‘ I have always been fascinated by acid sounds ‘ – Discussing Traum with Kount
In our latest interview we caught up with Delhi based producer/dj Kount who just released his latest ep in February on Soupherb Records. A highly talented yet underrated producer in our eyes, we caught up with him for a brief chat on his background and the process behind his latest release , a 5 track peak time techno ep titled ‘Traum’
I started my career as a DJ and Music Producer with my original name Llewellyn Hilt. Don’t ask me what it means, I really don’t know, all I know is that, it’s a Welsh name. I thought people might pronounce my name in ten different ways, like a tongue twister, making one funnier than the former. So, thought of changing it into an alias that would really fit, have a meaning behind it and easier to pronounce and remember.As a DJ instructor the first thing I teach my students is to count beats to help them in beat matching. Beat counting in music is probably most important before learning key or scale. So I decided to name myself Count (not from Transylvania though), but spelt as Kount.
I clearly remember the summers of 1997, I was 16 when I first entered the DJ console at AntiClock, a club at Hotel Hindustan International in the city of joy Calcutta (now Kolkata). Mentored and trained under Ash Roy, I later became the resident DJ at AntiClock, which is when I knew I wanted to take DJing as a career. In the age of adolescence, I found music as my first love. My music production journey started when I moved to Delhi in 2001. I would stay up all night after my club gigs and try my hands on softwares like Reason and Ableton to make tracks. Soon I started focusing on improving my skills as a music producer by working with artists in the music industry. This really helped me in understanding the process and fine tune my skills as a producer.
CoVid , as we all know has hit the artist and creative communities the hardest. During the course of the last year , many also took the time to step back a bit and focused on other things that they did not have the time to address to earlier.Was it the same for you?
Yes, our industry is one of the worst hit in this pandemic as even today there is no demand for artists for gigs. All major festivals are cancelled till no further notice, artists are losing residency at clubs & pubs as these are the tough times. A lot of last year was very difficult and taking a step back was all we could do. But as they say, you only take a step back for a bigger leap forward. I became a father to a beautiful daughter last February, a month before the lockdown. The lockdown gave me an opportunity to spend time with my family and the newborn and learn the process of being a parent. For me lockdown was a blessing in disguise, so no complaints.
It’s good to see that many places are opening up with the right safety measures and precautions, however we still have a long way to go. Many places that got shut in the pandemic, have left many DJs jobless. The two changes that I really wish to see is creating more space for domestic acts and giving local DJs, who are fantastic in their skills, a space to perform at different venues. Secondly, creating a safe environment for the guests by abiding the guidelines laid by the government and the health authorities, as COVID has not yet ended.
So I have made it a habit of using a single plugin for a track and for this EP I have worked extensively with my Ableton Plugin called the Operator. All sounds, and melodies in these three tracks are from Operator only.
I am currently working on two new EPs that I wish to complete soon and if I am satisfied with the sounds and arrangements, I will put them out for release as well.
Inditronic.in · INDICAST 032 – KOUNT TRAUM Ep is Out Nowhttps://www.beatport.com/release/traum/3262165 Follow Kount
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