Harshil Kamdar is a 16-year-old producer born in India & based in New Jersey, USA. Having found a love of trance music from his father, who played him classics like Robert Miles' Children & Fable in his childhood, he began diving deeper into dance music and eventually started producing trance music. After sending some ideas to German trance legend Ronski Speed, they ended up collaborating on 3 tracks, which all landed up on top-tier labels. His debut track Bäng, released on Andy Moor's label AVA White, gathered support from many radio shows, namely Armin van Buuren's A State Of Trance & Andrew Rayel's Find Your Harmony. This gave the then-15-year-old producer a huge jumpstart, and his next few releases were bigger than ever, all being played by Armin & Ruben on A State Of Trance.
The first track, Venice, was a very special tune, as it was Harshil's first-ever solo track. It got picked up by John O'Callaghan's legendary label Subculture, which instantly put the producer's name on the ones to watch. Following this, Harshil started to seek out a way to fulfill his longtime goal, to get onto Armin van Buuren's label Armada Music. Armada, being the biggest dance record label in the world, wasn't an easy label to release on, and Harshil knew that. But, after help from his mentor Nicholas Gunn, who helped introduce him to the Armada team, and sending constant demos for more than a year, he finally had the chance to remix a classic trance tune from the 2000s: Chemical Love by K90. As soon as he sent in his first version of the remix, The A&Rs loved it. It soon saw a release on Armada Captivating, which led to support from DJs like Armin van Buuren, who played it twice on his A State Of Trance radio show, Andrew Rayel, who played it on his radio show 'Find Your Harmony', and many more...
After conquering his dream of releasing on Armada, Harshil started working on creating a hit vocal trance tune with Nicholas Gunn and Kazi Jay, who's well known for her vocals on Armin and Aly & Fila's collaboration "For All Time". The end result was "Coming Home", and it saw a release on Giuseppe Ottaviani's label GO Music with a huge Steve Dekay remix to go alongside it. Armin played the track on his radio show weeks before the release date, which pushed the release to get 175,000+ Streams on Spotify. Harshil's goal now lies in releasing consistently on the big labels, and with releases lined up almost every month for 2023, he can't wait to show you his best releases to date.
Dimitris: Your Top 3 biggest music career achievements in 2022:
Harshil Kamdar: 1. Debut release on Armada Music
2. Luminosity Beach Festival 2023 Booking
3. The overall success of my track "Coming Home"
Best of 2022
Harshil Kamdar: 1) Best track(s) and short comment for each track from other fellow artists of 2022
Bryan Kearney & Out of the Dust feat. Plumb - Take This features amazing vocals from Plumb and a great melody.
Sneijder feat. Victoriya - Need You Here features a melody that caught my ear and the vocals are unique.
Kinetica - Star Slide needs no words... just an amazing melody with the production to match it.
C-Systems - Every Star is a tune that I could play over and over again. Sound selection is perfect, melody is great, and I love the guys behind it!
2) Best of 2022 personal productions with short comment about them:
Harshil Kamdar: Some of the highlights of this year for me are my track Coming Home on GO Music, Malibu & Venice on Subculture, and of course my debut release on Armada Music!
3) Best Artist of 2022(DJ & producer) with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: Sneijder was everywhere this year, starting with his tune Bring the Noize, then Mark Sherry's remix of his tune Proper Order with Bryan Kearney, and last but not least his vocal collaboration with Victoriya: Need You Here.
4) Best Remix(es) from other fellow artists of 2022 with short comment :
Harshil Kamdar: I really liked Steve Dekay's remix for Ralphie B's classic trance tune "Massive" on In Trance We Trust.
5) YOUR Best Remix which you have produced of 2022 with short comment?
Harshil Kamdar: I would say my best remix of 2022 is K90 - Chemical Love (Harshil Kamdar Remix) on Armada Captivating.
6) Best Remixer(s) of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: Steve Dekay without a doubt had many great remixes this year, including his remix for my tune Coming Home on GO Music.
7) Best New Talent of 2022 (DJ or producer) with short comment :
Harshil Kamdar: Greg Oakland is the one to watch out for right now I feel. I've been working behind the scenes with him and wow... a collab with Shugz, a release on FSOE, and what a year he has next year!
8) Best electronic dance music album of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: No doubt "Horizons" by Giuseppe Ottaviani. I was already a huge fan of his uplifting trance side, but when he released the teaser for this album... I couldn't wait for it to come out! Some great progressive vibes and some of my favorites of this year including "Fade Away" with Mila Josef, "With You" with Monika Santucci, "The Wind In Your Face," and "Closer" with Christian Burns.
9) Best electronic dance music compilation of 2022 with short comment? :
Harshil Kamdar: A State Of Trance 2022 (Mixed by Armin van Buuren) includes some of my favorite tracks of 2022. What a tracklist!
10) Best artwork about single / album/compilation or promotional campaign of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: The artwork for Drake & 21 Savage's album "Her Loss" was something nobody expected, but it ended up being a fan favorite!
11) Best lyrics in electronic dance music track(s) of 2022 with short comment :
Harshil Kamdar: I love these lyrics because Plumb's vocals paired with the amazing writing gives me chills everytime I hear this part!
He made a vow with me
He swore he'd never leave
Now his heart's in your hands
But it won't beat
- Bryan Kearney & Out of the Dust feat. Plumb - Take This
12) Best vocalist/singer on electronic dance music track of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: Kazi Jay's collaborations with Armin van Buuren & Aly & Fila, Luke Bond's BOND, and her vocals for my track Coming Home should already be plenty of examples of her exemplary voice!
