Home 2011 Best of 2011 Interviews Interviews Best of 2011 Interview with SYNA, Synthesizers and beats for music lovers!
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Best of 2011 Interview with SYNA, Synthesizers and beats for music lovers!

Name: Toni Kurkimäki / SYNA
Location: Seinäjoki, Finland

Synthesizers and beats! That's basically what we're about.

We are SYNA - Toni, Mika and Timo from Finland. We've been here since 2004, more or less actively producing stuff for music lovers and DJ's.

You can also spot some of us from other music projects such as DECK JAGGER and TIMO JUUTI & HECTOR 87.

Dimitri: Do you consider 2011 as a positive, negative or neutral year for the progress of the Electronic Dance Music scene?

SYNA: Many young producers broke through in 2011 and the number of promising newcomers has risen… I would say that this was a pretty good year for EDM.

Dimitri: Do you believe that 2011 was a good , indifferent or bad year for the development of your personal career?

SYNA: The highlight of Syna’s year was the inclusion of our track “Change” on Paul Oakenfold’s brand new compilation cd “We Are Planet Perfecto vol.1”. Oakie is obviously a legend, so that kind of recognition has given us a boost to keep producing music. We’re feeling good right now about making new stuff, so 2011 was a good year for us.

3-THE A to Z of the Best of the Year 2011.

a)Best Full Release of the year(original & remixes)
SYNA: Orion & J.Shore – White Birds, the original is a great piece of chill-out perfection and the remixes by Tom Fall and Heikki L are amazing.
                               
                                         
b)Your personal Full release of the year
SYNA: Syna vs Ayleon – Change, we didn’t have any expectations about it on release… it’s not exactly a DJ-friendly track so it could have slipped under the radar. Instead, it became a big track in our career with Oakenfold’s support for our original version and lots of attention for the excellent remix by Arkia.
                             

c)Best Single track of the year (only original versions)
SYNA: Heatbeat – Roses Never Cry. These guys have their own style, and we love the fact that their tracks are always different and don’t follow a specific formula. Roses Never Cry is a special track : it kicks ass but is still beautiful.
                                        

d)Your personal Best Single track of the year
SYNA: Syna vs Ayleon – Change. I’m happy that we decided to release this as a single, although we had plans to keep this to ourselves for a possible album in the future.
e)Best Remix  of the year
SYNA: Suspect 44 – Japanese Schoolgirls (PROFF remix), he did a great job on remixing one of the best prog tunes of the year.

                                     

f)Best Remix on personal production that you released  in 2011
SYNA: Syna vs Ayleon – Change (Arkia’s Motion Picture Remix). Arkia took on a difficult task to remix a 10-minute breakstranceprog-epic and made it completely his own. No wonder it was in USTM’s Top 5 trance list on November 2011.

g)Best Producer of the year in your style that you play or any other that you may like
SYNA: Heatbeat, we have big respect for these guys.

h)Best New Talent/Big hope for the coming years
SYNA: Lenno. This young Finnish dude is gonna be big, no doubt about it. A natural talent.

i)Best Remixer  of the year  on personal or others peoples tracks
SYNA: Tom Fall. He’s making banging tracks and remixes after another all the time.

j)Best Established  Label of the year(not started in 2011)
SYNA: Anjunadeep. Getting better all the time.

k)Best Newborn in 2011 label of the year
SYNA: I can’t think of any right now.

l)Best dance album and mixed compilation of the year in the style of music that you work with…
SYNA:  Album : Orkidea – 20, a great album with a true trance sound. Also, as a Finn, I have nothing but respect for this release : the cd came with a thick booklet that summarizes “the rave history of Finland” for the past 20 years. Essential reading and a smashing bunch of tunes.

Mixed compilation : Paul Oakenfold – We Are Planet Perfecto vol.1. Not just because our tune is in there lots of  great details in the mix, great new stuff and some classic tunes in new guises. Oakie’s still got it!
                                    

m)Best Music Video of the year(this can be personal/you are involved with or from other artists)
SYNA: Michael Cassette – Ghost in the Machine. I wish there would be more music videos in the EDM scene, especially stuff like this and not just recordings of DJ performances in front of big crowds. Cassette’s GITM is a real music video that fits the track excellently.
                                     
