An interview with Tonebox
Interview by: Eric Riedel
Tonebox has been around for a longtime at this point, almost ten years with his first release “Abiogenisis” coming out in 2014 he quickly has become a prominent part of the electronic scene. Not only as a solo producer but as a collaborator, remixer, visual artist and more commonly a mixer and masterer. His style can be felt across a wide array of releases from New Retrowave and more. He’s built a reputation amongst artists as someone who can handle their sound with care and precision. What’s interesting about Toneboxs success is that it’s not simply one of talent but of carefully crafted friendships built on trust and respect. It’s something that has devoloped over many years. Before I really knew his music I knew his presence from other artists, weather is was advice to fledgling artists just starting to enter into making music publicly, to someone scoring a collaboration with him that was so huge to them. He gives his time and thoughts freely and without pretense. Over the years i’ve become personally aquainted with him. After all we live pretty close to eachother and our paths and common interests intersect. Tonebox is a bit of a mystery, someone I find interesting. In person he is very quiet and reserved, online he opens up into something else entirely. I’ve been chasing Tonebox for years to sit down with us so it’s with great pleasure that I present to you Tonebox.
The Interview:
TPA- Thanks Tonebox for joining me. I really appreciate your time. I know you're a very busy person so this is very special you've decided to talk with me. I can say I've been looking forward to this for a long time. We just needed to find the right way to make it happen.
TPA- I'd like to start out with what you've been up to lately? You have so many things happening behind the scenes, anything you can share?
TB- Hard to prioritize everything, but I’m taking things one day at a time, and trying not to have too much of any expectation and just create some tracks.
TB- Besides being knee deep in working on some mastering and mixing projects, I’ve been slowly chugging away on my next album, some collabs, and a few secret projects that I’m excited about.
TPA- Has your mastering for others increased over the last few years, has it affected your own work and Second part how did you get into that part of production?
TPA- Is there a particular direction for your next release?
TB- It has steadily increased the last handful of years, sometimes it’s hard to keep up with, but always worth it when you are able to help another artist put that finishing touch on their art. It is all a balance, I’ve had to be a bit more selective with what work I take on, but at this point I am just grateful to have these opportunities in the first place.
TB- I was always fascinated with mastering. For my own productions, there was always that dopamine hit or some sort of rush when you first go for a speaker check after a first master, having those kicks, bass, and snare smack you harder, and feeling it all come together. I started doing masters for either free or very low costs just to close friends to start, sometimes mixing was a part of that process too. Some of the early mix and mastering projects I did were the earlier releases from Lucy In Disguise. This would have been an era from 2014-2016 if memory serves me correct. We were collaborating a lot at that time but also spent a lot of time sharing production techniques and mixing techniques. These days, LID does most of their own mixes, but I still do most of the mastering. Ever since those early days, things have just traveled by word of mouth. I’ve been doing a lot of work for Ten of NRW (NewRetroWave) over the last five years, I’m not sure how we started working together in that way.
TB- But my involvement with NRW (New Retrowave)releases has grown a lot over the years.
TB- I could go on and on about this, but it’s always been really cool to be able to work on many different styles of music. I’ve mastered anything from classical music, rock, to all sorts of electronic music.
TB- For my own releases currently, I’ve been feeling inspired by what got me into this style of music in the first place, it is weird to feel some nostalgia for an era like 2014 or so, but at the same time, it’s far in our rear view mirror at this point, and being older time does move faster.
TB- I started with production maybe around 2012, but things really started clicking in that 2014 era. I think me and Lucy In Disguise had our first official collab in 2015, but we had done many we never released starting around 2013. Sometimes we talk about reworking some of those kinds of tracks, but most of them are nothing special or interesting really, we were just figuring things out.
TB- There is one track specifically that still sticks out to me, so maybe someday.
TB- Anyways, after doing some darker subject matter with my last ep, I have been working on material that’s a bit lighter, a bit more inspired by melody and groove as opposed to a more technical brooding bass sound. It’s all subjective though, sometimes when I release what I consider a heavy track, the feedback I’ll get is “this is so chill”.
