7 questions with... ARMAN JOHN!

Can you tell us about your journey in music? How did you get started, and what led you to where you are today? I started producing over 8 years ago. Before that, I had only been DJing for a few months and quickly discovered that I wanted more and create my own tracks. As soon as I opened Ableton for the first time, I was hooked. I mainly learned through Youtube tutorials and just playing around and over the years that has gotten me to where I am now.

What inspires your sound and creative process? Are there any particular artists, genres, or experiences that influence your music? I think the best thing for inspiration is to listen to new music. For example, if I hear a cool track with a cool synthesizer, I think, “Hm, maybe I can try that out myself” and then I start playing around. I think I have influences from a lot of artists and genres, so it's hard to pinpoint anything in particular, but I think I'm heavily influenced by the euro dance sound of the 90s.

You’ve carved out a unique space in the electronic music scene. How would you describe your evolution as an artist, and what do you feel sets your sound apart from others in the industry? I think my sets contain a lot of different styles. I see a lot of djs playing a very similar style through out most of their set. Me for example I really like to start with some good vibe euro dance trance sound around 150 bpm then go to more bouncy and forward sound and end up at some hard trance what can be even at like 165 bpm sometimes haha.

What has been one of the most memorable moments in your career so far, whether in the studio or on stage? I think playing your own tracks for the first time is a hell of an experience. And when you see the crowd going absolutely mental to a track you just produced a few days ago is one of the best feelings in the world.

How do you see the underground music scene evolving, and where do you feel your place is within that landscape? Depends on what you would define nowadays as "underground music". Techno and trance used to be underground but it's getting super commercialised. At this point you could call both genres mainstream already.

As an artist, how do you balance creativity with the business side of things like marketing, promotion, and branding? It's very difficult to maintain a balance. In today's scene, it's all about marketing, promotion and branding.Producing music is nice, but it's not a must if you want to be successful. I know a lot of super good producers who never get famous because they can't sell their brand. So you have to focus more on those things, and if you're not very comfortable putting yourself out there, it can be a tough time. And that also affects your creativity.

What advice would you give to up-and-coming producers or DJs looking to make their mark in the industry? Get good with social media, know how to present yourself, build a brand, try to make a lot of connections if you want to become a successful DJ. As a producer: Grind the shit out of your daw, don't use too many different tools but learn to master a few, try to learn from experienced people (collabs, master classes), be patient and don't be to hard to yourself because it takes time, send promos to big DJs if you want to get your name out there.