Currently on the road with his ‘Year Of The Ape’ album and a tasty new EP coming soon on Lauter Unfug, Ratha Gud checks in with our favourite Freak!
Hi M.in, where are you in the world right now?
Finally back home and at work again. Had a long weekend in Liverpool (UK) and Göttingen (Germany).
What was the first piece of music you heard today?
Uh, still no music. Did some office work today and tried to protect my ears after this long (and loud) weekend.
How would you describe your sound?
My sound was always between techno and house…so Tech house! As I don’t like to play or produce always the same style I always play a bit crossover. At some sets I start with some house tracks, move to tech house and end with techno.
What does your name mean and where did it come from?
Oh this is very simple. I like to put names together and create a simple new name. My first label was called Kaufe Musik and Kaufe (what means buy) came from KAufmann Und Ferdinand. M.in is similar…M coming from Markus and the in coming from Ferdinand. The dot was only to make it look better.
You released your ‘Year Of The Ape’ album at the start of Summer and have since been touring with it, how’s it all been going?
For me it is my best album so far (the third now) and the people also like it. Also my tour was cool. With gigs in Barcelona, Luxembourg, UK, Swiss, Germany it started really good.
Tell us about your favourite track from the album?
I think my favourite track is “M.in feat. Bruno Gentile – Rotate”. It includes vocals of Robert Owens and we made a strong house groove with a fat bassline. To make a bassline I really wanted to have in this track I had to buy the Novation Bass Station 2 and after 1 day i made it. I love the bassline and the vocals a lot as I had everything in my head before we started the track and I could recorded everything 100%.
You’ve built quite an empire in Germany with a DJ Agency and Record Label, tell us some more about your My Favourite Freaks brand, it’s artists and what to expect musically?
Lars and me working since years together to build up a good professional agency. After this was done we planned 2 years before we started the label. For us it was always important to make everything familiar and as good as we can. Also my promotion agency and our podcast running really good. With artists like Dosem, Christian Smith, Anna, Mark Reeve and more we are now well positioned. Our label is also growing more and more. Next Eps will be from dotSTRIPE, Ferdinand Dreyssig, Wehbba, Danny Serrano and more. As another Concept compilation is in work as this was very successful. Also labels like Toolroom, Cr2 or Ministry Of Sound licensed some of our releases already. So it looks like we do a good job.
How do you set about writing tracks and where do you get your inspiration from?
In the last time i bought a lot of new analog gear to find new ideas as this made it easier for me. But normally I only need to start recording some grooves and the rest comes naturally.
You’re soon to release a new single ‘Mixer’ on Lauter Unfug, tell us about the release?
It’s a groovy tech house track, same style like my release on Viva Music. It’s a bit more minimal but focusing the strong groove. Juliet Fox and Rich Wakley did great remixes for it.
Why is it still important to release on other labels when you have your own imprint?
I focusing more and more my own label but sure you also want to reach other people. We already having a good fanbase but also Lauter Unfug has a great fanbase too. As we also work a lot together this combine our forces. Also a big release on Snatch together with Riva Starr is planned now but we still trying to get the license of a vocal. So that’s why I can’t telling more at the moment. But Snatch has such a big fanbase that it make sense to release something there again.
Looking back, what piece of precious advice would you give to yourself when you were first starting out as a musician?
Do what you love and never give up. But that’s exactly what I did.
What are you proudest moments?
When my son was born.
Who are you current top 5 producers?
Paul Ursin, Christian Nielsen, Noir, Emanuel Satie and Deetron.
Who are your biggest influencers?
Green Velvet, Patrick Lindsey and Jamie Lidell.
Who would you most like to make a collaboration with?
Jamie Lidell.
We come to your house and raid your record collection, which embarrassing record do you need to check out the window as we arrive?
House Sound Of Chicago Megamix. I never listened the record I only bought it because of a logo on the back! Home taping is killing music…and it’s illegal!
Will you be attending ADE, where can we catch you?
This year we will be not at the ADE as we didn’t found the right location for us and because Sonar was more important this year. But next year for sure again.
Finally what’s coming next from M.in?
AFFKT – Mareny (M.in feat. D-Lee Remix) on Sincopat, a remix for Ferdinand Dreyssig, an EP on Lauter Unfug with remixes of Juliet Fox and Rich Wakley. An EP on My Favourite Freaks with remixes of Discase, RYME, Matt Ossentjuk & Diego Cuevas and another EP on My Favourite Freaks with remixes of Patrick Berg, Arjun Vagale. Together with Riva Starr we trying to license a vocal for a common track on Snatch, as long we getting the rights.
M.in ‘Mixer Ep’ will be released on October 24th 2016 On Lauter Unfug
