Thomas Gold Interview

Hes topped the Beatport charts with his remix of classic hit Silence by Delerium as well as having had many other top ten hits; hes remixed hyperstars like Erick Morillo; hosts a show on Radio FG alongside house heroes like David Guetta, and won Beatports Best progressive house track award last year.

Hes played Londons Pacha as well as clubs in Russia, New Zealand, Australia and Dubai; is set to release a remix of Paul Van Dykes We Are Alive; and has had tunes signed by Positiva, Cr2 and Ministry of Sound amongst others...

With a list of accolades as long as that, youll be wondering why you havent heard of Thomas Gold already.Well, this is set to be your first of many encounters with him if the mans ascendency continues at such an enviable pace.And its bound to, really, as he has a new solo single in the pipeline; a remix of massive Ibiza anthem, Shake It with Lee Cabrera for huge house label Cr2, and a fresh Thomas Gold & Matthias Menck single which follows-up their successful electro re-working of Everybody Be Somebody.

When Thomas isnt in the studio crafting tunes which get love from the likes of Pete Tong, Axwell, Alex Gaudino, TV Rock and Erick Morillo, hes touring the world playing his own productions and remixes, ably weaving energetic electro and soulful house to keep dance floors locked.

Continuing with his radio shows, focusing more on solo productions and playing the music he loves to as many people, from as many places, as possible, are Thomas Golds ongoing concerns and, knowing that, getting to hear this mans work should be your ongoing concern.

We caught up with him to get the lowdown on his future projects..

Hi Thomas, how are you and what have you had on the last couple of months?

Thanks, I'm fine! The last months were quite busy, I've been travelling a lot for DJ gigs and my new single "Shake It" has been released a couple of weeks ago on CR2. I've also finished remixes for Paul van Dyk and Erick Morillo and I'm currently working on a remix for Seamus Haji's label Big Love. So it's quite exciting at the moment

How long have you been working in this industry and what initially inspired you to get behind the decks?

I did my first steps with 7 when I learnt to play keyboard and then I started to actually produce my first music when I was 15 years old. But this was just a personal hobby and nothing you would have liked to listen to ... A few years later I started DJing as well. For me this is not only part of what I love and really enjoy to do but it´s also kind of a necessity to gain the essential experience about what is really going on in the clubs, what people like. So I've been doing both for years now but for the production, I started doing this professionally about 7 years ago.

You regularly tour all over the world, from Canada to Brazil to Lebanon whats been the gig of the year for you so far and wheres been the best country to party in since you started playing internationally?

Yeah, I just got back from Australia and New Zealand and I had two awesome gigs there! One of my favourite shows this year was in Brazil, in Rio De Janeiro at "The Week". Amazing club, awesome sound system and an incredible vibe! Just wicked!

Also I really enjoyed playing in Miami at WMC this year. Together with Kurd Maverick, David Tort, Joachim Garraud, Antoine Clamaran and some more great DJs - we all had such a cool night!

As for the best country, I couldn't say which is THE BEST one. When it comes to music there is no really big difference anymore. It is more a matter of the club, big or small, undergroundy or commercial and of course the venue itself. I´ve got the impression that people know how to party no matter where they from and where they live!

You have a rework coming out soon of the massive track Shake It with Lee Cabrera, how have you changed the song since its initial release and how did you and Lee get started working together?

Actually, "Shake It" has already been released and it is getting massive reactions from everywhere! When I did my versions of the track (presently there is only one out but there are more mixes to come soon) I tried to keep as much of the original vibe as I could. The original "Shake It" reminds me spending some great summer time in Ibiza and thus I wanted to keep it this way and I did not want to turn it into just another electro beeper

When I talked to the label CR2, they connected me to Steven Lee directly and he was so much excited about the remake idea that he immediately confirmed to do his own new version as well! We are talking now regularly about the development of the release and the next steps we will perform

At what point did you add production youre your skill set and what were your early studio efforts like?

Actually I started producing music before becoming a DJ! At the age of 7, I learned to play keyboards. With 15 I got my first synthesizer, a quite crappy amplifier and in the following years I started collecting all kind of gear for my little home studiodrum machines, synths etc. I started DJing at around 16 when I played at friends´ parties, but this was just for fun rather than serious business ... As far as I remember I had my first real residency in a club when I was 18. Honestly this lasted just for 2weeks because I was too bad But actually this made me really ambitious !!! So thats how it started

Whats your production style like, what are the first and last steps you take when making a track?

Generally speaking, I always go for a musical approach when producing tracks, be it remixes or original productions. I try to get a vibe, a rhythmic structure or a short bassline loop which in my opinion fits best for the given theme, hook or vocal and then I build my mix upon this basis element.

When I found this basic element (or a signature sound) I don't have a certain way of working on a track, I just put in what comes to my mind. So often I work on the main breakdown sections and at the same time I do the intro section. Finally, when there is a basic layout or arrangement, I do all the fine tweaks, effects and additional sounds or vocal bits. But this can also happen in the middle of working on the track - just as it comes to my mind J

Whats the main piece of equipment you use and why?

My Apple Mac is the "mother ship" of my studio, I work in Logic 8 for seqencing and recording and I use lots of plug-ins. As I'm addicted to new software synths, I'm always on search for the latest stuff - always good to have some new 'toys' for making sounds J

Also I use some outboard, like the Virus TI, my lovely SE-1X (for making dirty nasty bass sounds) and a fantastic digital drummachine called 'machinedrum' (what a creative name haha!).

For me, this combination of internal software synths (my favourites is all the Arturia stuff) and external equipment makes it just easy to produce 'with the flow', means I don't have to look long time for certain sounds or to get inspiring ideas and I can get the sounds I want very quick (before losing the idea).

If you could design and create your own piece of equipment what would it be/do?

Oh, I think I would EITHER create my own real fat analogue synth monster with an easy and intuitive user interface (which means many many knobs and faders to fiddle with) and some perfect integration into my Logic environment (like a combination of Minimoog and Virus TI) OR, as I just love to do punchy drum and percussion sounds,I would create my own drum synth machine with all types of sound engines, loads of tweaking possibilities and the possibility to do the deepest kick drum sound you can get J

What do you get up to when your not playing or in the studio?

I enjoy being with my fiancée, we love just to hang out in the city in summer or we spend our time watching movies and having loads of unhealthy food together.

Where can UK fans catch you in the coming months?

After my latest gigs at Pacha / London and Love Love / Swindon, there is a gig planed in Bournemouth for late summer/ early autumn. Other dates will come soon!

Check out www.thomas-gold.com for more info