your productions to that area, is there a release or track you could point to which had the most impact up to this point?

I can't point to any single track or release, you can think of it as the result of all its effects.

You have a new remix of The Cobb out now on -102C, tell us more about the remix and how it showcases your sound.

I enjoyed it while I produced the remix. When I listened to the original mix, I liked the vocal a lot. When I started the remix, I thought that I would add a good atmosphere by building the track around the vocal and supporting it with some instruments and synths.

What does your set-up like? Do you favor physical gear over digital? And what studio tools featured heavily in the writing of this remix?

Unfortunately, I do not have any physical gear. I have a pretty simple setup. I’m using Ableton Live 11, Komplete A49 MIDI keyboard, and Audio Technica m50x.

This is your first project for -102C, what made the track desirable to remix and what made the label an attractive spot for your music?

As I said before, I liked the vocal and atmosphere in the original mix and I decided that would be great to make a remix for this track.

Generally speaking, do you find it more difficult to come up with original tracks than remixing a track from another artist?

I think both have the same difficulty level, both require an intense creative process.

What’s the task you enjoy the most when producing and what is something you’d rather have taken care of by somebody else?

I’m enjoying every part of producing process!  Drums, melodies, mixing…

Especially the feeling when I write new melodies is priceless! But mastering is another story. I think that the best option is to listen to the mastering of my music from a good mastering engineer.

What’s a piece of gear or software that always gets used when you’re writing a track?

Omnisphere!!

How much road testing or friend feedback is done before you’re ready to say a track is finished? And who is someone you share your new music with first for feedback?

Not too much actually. After I finish a track I'm just trying to listen to it on some different speakers, headphones, etc. in a couple of days that’s all.

I'm sending the tracks to two very close friends right away first.

What would be a musical extravagance for your studio you would pay for, if you were very wealthy?

I’d have all Moog and Roland synths in my studio.

What’s a book you’ve read or film you watched that has left an impact on you, and why?

All Tarantino movies have left an impact on me. When I was a cinema student, I watched every second with all attention of his movies and dreamed of doing works of the same quality. In the end, I wrote and directed a lot of short movies but I couldn't continue.

What’s a superpower you wish you had and how would you use it?

Teleportation maybe?!

If you could travel anywhere for one day, all laws and limitations void, where would it be?

It would be Japan! It’s my dream, to be honest.

What is your current favourite place to eat and what do you generally order there?

I stopped eating outside since the pandemic started.

Apart from music, what makes you happiest?

drawing, painting, watching anime, spending time with my family and friends

What does the remainder of 2022 hold for you? Anything you can share with us?

There is too much upcoming music for 2022 stay tuned!

'Yana' is available for pre-order now via -102C: https://bit.ly/3NLEs7g