T.H.E Interview – Gus Pessoa

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gus pessoa interview

Gus Pessoa presents debut single, ‘Burned Out’ featuring the infectious vocals of Cammie Robinson.

Read our chat where we talk about his collaboration, and plenty more.

T.H.E – Hey Gus! Welcome to The Music Essentials. Congrats on your single ‘Burned Out’, how long has it been in the works?

Gus Pessoa – Thank you very much, it is a pleasure to be able to do this! The whole process of producing Burned Out took about one month to complete. I originally had a demo that was super different but it progressed over time to what we have today. The overall idea of the track was completed relatively quickly, but fine tuning everything took probably 90% of the time. I probably made around 3 different basses until I actually got what I ended up going with. The little details in the mix are definitively what took the longest.

T.H.E – How did you come to collaborate with Cammie Robinson & how was it working together?

Gus Pessoa – I found her online and messaged her showing the original demo. She replied that she was down to work together. She is super talented and got things done straight away, so it was really cool and inspiring to work with her. I ended up essentially changing up the whole track after I got her vocals, and I pitched her vocals down quite a bit to give it more of a hazy, gloomy feel.

T.H.E – When did your journey into electronic music begin & what have been the key defining moments for you so far?

Gus Pessoa – I was in a band back in high school, but the band broke up. I wanted to keep making music, but being in a band required too much coordination with other people. So the guitarist from the band (Stuart Dean) and I started producing together. This was back in 2012. I kept getting more and more into it, which made doing university work quite hard, because all I wanted to do was produce and not any of the coursework that was assigned lol. The key defining moments are hard to describe. I think the most important thing was the release of Propellerhead’s Reason 10. I always loved Reason’s user experience, but it lacked the ability to use external VSTs (plugins), so I always felt like it was weighing me down. But with Reason 10 I was able to get some of the plugins that changed a lot of stuff in my production and made me feel like my tracks were finally hitting the levels that I wanted.

T.H.E – What’s the scene like in Washington DC right now? 

Gus Pessoa – The scene in Washington DC is pretty good, there are some very good up and coming talent coming from there and I’m excited to see where they go. Also, one of my favorite clubs ever is there (Flash). Every time I go there to see an artist I like I come out super inspired. I’m not very involved in the scene though, but I hope this changes soon.

T.H.E – Which artists inspire you and what are some of the toughest challenges you’ve faced, to date?

Gus Pessoa – Hmm, that is a hard question. I feel like Gui Boratto was one of the first electronic acts I got really into, and his music always takes me on a trip. I really dig Daniel Avery’s stuff as well, his new album is super good. When I saw him live it totally enlightened me on how electronic music could make you feel.

I think one of the toughest challenges I’ve faced is getting myself out there. I always felt like I was always being obnoxious showing people my music or sharing stuff on social media. But I recently realized that if this is really what I want to do, I can’t think that way. The people that are going to hate on it are always going to be there, but the people that really know me, know how important this is to me so they don’t really mind it. Plus, I am a bit a lone wolf. Many producers get into these cliques or closed off groups, but I never really did that. So finding everything out by yourself, and doing all promotion and everything on my own has always been a little bit harder because of that.

T.H.E – Name three artists that in your opinion, are really driving the scene forward with their sound.

Gus Pessoa – I think Charlotte de Witte is for sure one of them. In my opinion, she is one of the big reasons why acid house/techno has made a comeback recently, and I fucking love that stuff. Camelphat are killing it as well this year. Their new track ‘Breathe’ is an absolute belter. Jay Lumen is super good as well, and his sound is definitely pushing the boundaries of techno.

T.H.E – Lastly, any further plans for 2018? 

Gus Pessoa – I’m going to keep on working on the next tracks for future releases. Also, keeping the campaign up for the release of Burned Out. Finally, just going to be spending some quality time with friends and family over the holidays to start out 2019 right.

Thanks again for having me! Peace.

 

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