Renegade System Interview

Where are you now and how is your week going?

Currently in England after an amazing weekend back home in Northern Ireland visiting friends and family. It’s been a busy couple of weeks with gigs at Good Greef, Cologne and HTE weekender so it was good to have a bit of down time away from gigging and the studio.

What was the biggest highlight for you in 2023 and what does 2024 hold?

Last year was pretty hectic with quite a few stand out gigs. Playing b2b with Shugz at Trance In The Woods, Creamfields and of course Dreamstate SoCal with David Forbes were definitely amongst the highlights. 2024 hasn’t let up either, I’m most looking forward to my main room debut at MoS for Frantic in July and Creamfields in August to round off the summer gig schedule. Release wise, it’s great to be back on Outburst, Afterdark and FSOE as well as pushing my harder stuff on my own imprints Hard Trance Revolution and Alpha Byte Recordings.

Who are your top 3 producers of all time and in what ways have they inspired you?

Probably an obvious answer, but definitely Scot Project. I’ve been a huge fan since the early 00’s and his music is constantly pushing the boundaries for me even to this day. David Forbes is another trailblazer, he has created such a unique and inspiring form of tech trance and is one of the best in the game. I’ve always been a big fan of John O’Callaghan as well, incredibly versatile and a master of all things trance and tech. I have to give honourable mentions to Sean Tyas, Fred Baker and Outburst bossman Mark Sherry. Maybe an unknown fact but Mark’s remix of Brilliant People inspired me to get back into making trance/tech trance when I was still making Hardstyle.

What is your favourite piece of software for music production?

Always gonna be Cubase. I’ve been a cubase user since the first version of SX and for me there is nothing that comes close. I have dabbled with various daws over the years like Logic and Ableton but I don’t find them as intuitive as Cubase, especially when it comes to audio editing and integration with my outboard equipment. Plugin wise, I’m a big fan of Arturia Pigments and still hammer the old favourites like Albino, V-Station and Sylenth.

What's a question you almost never get asked but have a great answer for?

This is probably one of the greatest questions I’ve ever been asked that I don’t have an answer for 😂