TB- Whatever ends up, I don’t see the point in just writing the same song over and over again, I get a lot of feedback from people asking me to “make another song like ____”.
TB- I would like to see whatever my next release is as a continuation of whatever world my other albums exist in. While there is never a direct concept in my albums, they exist in some sort of different reality in my mind, and being in that headspace helps me to write. So while it’s all abstract, I do think a lot of listeners can relate and get what I mean.
TPA- It must be both frustrating and a compliment. Complicated to say the least. It must be a great feeling to have someone be so affected by your music but difficult because you're human and want to explore new ideas and just be present in your current self.
TB- It can be hard to juggle the lighter and heavier styles, and in many ways is not a great career choice, but I really do not want to balance having multiple projects and rather just explore the sounds I like and tie it together the best I can.
TB- any song captures a certain moment in time, and you can never truly write the same song twice, even if you are trying to.
TPA- I think that is a great point to articulate. It really is the creative aspect of music as opposed to the technical aspect.
TPA- You're a thoughtful person, when you create music does it come from an emotional place or an intellectual place?
TB- Most creation is totally random, and the process can sometimes be really frustrating, the good old, “ah this sounds like shit” for many hours of the process before things start to come together more. Almost always my production process is long winded and somewhat tedious.
TB- While the process is pretty technical, it is completely guided by sensory response and emotional response. It’s something I tell any musician I mentor, does this really make you feel something? If the answer is yes you are doing something good.
TB- Sometimes a three note melody over some simple but well arranged chords can elicit great emotion.
TB- Other times, it will be 15 different lanes of automation to create some tension that will elicit some type of response.
TB- While it kind of feels like a defect, I don’t get excited easily so if I am writing something and feel that excitement or something special I know I am onto something.
TB- Long answer short, The best technical choices in production are guided by emotion
TPA- I love that answer. You also seem to be exploring as well, maybe tinkering is a better word. You recognize something doesn't have to be complicated but it can end up that way if it needs to achieve a particular feeling.
TPA- I think that's interesting even after you've worked out the mood someone may say it's the opposite in the end anyway.
TB- Part of what excites me most in production is the options we have. This is part of why I like hardware. Example: oh you like that synth lead? What would it sound like to record it to some old shitty mono audiobook tape, and then play it back at half speed? Sometimes maybe good, other times it’ll end up in the bin. Some of these choices will get you a lot of vibe and yield unpredictable results, some of the best advice I can give other producers is to really just try different things and see what sticks. With most project files I have a massive amount of audio files that just never get used and float in space on a hard drive somewhere.
TB- Another would be noise from hardware, I’ll often run analog synths or anything hardware into some old compressors that will bring out some of the noise floor and artifacts from this old gear, not really what these units are designed for, but will yield results you cannot really get in the box.
TPA- This style is not as uncommon as you'd think. The band Ministry do what they call bulk record. Accumulate piles and pulls of music and only a small bit may ever get used.
TB- I wish some bands would release those stems, but coming from experience most of it probably is a total mess.
TPA- I'd like to loop back around to mentoring up and coming artists. Before we ever met I was hearing about you from friends and how you have helped them along in some way. What drives you to do this?
TB- When I started I had a few mentor figures in my artistry that helped me out a lot in both the technical and creative sides of pursuing a career in the arts. I can’t tell you why I like to do it, it’s fun to explore someone else’s path and potential.
TB- In this industry it’s only natural that people who admire what you are doing will ask for advice or technical pointers, and I’m always happy to talk to people about these things.
TB- It’s always fun to geek out on some sound design or compression technique etc.
TPA- It's truly a very human and wonderful thing to do. To share in someone's discovery and excitement. To explore someone else's thoughts and connect over a mutual love. It's a fundamental way to connect with other people.
TPA- And speaking of connections…
Tonebox with longtime friend and collaborator Lucy In Disguise
TPA- I'd like to talk about your connection to Lucy In Disguise. The two of you have been linked for a long time. Are you able to articulate that connection? How has that relationship affected your journey through music?