13) Best electronic dance music label of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: Armada Music, all of their genre-special labels did exceptionally well this year. Their promotion and artist development is one of a kind!
14) Best electronic dance music video of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: The official visualizer for ACRAZE's track "Believe" featured some amazing highlights from his tour this year and also showed some behind the scene moments with the Paris Saint-Germain football team.
15) Best online social media of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: Meta, I've connected with tons of artists, fans, promoters, labels, etc on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.
16) Best social media response you may have received about your music or your DJ performance of 2022:
Harshil Kamdar: The social media response I've got on my tracks "Coming Home" & "Venice" and my music overall in 2022 has been immense. I really appreciate everybody who listens to my music!
17) Best music composition software of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: Ableton Live 11, without a doubt! I've been using Live for the past 2 years and it's one of the fastest and most efficient DAWs I've tried.
18)Best club event /festival/music conference of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: Amsterdam Dance Event 2022 was probably one of the highlights of this year. So many producers, DJs, promoters, label A&Rs & managers, booking agents, etc in the same place!
19) Your Best personal DJ Gig & DJ performance of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: My best personal DJ performance was for my Coldharbour Day 2022 guestmix on AH.FM! This was the first time I went from 128 BPM all the way up to 140 BPM, with key changes too!
20) Best DJ set from other fellow DJ (actual or online) of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: Even though I prefer more trance-y sets, Armin van Buuren's set at Amsterdam Music Festival 2022 showcased some crazy transitions and track selections, namely AVAO's Text Me & Ahmed Helmy's R4VE 101!
21) Best radio show/podcast/twitch stream or Vlog(video blog) of 2022 with short comment. It can be yours or from other artists you respect:
Harshil Kamdar: A State Of Trance; they played my music 6 times this year and every week they present 2 hours of the best in trance and progressive. I've always liked Armin's mixing, but his radio mixes are just the best!
22) Best aftermovie for festival or club event of 2022
Harshil Kamdar: Luminosity Beach Festival 2022
23) Best music related website of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: Metta & Glyde's new venture into the sound libraries and plugins market, MAG Signature Sound, is probably the website I've interacted with most this year because of it's curated selection of top-notch sample packs, preset banks, templates, MIDI packs, plugins, tutorials, etc. I also got the chance to release my own tutorial on MAG Signature Sound, and seeing the overwhelming support on that gives it a bonus point!
24) Best production or DJ equipment (a)software & (b) hardware) of 2022 with short comment:
Harshil Kamdar: The best software that launched this year was Cubase 12. I've been trying to get better at producing on Cubase... it's a work in progress. The best hardware I would say is my current DJ controller, the FLX-6 GT that just got released.
25) Best sound sample that has been used frequently in electronic dance music tracks of 2022 (personal or from other artists):
Harshil Kamdar: I've been using a lot of samples from my own sample pack which I'm working on. Other than that, I've been using a lot of samples from the latest offering by Dave Parkinson on Freshly Squeezed Samples, DPTE Volume 2.
26) Best technical tips that you learnt of 2022 in relation to your DJing or music productions:
Harshil Kamdar: One of the tips I've been using the most this year is cutting the frequencies you don't need on an EQ with a brickwall. For the lows, if your lowest bass note is an A, you would cut G# on the EQ so it leaves that A. For the highs, I cut everything above C10 with a high cut on a 36 dB octave.
27) Best piece of personal or music business' advice you got in relation to your career of 2022 and has helped you to progress even further:
Harshil Kamdar: There several different pieces of advice I've gotten this year which relates back to the same thing: focus. I struggle a lot with finishing music because, to be honest, I'm just lazy. But just being focused on your goals have proven to break that boundary for me.
28)Best hobby or non music related activity of 2022.
Harshil Kamdar: Working out.
29) Best ever electronic dance music track(s) of all times with short comment?
Harshil Kamdar: My dad played me these two when I was a child. They introduced me to dance music.
Robert Miles - Children
Robert Miles - Fable
All of these are what got me into trance:
Armin van Buuren - Communication
Armin van Buuren feat. Christian Burns - This Light Between Us (Armin's Great Strings Mix)
Paul van Dyk - For An Angel
Tiësto - Adagio for Strings
Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella - Anahera
I had to also throw in Alan Walker - Faded.
30) From 1 (bad) to 10(super excellent) what is your rate for 2022 in electronic dance music?
Harshil Kamdar: 9
Dimitris: In which TV series, film or advert would you like to experience your track being used? Which track was the best placed on films/TV series/advert/official aftermovie of a festival from another artist?
Harshil Kamdar: I'm a huge fan of spy thriller/action movies, so seeing my track getting played in the background of a club scene in John Wick would be a dream come true!
Dimitris: During 2022 we experienced many tracks that were hybrids of music styles & genres. Do believe that music genres or styles are still relevant today?
Harshil Kamdar: I still think genres and style are relevant because every genre has some influences from another genre and you still need to properly define a genre even though it sounds unique or combines elements from multiple genres. For example, Future Rave combines elements from Trance, House, Techno, etc. This new style of Techno combines sounds from Hardstyle, Trance, Progressive House, etc.
Dimitris: Do you have any concrete plans for 2023 regarding future releases, tracks, albums, collaborations, DJ gigs? Please provide us the juicy details.
Harshil Kamdar: I've signed releases for 2023 on Black Hole Recordings, Nocturnal Knights Music, GO Music, RazNitzanMusic, Amsterdam Trance, Low Voltage Recordings, etc. I'm also playing Luminosity Beach Festival 2023!
Dimitris: Your message & wishes for 2023.
Harshil Kamdar: I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope 2023 will be a great year for music and the world.
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