Dutch Niko Moerland started making music in early 2002 at the age of twelve.
After a few years he discovered the art of being a DJ when he started a weekly radioshow. Soon after, he also appeared on stages around the country and played alongside some big artists.
In 2012 Niko decided to focus on making music by starting an education as a producer at the Rock Academy in Tilburg. During this time he gained a lot of knowledge and experience via projects like Pandaboyz & Modern Veterans, which he will put to good use in future productions as Nutland.
His latest release as Nutland called Lost Temple released on Elpida Music. We requested an interview to get to know him better and we are happy he accepted the challenge to reply in our questions. Enjoy what he has to say.
1-Dimitris: It would be nice to start by telling us your 3 most important achievements or goals fulfilled in your career so far that you very are proud of.
Nutland: As Pandaboyz we got our track Mumble on the last ever Sensation White compilation. We also got our track on television featured in Ex On The Beach. And we had the honor to remix a track of Flo Rida which got featured in a Netflix Serie (Animal Kingdom).
2-Dimitris: Why and under which circumstances did you took the decision to start DJing or producing electronic dance music?
Nutland: I'd started with making music with eJay in 2002. It felt like a videogame and I really liked it. At that point there was also an internet community with a top 100 of tracks, best tracks etc. That period stopped so I started with making music in FL Studio 3.
3-Can you note down the top 3 producers that have influenced your decision to get involved in the electronic dance music scene and you admire and respect them very much?
Nutland: It was Armin van Buuren. Not particularly his own music but more because of his yearly A State Of Trance on the beach mixes. Little side note: DJ Dazzle signed my first ever released record.
4-Dimitris: It would be fantastic to talk about your latest release Lost Temple on Elpida Music. Please tell us how this track came about and what was the idea behind it.
Nutland: That's Lost Temple. We've started with this track exactly 2 years ago in May 2021. It was during my time with Willem Pauwels as Modern Veterans. It once got signed but we never heard anything about it so we decided to send it to Daniel Wanrooy. It now got released under my own alias Nutland.
5-Dimitris: How long it took you to produce it and can u describe the production process in simple steps?
Nutland: The project is called 12 mei, which means 12th of may. On the 19th of may we transferred it to a V1 version, which means it had everything for a complete record. After that we didn't change a lot any more. Most of the time records won't finish this fast. In that period I quit my job so that I could fully focus on music.
6-Dimitris: Did you had any particular difficulties accomplishing that particular track or any specific technical challenges or obstacles that you had to overcome during its production.
Nutland: Not during its production, it was hard to get it signed afterwards.
7- 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?
Nutland: I use Logic X. Mark Otten got me into Logic during my study at the Rock Academy. First I hated it for being different compared to FL, but I got used to it. I've got a Behringer Poly D myself. I really like to play with it but didn't use it yet in a track. I don't really have a opinion about the use of analogue equipment, at the end the music is the most important. I don't care how it is created.
8-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?
Nutland: My latest record is an instrumental dance track. It's pretty hard to get your hands on good vocals. I've got some other vocal tracks released this year, and some will get released later on this year..
9-Dimitris: If you really like to produce vocal tracks which vocalist/singer or lyricist on electronic dance music you aspire to work with?
Nutland: Yoshi Breen would be awesome, Yoshi is a Dutch songwriter who is involved in many great songs.
10-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?
Nutland: It could and for me it's important that it looks good and professional. Not particularly for the listeners or record buyers but primarily for myself, I've got some plans to print all the artwork of the records I've released and make it into a painting or something.
11-Dimitris: Can you pick your top 3 record labels including the one released the track that we discuss in this interview and give us a short comment about them?
Nutland: Elpida Music is Daniel Wanrooy his imprint. I like the direct contact I've got with him and the good conditions he offers with giant Black Hole recordings behind it. Besides that it's a dream of mine to once release on Anjunabeats. I also would love to get a song on Colorize or This Never Happened.
12-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.
