Electronic persistance
We had the pleasure of interviewing Jordi van Achthoven, one half of the Dutch duo Tinlicker. Their previous release „In Another Lifetime“received a lot of attention, and two years after, the Electro/Deep House band is back with the follow-up „Cold Enough For Snow“. Thus, we delved into the depths of their creative process, exploring the intricacies of their studio environment and their approach to collaborations with renowned artists like Brian Molko, Julia Church, Tom Smith, and Circa Waves.
Beat / Congratulations on your new album „Cold Enough For Snow“. Where does the root of your creativity lie?
Jordi / Creativity comes out of persistence. Never give up when there is a bad day of creating music. Actually, there is no such thing as a bad day. Being able to ‚kill your darlings‘ in order to filter out the good is crucial and painful. Sometimes it‘s needed to do other things to get creative. Maybe it’s about waiting for the right moment to be creative and knowing when we are in the flow of creativity.
Beat / Your productions seem extremely mature. How long do you work on a song on average, and on the production in general?
Jordi / Thank you very much. After years of making music, we have shaped our production tools and developed a couple of techniques to expedite the production process. For example, we know which synths we like, we create samples from our own drum loops and kits, and we save presets of certain plugin chains from the mixer. Essentially, we‘ve learned how things work, and we don‘t really ‚think‘ anymore when we create. However, it‘s hard to say what the average is; sometimes songs come together very quickly, while others need to be set aside and allowed to rest (for months) until the final piece of the puzzle presents itself.
Beat / Were there any details that you consciously wanted to do differently on „Cold Enough For Snow“than on previous productions?
Jordi / Yes. It‘s just like how things go in our own lives. Things change, we change, our tastes slowly change. Everything evolves, and every album comes with new challenges. And we need new challenges to keep things interesting. Besides that, the whole context in which this album has been written is the opposite of our last album. „In Another Lifetime“was made during Covid, in which we almost drowned in time. With this album, we stretched numerous days in order to find enough time to reach the finish line.
Beat / Were there any particular instruments, effects, or other tools that were new to you for this production that had a significant influence on you?
Jordi / The challenge for this album was to create as much as possible using just audio files/samples and to use fewer soft synthesizers. These are ‚rules‘ we created to keep things interesting for ourselves, or to push ourselves out of our comfort zone. So, where we would normally use a synthesizer, we tried, from time to time, to find a sample instead. The sample could come from anywhere, even from voice notes on a smartphone.
Beat / And in general, are you more into analog synths or soft synths and plugins?
Jordi / To keep in the flow of creativity, it‘s sometimes more convenient to use a soft synthesizer. But last year, we bought the Arturia Polybrute, and it‘s always connected to our DAW. So whenever we want to use it, we can. I think Micha is more into software, while I like the idea of twisting real knobs on a synthesizer.
Beat / Can you describe your studio environment? Jordi / We can finally say our studio is ‚finished‘ at the moment. We have a sit/stand desk and two racks full of analog gear, which is something we are actually expanding and experimenting with. It‘s a studio that has been acoustically treated. We have a pair of ATC 110 speakers with a custom subwoofer, and we run Cubase on a PC with a lot of software. In the back, there is a couch with a coffee table. We also have a guitar and an electronic piano. I usually come into the studio in the morning, get myself a coffee, and play around with the piano. Sometimes I use the guitar (I’m not a good guitar player), but I do create little riffs for our songs. And last but not least, upstairs in the office, we have a ping-pong table to blow off some steam and keep the blood flowing.
Beat / Do you have a distribution of tasks among yourselves, or do you both contribute the same instruments?
Jordi /There are basically no rules. We both can play the same instruments. I do think that I‘ve developed my skills on keys a bit more than Micha. And Micha has developed a good ear for hearing tiny details in songs that I never notice, haha. The fact remains; we need each other in the studio. We both have a different approach to music. I would say that I try to approach songs more based on vibe, while Micha is a bit more calculated and prefers things in a more mathematical way.
Beat / You‘re super successful at the moment. How did it happen that your songs were streamed millions of times and your concerts were so well attended? Was it a rocky road to get there?
Jordi / We don’t like to consider ourselves as super successful, to be honest (laughs). When we met each other back in 2013, we were always doing what we do today: creating songs, and of course, with a good dose of enthusiasm and joy. I see it as a development. To get somewhere, it takes time. There were many times I wanted to give up. There were also times when we started playing in clubs to an empty dance floor. But it’s all part of the process.
Beat / Does this success actually make you think about what might be well received by a large audience when writing songs?
Jordi / We don’t try to think about the audience in the first place. Like I was saying earlier, everything is part of the journey. I think we are just very lucky to have such an audience who like what we do. We feel very grateful for that.
Beat / You have a lot of attractive guests on the album. Basically, how do you approach such collaborations? Do you already have a singer in mind when writing the song?
Jordi / When we work with a specific singer, we always want to know what they like so we can ensure they’ll enjoy the collaboration as much as we do. During the creative process, we always check in with the artist and see if they like the direction we’re taking. But every song is different. Sometimes we just have a rough sketch with a few chords that we send over, and the end result will be totally different. Other times, we send in a track that is close to being finished, but just needs that right vocal.
Beat / Is it difficult to get sought-after people like Brian Molko or Tom Smith to do a feature? Did you know them both personally before?
Jordi / It is difficult, because the level of perfection they have is what got them where they are today, and logically, they won’t release songs that they don’t like. So we were honored and happy that they wanted to work with us, especially because we are fans of their work, and that makes it hard to not be the freaky fanboy (laughs). We didn’t know them personally beforehand, but now we do, and it was really fun to work with them. We hope to do that again in the future.
Beat / And once the artists have agreed, what happens next? Do you write your own vocal lines and lyrics, or do you like to dictate that?
Jordi / Every collaboration is different. Sometimes the artists work with songs we created earlier. Sometimes they come up with an idea and we work it out. Or we meet in a/our studio and start from scratch. It totally depends on how much time there is. Most of the time when we work with the writers/ singers we let them create the lyrics as they master that craft. For us, a good collaboration is when we don’t have to explain what the song is about to them. Which seems to work pretty well.
Beat / Did you meet your guests in person in the studio, or did it happen remotely?
Jordi / It depends. This album was a bit more unusual. We had less time, we had songs lying around, we were touring. So with most songs we worked remotely and discussed everything online.
Beat / Your 2024 tour will take you to big venues. How do you prepare for this tour and how do you solve the problem with the many singers live? Will singers accompany you on the tour or will you play them from backing tracks?
Jordi / For this tour, we‘ll probably use backing tracks as most artists have their own touring schedule, but who knows what the future brings.
Beat / What equipment do you take on stage?? Jordi / We’re still in the process of creating the new live show. Some new gear has been bought, and it will be different from our last live tour, but it will definitely involve synthesizers, various MIDI controllers, electronic drum kits, Native Maschine, FX pedals, earplugs, a lot of bad jokes, lack of sleep, and dance routines.
Beat / You also released a remix album for each of your last albums. What is the appeal of it for you? Is that planned this time too?
Jordi / The nice thing about remixes is that you can ask some of your favorite musicians and hear their perspective on something we created. This can be very inspirational and unexpected. So far, we haven’t asked anyone yet...
Many times I wanted to give up. «