Niclas is a professional composer by day-scoring film, series, games and advertising. He’s been in love with electronic music all of his life. About 2 years ago, he started to release electronic tracks under various aliases and genres. 08 Orbit is a new one that covers his passion for progressive house to techno. Apart from FSOE Argento, he’s secured releases with Perfecto, Addictive Sounds, Krafted Underground, Of Us Records, and many more during this short period of time. Niclas has over 100k monthly listeners on Spotify alone with his aliases combined and over 3M streams in total.
His latest track under his alias 08 Orbit with Humans Out Loud is out now on FSOE Argento and we are glad that we catch up with him to discuss the making of this track and some other bits and pieces about his career.
1-Dimitris: How was 2022 for your career. Let us know about achievements or goals accomplished that you are proud of.
08 Orbit: 2022 was a massive year for me personally. Initially I focused my time on downtempo and chill tracks but towards the end of the year, I started working on more progressive house to trance tracks and instantly secured releases on really prestigious labels. Also, I found several talented artists to collaborate with, which not only inspires but also speeds up the learning curve.
2-Dimitris: Do you have already some concrete plans for 2023 and if you are allowed to announce them to our readers please tell us what you are preparing for us in the coming months regarding releases and performances in gigs/festivals.
08 Orbit: I have several releases in the pipeline. I have one track coming out in June that is a collaboration with a US artist and a vocalist that has over 20M streams so I'm really excited about that one too.
3-Dimitris: It would be fantastic to talk about your track Bliss. Please tell us how this track came about and what was the idea behind it.
08 Orbit: Few months ago I connected with French duo Humans Out Loud online. The three of us hit it off right away, sharing a common passion for electronic music that is melodic and takes the listener on an emotional journey. We started sending stuff back and forth and "Bliss" was born.
4-Dimitris: How long it took you to produce Bliss and can u describe the production process in simple steps?
08 Orbit: Once we had the vibe and melodic tracks nailed down, the actual production process was really fast. We spent less than 2 days producing. One of the things I've learned scoring various genres, is to set the production process up correctly from start and be very methodical about it. So looking at a simplified production process it'd be creation of tracks/melodic items, grouping them correctly, arranging, automation, transition, fx and then mix and master.
5-Dimitris: Did you had any particular difficulties accomplishing that particular track or any specific production challenges.
08 Orbit: I have to humbly accept that I'm no expert at mastering and we sent of the track for professional stems mastering.
6- Dimitris: Which music composition software or hardware you prefer and why? What is your opinion of the latest movement to produce music with more analogue equipment and with less or without any digital software?
08 Orbit: I've been using Logic for over 20 years and just love the intuitive and "logical" way the software works. From a hardware perspective I'd say that I like my Universal Audio gear the most. Good questions about analog vs digital software. Personally I don't think that using analog gear makes you more of a creative artist. The barriers of entry to music creation have been lowered so much over the past years, making it accessible for many more people. So I get that some want to distinct themselves by using more analog (and expensive) gear. But in the end, it's about how good you are at utilizing what you have and also your ability to tell a good story, regardless of analog or digital gear.
7-Dimitris: Do you prefer instrumental dance tracks or you adore vocals? Please explain to us your position and if in your latest production you have vocals tell us how did you choose the specific singer and if it was great to work with her/him?
08 Orbit: I have no preference to instrumentals or vocal tracks and I create lots of both. Only thing I really care about is that the track is exciting and takes the listener on an emotional journey.
8-Dimitris: If you really like to produce vocal tracks which vocalist/singer or lyricist on electronic dance music you aspire to work with?
08 Orbit: Dan Stone recently released a track called Paralized which has stunning vocals from Sarah Mark. So I would absolutely love to work with her one day!
9-Dimitris: Do you believe that artwork on your latest track is good and do you believe that artwork can attract listeners or record buyers? Can you mention the best artwork of a track ever released?
08 Orbit: I think FSOE Argento has amazing artwork guidelines and love what they did for us. Recognition factor and attracting attention cannot be underestimated and I believe the artwork for Bliss is the best so far.
10-Dimitris: Your latest release is on FSOE Argento? Tell us your opinion about that particular label and your connection with them.
08 Orbit: FSOE Argento. For us this was a very prestigious signing given the quality of their releases and the people involved such as Dan Stone, Paul Thomas to name a few. I've personally signed over 50 tracks with various labels and in different genres in the past 12 month and these guys are very professional. Super responsive (which is very rare), very professional and just "on top of things". It's been an absolute pleasure dealing with them.
11-Dimitris: Do you have your own record label? if yes tell us when did you set it up, the reasons behind this decision and your top 3 releases on the label so far plus 2 or 3 releases that we should look after from your label.
