A legend in his own right, Mike Hiratzka spent a decade touring internationally as the tour music programmer for massive acts including Justin Timberlake (three tours including a stadium tour co-headlining with Jay Z), Rihanna, Hugh Jackman, Evanescence, Charlie Puth, Toni Braxton and Akon.
With a strong background in programming, Mike has taken 2020’s touring pause to work on his new personal electronic project. “The Light of The Morning” is his first introduction to that solo sound, a melancholy and evocative track with cinematic overtones, created with incredibly crisp and mature production techniques.
“The Light of The Morning” is the debut single from his forthcoming full artist work, Nish, out in June on Mike’s own Nish Recordings imprint. Writing this single was initially what propelled Hiratzka toward the album concept. On the creative process behind the single, Hiratzka says:
“I was in Sydney, Australia, and in the middle of rehearsals for the Aussie leg of the Hugh Jackman tour. I actually wrote the lyrics to the club version first, but knew immediately that I wanted the main version of the song to be a lush, cinematic tune. I had been experimenting with Native Instruments’ Reaktor a lot over the prior year, noodling around, chaining plugins after it, just trying to come up with the coolest sounds possible; then recording long passes of these noodles, going back and picking the best bits, doing additional sound design and using the parts to build the song…I like capturing my initial inspiration; it’s usually the closest to what’s going on in my head, even if it is a sometimes ugly and imperfect performance. Oftentimes I will leave in the mistakes, or do additional sound design to them and turn them into something even cooler.”
The rest of the anticipated Nish album was carefully composed to perfection. Hiratzka aimed to create a piece of work that pays tribute to his musical history of ethereal, synthetic soundscapes, shimmering guitars, deep bass grooves, emotive vocals, and intricate, psychedelic sound design.
In addition to his touring experience, Hiratzka’s studio production portfolio is rich, and equally as impressive. He has various guitar, bass, keys, co-writing, engineering, mixing, producing, remixing and programming credits on albums by John Graham, Kristy Thirsk, D:Fuse & Hiratzka, Fauxliage, as well as decades of extensive single and remix releases in his catalogue.