TB- There’s so much to say but I’ll try to keep it short, we met randomly at some sort of rave event in the woods somewhere in California. We were both young and full of Ideas and a need to write some music. While we lived across the state we somehow kept in touch and talked so much about production and sending demos back and forth. We tried out many genres and made some songs we would really cringe at now.
TB- We joke sometimes about how absurd the length of our lifetime chat records would be. I just finished the masters of his new album and it’s great to see us both being able to build careers off of our creative pursuits.
TPA- Absolutely, I just saw that the masters got done and am very excited to hear what he's got in store for us.
TB- I forgot to mention we have a collab on that album too.
TB- Started it a while ago but I just finished it, it’s a bit of a different one but it’ll be out soon.
TPA- Another thing to look forward to. When you work with another person it's inherently different from doing solo work. What draws you to collaborate with others/ makes it enjoyable to you?
TB- I don’t do it often, mostly because my process is so broken up. I have tons of short demos, they could be years old, and I tend to pick one that feels ready to be further developed. A lot of collabs with potential are sort of waiting in a purgatory state to be developed further and not everyone has the patience for that.
TB- It’s a bit wild to think of how without ever collaborating, so many songs would simply not exist.
TPA- Your sound and mixing definitely permeates whatever track you're on. I can literally pick out a tonebox master or sound within a second or two.
TPA- Other than music you're also a graphic artist/ video artist? Is that something you've always done or is that more recent. I must also say it's very distinct as well. I can tell if it's your work.
TB- Thank you, I appreciate that, these days it can be hard to stand out.
TB- I was into visual arts probably before I was really into music, at one point I was pursuing a degree in design but realized I would rather go do it in secrecy than to do it for a 9-5. I have tons of visual art ready to share but still feel a bit stubborn about releasing it all. I’m not great with posting things on social media, but expect to see more album covers etc in the future. I always really enjoy making covers for other artists as well.
TB- Visuals is part of a creative balance for me, whenever I lose touch with it for a longer period of time things just feel a bit off. I’m happy to finally be at a point where I am happy to execute most of my own covers on my own.
TPA- Did you create your logo?
TB- The artist Rolly Rocket did my logo.
TPA- I see your art coming out more and more. You're becoming a cottage industry with all the ways you work in the electronic community.
TPA- Do your creative outlets ever interfere with one another? Or maybe takeaway time you'd use otherwise?
TB- I have way too many hobbies so it’s really a matter of balancing everything. I tend to go in really intense phases with what I’m spending my time with. Sometimes it’s a wonder that music is as constant as it has been in my life compared to everything else.
TPA- Are there any musicians out there that really excites you? Do you listen to a lot of electronic music or do you listen to other genres?
TB- I used to spend so much time hunting for new music, but most of what I listen to is older music. When it comes to inspiration, I’ve always liked to hear something from the 70s to even early 2000s and try to translate it through my perspective or style. There’s so much good music out these days, but also means there is so much to sift through
TPA- Is there a particular artist that has had a lot of impact on you musically?
TB- I like to pull influence from many places and genres, but there are some releases that really stand out. Even if my music is a bit different, Justice and their album Cross have always been a big influence, more in how they had all these elements pulled together and drums that really cut through the mix. It was always interesting to me, that the album does not have too much going on in the sub bass region but it really slaps. It is crazy to think how that album has stood the test of time, considering a lot of material from 2007 has not aged quite as gracefully.
TB- I could credit a lot of my influence to 70s-80s electronic music, jazz, French house of the 90s-200s, and then the sort of indie electronic boom of 2007 onwards.
TPA- I find it very interesting people's taste in music vs what they actually produce and how it influences them even on a subconscious level. At this point I'm never surprised a metal band says the Beatles have influenced them for example.
TPA- Is there anything else you'd like to talk about before we conclude our conversation?
TB- Some of my favorite mixes to have playing if I am doing visual arts are anything by Pierre J, here is a link. Alsreally been liking material from the artist Shook.
TB- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdQXDb_uj6g&t=8337s
TB- thanks for taking the time, it's been fun
TPA- Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me!!
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