                                                  

n)Best social network of the year that has been amazing for the promotion of your work
SYNA: I don’t know. Facebook? :D

o)Best new software or hardware that was introduced in this year and you recommended it to others.
SYNA: BT’s  and iZotope’s Stutter Edit is a great tool to fiddle around with. It’s not for everybody, but I recommend trying it out without prejudice… Such fun!

p)Best and worst djing  or production  experience that happened in 2011
SYNA: Performing in Fantasia 2011 in Vaasa, Finland last August – a spa rave with around 1000 people having fun in swimming pools with massive light and sound equipment. It doesn’t get much better than that.

q)Best country that you performed this year
SYNA: We’ve only ever done gigs in Finland – it would be great to do some gigs abroad in 2012!


r)Best club or open air festival that you attended or you even  performed this year
SYNA: Provinssirock 2011 had Pendulum, DJ Shadow and a bunch of great EDM artists alongside legends like System of a Down… had a great time there this year.

s)Best hobby or other activity for 2011(game/movie/book/going to gym to keep fit  or any other hobby )
SYNA: Game of Thrones – the excellent HBO series plus the amazing books. Recommended!

t)Best radio show of the year and Best radio station that you always check out(fm or online)preferably that plays the kind of your music)
SYNA: DJ Orion’s Friday nights @ YleX (the Finnish BBC one, sort of) – a very important and enjoyable show.

u)Best online or ordinary record shop that you used to get your music of the year
SYNA: Beatport. My first stop for new stuff – loving the new look and feel.

v)Best CD player or any other equipment that you use for djing (this can include software for digital mixing)
SYNA: Akai APC40. Makes performing feel more intense and gives more control to steer the set into the right direction according to crowd reactions. Live remixing and sample fiddling makes it more like a game to perform live… just a great piece of HW.

w)Best vocalist in a dance track of the year
SYNA: I think Susana did a great job with the new version one of my fav trance tunes : “Home” ‘s vocals sounded even better with her than when it was done by Coast 2 Coast.
                                  
x)Best magazine or web site that you always check out for music related stuff(to read reviews/interviews/  and learn about technical equipment)
SYNA: Magneticmag.com – lots of good stuff in there, always current.

y)Best fan of your music of the year or best crowd in your performance(perhaps you don’t know the name but you can describe when you met or why you consider this person as your best fan of the year)
SYNA: The best crowd was in Fantasia 2011. No doubt about it.

z) Best thing you have done this year in order to support any social movement, charities, or other people that may need your help.
SYNA: Maybe the free lake cabin party that we threw for the supporters of our own little EDM organization, Konemusiikkiyhdistys RY.

Dimitri: Can you please let us know your plans for 2012 for your djing, productions or label?
SYNA: Syna is planning a couple of new release for the first half of 2012. We’re producing another track with Ayleon, and doing one with Laura Shea. We’re open for DJ and live gigs and have a few lined up already.

Dimitri: On the other side is it possible to tell us the track, album, artist/dj that you believe were the worst of the year and why?
SYNA: Naming something “the worst of the year” is not that constructive, so I think I’ll keep this kind of thoughts to myself.

Dimitri: Please give us your wishes for 2012 and your small piece of advice for anyone that reads this interview and aspires to get into music production, djing, or music production in general.

SYNA: I hope there will be more new groundbreaking artists and great events. The scene will always benefit from co-operation more than competing with one another, so I wish there will be mutual efforts from producers and promoters to push the envelope.

For aspiring producers and DJ’s, strive for originality and your own style – don’t just follow the beaten path. What the scene is always looking for is something fresh, so make your stuff your own and don’t ever give up.

Many thanks to Toni for finding the time to reply in my interview

Many thanks to Ville Lope for organizing this interview


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