Synthwave from Belarus
In his project Fury Weekend, Ars Nikonov from Belarus fuses elements of the charismatic electronic sounds of Synthwave with the rousing guitar sounds of Classic Rock. The resulting dystopian sound has made the project from Belarus one of the most popular acts on the synthwave label Fixt Neon. Reason enough to do an interview with Ars Nikonov about inspiration, production and songwriting.
Beat / Ars, what fascinates you so much about the musical and visual aesthetics of the eighties?
Fury Weekend / I find the mood, the mysterious atmosphere and the many inspirations fascinating because I grew up with this music.
Beat / How do you start working on new tracks and what inspires you?
Fury Weekend / Usually everything starts from scratch or I improvise but that depends on the situation. Often I already hear the whole track or a hookline in my head and then just translate it into my sequencer. The basis of my production process are pulsating bass lines, powerful drums and glowing synth lines. As with good pop songs, hooklines play an important role.
Beat / Many synthwave songs are based on repetitive progressions of a few basic chords. Is harmonic simplicity the key to a good song?
Fury Weekend / Yeah, maybe. But harmonic simplicity always goes hand in hand with a good melody. You have to be able to write stirring melodies and a certain amount of harmony creates color in a song.
Beat / An important part of your music is the captivating basslines and hooks. Can you give some tips on how to create strong hooks?
Fury Weekend / Basslines is all about layering. There must always be a sub-component, a midfreq bass and a high-frequency component. Overall, they sound great, and layering multiple sounds is very helpful for particularly massive bass sounds. It‘s important to prepare the listener for a great hook. To achieve this, there are always a few effect sounds in my tracks like risers, impacts and so on. I like to play with this moment and work, for example, with silence or a bandstop effect to increase the tension before a big hook.
Beat / What combination of plug-ins do you use to create your “signature sounds”?
Fury Weekend / My trademark are various software synthesizers such as Korg Polysix, Synapse Audio The Legend and Blamsoft Expanse, which I always use in my music. I recently bought the Cobalt8 hardware synthesizer from Modal Electronics, which is now a great addition to my collection. There are also some effects I can‘t live without, such as Cableguys Shaperbox2, the Cakewalk CA2A Leveling Amplifier, Oeksound Soothe 2 (a plug-in that suppresses annoying resonances) and Softube Tape. In order to achieve particularly expressive and lively synthesizer sounds, I like to send them through tube amplifiers.