08 Orbit: No I don't but I self-release tracks from time to time.
12-Dimitris: Are you planning to complete an album or mix compilation soon? if yes please give us all the details about regarding tracks and how will look and sound like?
08 Orbit: I don't have any plans to release an album anytime soon. I think the era of albums is in the past and could only make sense for artists with a huge following. An album caters to your fanbase and for me personally, I'm still early stage trying to build one.
13-Dimitris:How much time do you spend promoting yourself in your social media and you see this as essential tool for self promotion and getting bookings too? Which social media is the one that seems to work better for you?
08 Orbit: Probably not as much as I should. This is a side project for me and I release this based on my passion for electronic music and not with the purpose of creating a career, which I already have in music.
14-Dimitris: From the gigs/festival performances confirmed so far for 2023 in which ones are you most excited to perform and why?
08 Orbit: I don't do gigs, I'm a studio musician although I have received some requests to start DJing again so let's see what happens :-).
15-Dimitris: Please share your most funny and most serious incident that happen to you during your DJ performance?
08 Orbit: In the early 2000 I had a gig in Sofia, Bulgaria and played a massive crowd in a square, standing on an old monument. All of a sudden, this girl walks up and starts taking all of her cloths off - security started chasing her but it took quite a while before they caught her and removed her from the stage.
16-Dimitris: Are you enjoying to visit music conferences and do you have any plans to attend any of them in 2023:
08 Orbit: I'm planning to visit ADE this year to meet up with all of the labels I'm working with. Really looking forward to finally meet my friends face to face.
17-Dimitris: Please note for all the new talents that read this interview to get some inspiration from you any technical tips in relation to your DJing or music productions. Also any piece of personal or music business' advice that has helped you to progress even further and is worth telling to the new upcoming talents.
08 Orbit: Collaborate with people, make sure to build a relevant network that gives you honest but constructive feedback on your music. It's really important to open yourself up for brutal honesty. That will speed up your skills very much.
18-Dimitris: Many DJs who are producers too they offer online masterclasses or teach to music production courses. If you are offering any of these services please tell us about it.
08 Orbit: I'm not a big fan of masterclasses for lots of people. I do have several students that I mentor but I only tailor for the individual. That way I'm in a position to create meaningful content and sessions and with a very clear goal for that specific artist. Also makes the artist more invested in the learning both financially and emotionally.
19-Dimitris: Is there a club classic that you would like to remix or rework in 2023? Do you attempt often to do your own bootlegs of classics?
08 Orbit: Not really, it's a bit of an epidemic to revisit old tracks with remixes and covers. It's one thing if an artists creates a remake of their own track to take a "dated" production of to date but for me, there's no artistic challenge in remixing old tracks. I'd rather remix something new.
20-Dimitris: Vinyl sales are rising and there is strong demand for vinyl releases? What is the reason behind that trend and do you see it as a positive development?
08 Orbit: I started DJing on vinyls so I obviously like them. Not sure what the reason is but could be that people get attracted to something physical in an increasing digital world.
21-Dimitris: Many artist right now attempt to come closer to their fan base and use the meta verse in order to offer exclusive content to their most dedicated followers. Do you have any plans to do the same and what is your opinion about this plan to grow on metaverse?
08 Orbit: I will probably need to grow my following more for that to make sense so I don't have any plans for that right now.
22-Dimitris: Do you believe that music genres or styles are still relevant today? What is your opinion about hybrids and artists attempting to mix influences from various genres in their tracks?
08 Orbit: This is such a good question. When I started listening to electronic music there was House, Techno & Trance - period. The music that was released was inspired cross-genre, experimental and very progressive in a sense. All of the sub-genres today are so confusing and it seems that most people have their own definitions of what they actually are. Here's an example - I sent off a track to two A&Rs. One said - "love the melodic techno vibe but we want it more progressive" - second one says "great progressive track but we want more melodic techno". So what does one make of that... I would love to see more "old style" A&Rs that sign tracks based on a vision and take risks as oppose to people running the check boxes to see if it fits a very narrow category. But then again I understand that there's tons more tracks created today and that narrow view is probably a necessity to cope with the amount of incoming demos. It's really a double edged sword
23-Dimitris: Finally tell us if you are able to make a leaving out of your music business (DJ/producer/label owner/teaching or mastering tracks) and if not what other jobs are you doing in order to make a decent leaving?
08 Orbit: Yes I do, mainly from scoring for clients and my students.
Dimitris: Your message & wishes for Flux Bpm Online readers.
08 Orbit: Wish everyone a fab 2023 and lots of success in music
Thanks to Niclas/08 Orbit for his excellent blissful interview
Thanks to Dan from FSOE for organizing this interview.
Find Bliss here: https://fsoe.streamlink.to/bliss
Additional info: