BetatraXx, or Tim Nelson, is one of the booming producers out of LA; he talks to us about his relationship with the blogosphere, his producing habits and his ambitious plans for the future. BetatraXx granted me this interview after I contacted him on Twitter. It was just in time for his ‘Mafiosa’ EP release which featured two of his original tracks and three remix contest winners from his Drug Abuse Remix Contest. His latest release is the much anticipated upcoming ‘X’ EP which we will cover in the next post. He discusses both EP’s in the interview and you can check out some of the tracks from ‘Mafiosa’ at the bottom.

Tim: The Xponent and M-Audio’s Torq software is a step above all the other competition in my opinion.  Before I started DJing, I researched all the different features and options of each software and hardware and found that Torq and the Xponent could do things easier and quicker than any other software.  Shortly after getting my Xponent, I actually went out and bought turntables and a bunch of cheap vinyl and learned how to beatmach and scratch.  I found though that as cool as it looks using turntables or CDJ’s, using Torq I can sync tracks with the click of a button and then focus on more difficult elements of my set like looping, cutting, cueing, fx, sampling, etc (all of which the Xponent is excellent at doing at the click of a button)

Crash-It: You and a friend run a blog called “Our Electric Generation.” Did that come out as a side project during your music making or did you start it before you were seriously producing?

Tim: We started OEG fairly recently as a side project to our music careers.  There is so much amazing electronic dance music and culture that is hardly talked about and I wanted to build OEG as a place where I could talk openly about all of this.  I think i can contribute a unique view to this scene from someone who is fully invested in it.  I want everyone (especially those who are less familiar with it) to understand what it is about this music and culture that attracts so many new people to it each year. [OEG has been added to our blogroll]

Crash-It: You also partner with Gotta Dance Dirty, one of the bigger blogs out there. How exactly has that helped you get your name out there more?

Tim: My partnership with GDD is more a friendship than anything.  We help each other out in many ways.  For example, they hosted my EP release party, which was a huge success, and in return i brought some of my DJ friends and threw down a night of heavy electro for them.  They’ve helped me in a bunch of ways but I think the most important has still been their willingness to post my music on their site and talk passionately about it.  The best part is that’s real too–they don’t post any tracks of mine they don’t like, so everything they put up is honest.

Crash-It: Your very recent ‘Mafiosa EP’ featured two original tracks and the three Drug Abuse Remix contest winners. How many submissions did you receive? Was it hard to pick out the winners? How did you go about it?

Tim: I got well over 100 submissions which was great.  Of course that made it near impossible to pick the winners and really I still am not sure out of the top 3 which is my favorite.  I listened to all the tracks as they came in which helped me narrow it down initially, and after the contest was over I just made a CD in my car and listened to them all on repeat until I knew which was the best. [check out a preview of "Mafiosa' at the bottom of this post]

Crash-It: Now you are releasing the ‘X’ EP. Why is X’ a bigger deal for you than your previous releases?

Tim: I’ve been making a lot of remixes over the last year, but only put out 4 originals as BetatraXx.  With originals I have free range to express myself as an artist and will be more than doubling the amount of originals I’ve previously released. [our next post will cover the 'X' EP release]

Crash-It: I heard the EP X Intro, and it’s great to hear someone doing something different, so should we expect some orchestral elements in these new songs? Did you write the arrangement for that intro?

Tim: You should definitely expect to be surprised on this one.  Each track is very dynamic and often has several contrasting elements.  There are weird chord progressions, unconventional dance music time signatures (careful Djs), and many orchestral elements subtly infused in most the tracks so that you don’t even notice.  The X EP Intro melody was inspired by an old 14th or 15 century opera, but simply yes I wrote the arrangement for it.  The intro was actually the first track of the album I made because I wanted classical samples for a track.  So i whipped up what is now called “The X EP Intro” and then chopped it up and made a symphonic monster out of it.

Crash-It: I know producers who make their songs with chronological order and I know others who make the idea behind the main drop first and then build the song around that. Do you prefer a certain method, or does it vary?

Tim: It completely varies for me.  I generally start one of two ways:  I either open up a synth (generally Native Instruments Massive) and start designing my lead synth, or I make a chord progression and design the song around the chord progression.  Both ways are equally as effective but often creative a different vide in the song

Crash-It: How long does it take for you to crank out a song?

Tim: This also greatly varies.  I generally create my song concept in a few days but then take a few weeks fine tuning the details.  I also work on several songs at once though to keep my brain fresh.

Crash-It: Advice for aspiring producers?

Tim: It took me a little while to realize that there is no right way to do any of this.  Just because Boys Noize does it one way doesn’t mean it is the right way.  Mastering your own style is far more practical than attempting to master someone else’s style, and people will notice.

Crash-It: 2011 has just started; what’s in store for BetaTraxx this year?

Tim: Music in all different forms is what you can definitely expect.  I’m not going to slow down at all on my productions and just want to keep improving on my sound.  I’m also working on playing at some big shows/festivals that I can’t talk about just yet, but I’m looking to be all over the place this year.