Nutland: Yes I've got my own record label called ''Modern Vibes Music'' together with Willem Pauwels. We've started it because we were sick of contacting labels to get our tracks signed. We just wanted our own track to be released, so if we didn't get a reaction in time from the labels we decided to release it ourselves. Nowadays it's so hard to get in contact with the right person at the bigger labels. Creating music is so accessible, if you've got a computer, some software and some spare time to watch youtube tutorials, a lot is possible. You should really check out my tracks ''Inner Circle'' and ''Voodoo'' and also Willem's record ''Wampa - Sweet Feeling''.
13-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?
Nutland: I've got nothing planned but it's a dream to release an album. Not sure yet if it will ever happen.
14-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?
Nutland: I spend far too little time promoting myself on social media. I know I should do this more often, but I guess I'm a little bit old fashioned when it comes to self promotion. But if I've got to pick on medium it would be Instagram.
15-Dimitris: Do you have your own radio show/podcast/twitch stream or Vlog(video blog)? If yes please give us a comment about it and how long it take you to prepare for it and if you are always excited to produce it?
Nutland: I've always had my own radioshows. Started with weekly shows and at this moment I produce a monthly show called ''Modern Vibes'' for a small Dutch radio station. Unfortunately it takes a lot of time to do it proper, I really like to listen to my own mixes so that motivates me a lot. But there are also plenty of moments that I'm not that excited to dig through the promo's I get. Probably 5/100 is a good fit to be honest. I'm still dreaming to have my own show broadcasted on Dutch national radio on a weekly basis.
16-Dimitris: Please share your most funny and most serious incident that happen to you during your DJ performance?
Nutland: Back in the days I played before Leon Bolier. I was quiet new to DJing and never played for such a big audience and Leon was one of my heroes from ASOT on the beach 2006. At the end of my set Leon showed up on the podium and asked me to quit my latest record so that he could start his set. I'd never did this before so the nervous me decided to stop my set by pressing the cue knob on the first kick of the next drop. Luckily there was a nice FX on the mixer for that abrupt interruption. Imagine how this felt for the audience.
17-Dimitris: Are you enjoying to visit music conferences and do you have any plans to attend any of them in 2023:
Nutland: I did a lot back in the days but I've got nothing planned for now.
18. Are you happy with the way that royalties system works particularly regarding streaming revenue? Do you believe that artists get what they deserve from streaming providers/DJs playing your tracks in gigs/radio and selling music in physical formats like CDs/Vinyl or digitally.
Nutland: No I don't like it but I'm really happy with people like Daniel Wanrooy and Kris O'Neil, they still handle some pretty good conditions for the artist. But it doesn't change the fact that the most important party Spotify doesn't pay that much per 1000 streams. But at the end, I'm not in it for the money, I'm just a guy who's addicted to producing music. Getting paid really good would help a lot indeed, because in that case you could probably quit your daytime job to spent al your time into making music.
19-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.
Nutland: I always start producing a drop. And back in the days I could listen to that drop with 8 or 16 bars for multiple times. But please stop doing that! It will really affect your process. If you've got the feeling that you've got the ingredients to write down an entire track, you've got to start with creating an intro, a break, a drop etc. So that your record is an entire track even though it still has some empty parts. This really helped me to finish my tracks. If you don't do it instantly you got so used to this particularly 8 bars that you can't imagine the rest of the track anymore. And believe me, nobody else wants to just listen to 8 bars on spotify..
20-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?
Nutland: I've got nothing planned but I'm working on a remix for an old Gabriel & Dresden record.
21-Dimitris: Can you describe your music as certain music genre such as trance, house, techno or your music exempts these categorizations? What is your opinion about hybrid styles and the artists who are attempting to mix influences from various genres in their tracks?
Nutland: Well I recently decided to release whatever comes up in my productions. Nutland needs to be a project that contains the music I like. For now I released progressive house, melodic house/ techno records. But for the future you could also expect Tech House or Techno orientated tracks.
22-Dimitris: Is your music business your full time occupation and are you able to make a leaving out of your music business (DJ/producer/label owner/teaching or mastering tracks)? If not what other jobs are you doing in order to support your income?
Nutland: No it's not my full time occupation. I'm a application manager.
Listen / download 🎶👇
Thanks so much to Niko/Nutland for this fantastic interview.
Many thanks to Daniel Wanrooy/Elpida Music for arranging this interview.
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