peacetreaty
noun
1. a treaty to cease hostilities; “peace came on November 11th” [syn: peace]
2. a concoction of big room house and progressive with a dash of dutch and electro; “peacetreaty dropped a new big room house track on their soundcloud!” “I know, I saw it on Crash-It!” [syn: energetic house music]
Bam. Sam Hiller from the trio PeaceTreaty was awesome enough to grant us an Interview in the midst of all their touring and producing. Not familiar? PeaceTreaty is a big room house/progressive group from LA. Cranking out an impressive amoumt of remixes and funke’ originals since their formation, I’d be surprised if you haven’t heard of them yet. Check out what Sam has to say about their music, production style, and future.
Crash-It: To start off, how long have each of you been involved in music production/DJing?
Sam: Angelo and I have been involved with music in different capacities for many years. We’ve both played in hardcore bands and sang in choirs when we were younger. Also I was a radio DJ and music director when I was in high school. As for EDM music, Josh and I started DJing in 2007 and 2008, and then the music production began in late 2009 when Josh started PeaceTreaty.
Crash-It: I understand that each one of you brings something different to the table, can you describe how each of you contribute to PeaceTreaty?
Sam: Josh is the primary producer/engineer for our productions. Angelo is the true musician of the group, he plays guitar and keys so he contributes a lot to our tracks through those means. And I’m the primary DJ/performer; I arrange our Live and DJ sets and I also make our mixtures and a lot of our edits for our sets.
Crash-It: Whats the overall workflow look like for a track?
Sam: If it’s an original we usually just sit down and start playing with synth until we come upon a rif we like and then we go from there. For remixes we usually go through the stems and pic out the parts we want to use, and then from there start with the drums and progress from there.
Crash-It: You revealed to me that you guys don’t just use one DAW, but use several. Which ones do you use and why do you prefer them? Do you use different ones for different stages of production?
Sam: We use FL Studio and Logic mostly, with Ableton in there on occasion. We’re in the process of moving over fully to Logic, but up until now we’ve done most of our riff and melody composing in Logic, and then all of the arranging and drums and what not in FL Studio, as well as mixdowns. For a while we were mastering tracks in Ableton, but now we’re doing that in Logic. All of these programs are great and have their own strengths, so we figure why limit ourselves to just one?
Crash-It: How has your sound developed, do you ever look back on old stuff and say wow we’ve come a long way?
Sam: Well we definitely started with a sound that kind of fell into the Dutch House genre I guess, and we’ve certainly come a long way from that sound. Now I’d say our sound is something along the lines of big room progressive house with electro and occasional dutch undertones. We’re definitely not the same PeaceTreaty that we began as.
Crash-It: In your uSteam in the studio you were working on Flo-Rida’s album. Can you tell me about that?
Sam: Josh is working on some tracks to be considered for the album, not as PeaceTreaty, but on his own. Can’t say anything other than that yet .
Crash-It: Who are your favorite artists at the moment and who do you want to work with in the Future?
Sam: We’re really digging Hardwell, Nicky Romero, Bingo Players, Autoerotique and John Dahlback. It would be awesome to work with any of those guys.
Crash-It: Craziest things to have happened at your shows?
Sam: Hmmm nothing too crazy has happened. Just playing to 10k people at Beyond Wonderland was crazy for us.
Crash-It: Describe PeaceTreaty’s sound in one sentence.
Sam: OhYump.com/Ydg
Crash-It: Hardest obstacle you had to overcome to get where you are now?
Sam: The music industry is a fiercely competitive place, so it’s a constant struggle to get noticed and make a name for yourself when thousands of other people are also doing what you’re doing.
Crash-It: The question I’ve asked during each interview…advice for aspiring producers?
Sam: Practice, push yourself, and and never settle.
Crash-It: And finally, what can we expect out of PeaceTreaty in 2011?
Sam: More big room tunes and lot’s more shows!!
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To buy PeaceTreaty songs, head here. For those of you on the Central Coast of California, PeaceTreaty will be playing with Porter Robinson here in San Luis Obispo on the 21st of May. Check out the rest of their tour schedule to see if they are playing near you!
