Label of the month: mould.audio
Ruben Ganev tells the story of his imprint
On this glorious Friday there won’t be any dancing in a club sadly, but I will try to shake things up a little and introduce you to my first in-depth label feature. For the occasion I had the pleasure of inviting the Bulgarian DJ and Producer Ruben Ganev for a chat, where he shared the full story of his own mould.audio label that he established in 2020. You will learn a lot about the person behind the music and the concept, so stick around!
Ruben has been a part of the electronic music scene for about 15 years now. In that time, driven by his curiosity and passion he constantly learned and experimented with sound as much as possible in order to find his place and really make sure that he has all the qualities and technical knowledge needed in order to be able to bring his ideas to life. Having had some of the best nightlife experiences and opportunities for playing music across Europe, he realized that there is a whole other level of professionalism and skill which is required in order to create something that will last in time. ‘’Timeless’’ is a key word when we are talking about mould.audio, as this is one of the main values of the creator. Another thing that became more and more vivid was the importance of a concept.
The project of mould.audio has been in preparation for a year and a half before it became reality, and clearly in that time Ruben thought very well about how he would like to present and position himself in the currently oversaturated electronic music landscape. For those of you who are not yet acquainted with the label, the debut release was courtesy of Ruben Ganev himself with his ‘’Totem’’ LP.
The main idea behind creating the imprint was that he wanted to have a place of freedom, where he could release his own music without having to conform to other people’s plans or schedules. In his eyes, having his own label would give him flexibility in terms of whether or not to put out a certain material at all, or even things like when to release it. ‘’ At first the label started with the idea of me releasing solo. I wasn’t even thinking about releasing other artists, and I think with time I became more open to this idea. What it developed to now, is that I am striving to create a small family of artists that work with the same approach to sound and that would accept mould.audio not only as some place they would release on once, but something that they will be in for the long term.’’ In that sense, the personal approach and connection over shared values is very important to Ruben. He genuinely believes in bringing like-minded people together that are after the same sounds and atmospheres, which is of paramount importance to creating a quality output according to him. The label boss is first and foremost a raver, and as such he recognizes that he has a strong connection to certain atmospheres and to others not so much. He is looking forward to connecting with the people that share those views and to ultimately creating a catalogue that embodies these values but is most of all timeless, which is the biggest challenge as Ruben describes. ‘’ My goal with this project is to leave a trace on the scene and not only manifest what I imagine electronic music is. I want to listen to these records in 10 years and be able to say that yes, this is something that still resonates with me and is relevant. The longevity of the project is really important to me. The people that I select to be part of this are equally important because in the end they would be the pillars of everything.’’
‘‘My goal with this project is to leave a trace on the scene and not only manifest what I imagine electronic music is. I want to listen to these records in 10 years and be able to say that yes, this is something that still resonates with me and is relevant. ‘‘
In the first year of mould audio, there has been one guest release by the UK Producer Chris Jones also known as Sejon. Produced remotely in Beijing, Sejon took inspiration from the raw, industrial structures of Dashanzi, isolating himself within the environment to craft and nurture diverse expressions. He channelled this immersive energy experienced by such mechanical architecture, and conceptualised it into the four tracks of the ‘‘798 Disctrict’’ EP. When it comes to selecting guests for mould.audio, Ruben is looking for artists that sound good to him, and that show signs of immense passion, determination and dedication, which does not necessarily translate into being known. He is fond of discovering and supporting new talent and will definitely continue approaching this aspect of running the label with the same vision in the future.
‘’I never announced that I am accepting demos in spite of that, there are a decent amount of people sending me stuff constantly. The bottom line is that when I hear something that I like I make my own research and I reach out to establish contact and make my own judgement if there are the same desires, values and if the person wants to make money or is just doing it because they want to share it with the world, because it’s what they like to do.’’
When it comes to monetizing and revenue, Ruben is quite humble and does not emphasize on the topic. In my eyes though, as I shared with him, when someone is investing so much time, energy, passion and resources into creating something and putting it out there for others to enjoy or use as a tool eventually, there is nothing wrong with being compensated for their hard work and creativity, the very least because they need to be able to continue with this project somehow. I do not believe that if one wants to pursue an artistic career, they must be ‘doomed’ to working two jobs and split their time and attention between a ‘’regular daytime job’’ and their actual passion. Unfortunately, nowadays I feel like there is some controversy in this all. We all want the artists that we love to do things out of love without focusing on the financial aspect in order to not compromise on the quality, but the moment that someone is proud that they managed to financially sustain themselves from their creative output we start to question the passion..?! I hope that in the future this will change and people will start to realize that culture and entertainment are two different things, but in order to be able to create either we need to support the artists that do it and always remember that it is just as important for them to have a balanced life.
‘‘It is about putting out quality sound and good work in a subsequential manner and looking for that avant-garde sound aesthetic.’’
As I passionately share my point of view on the subject Ruben answers ‘’I never made any money out of music until last year. I did not want to and it wasn’t my goal for a long time. I agree with you that someone that spends time and energy on something from the heart would be happy to get some revenue to sustain themselves or simply keep feeding this process. I’ve never expected that this would be possible for me and I am not entirely living off the label, but a significant part of my expenses were covered by mould. I also think that another important thing that I should emphasize on is the fact that, if one does a project with all of their heart and dedication in it without thinking about money but purely the project and the aesthetic, I strongly believe that this results in a product that is desirable. It is about putting out quality sound and good work in a subsequential manner and looking for that avant-garde sound aesthetic. I am not looking to release music that I have heard before. As much as possible, I am trying to find authenticity and I strongly believe that this authenticity will later translate into a more successful project financially as well.’’
It becomes apparent to me that the main focus of Ruben is quality over quantity. The first year of mould audio saw four releases, which can be considered as a rather significant body of work, but the main reason behind it was that he wanted to give a jump start to the label and get the attention of people by giving them a lot to associate with. Additionally, the moment that he decided to open the imprint for guest artists, it was only natural to strive for credibility in the sense of having enough material that really shows the essence of the soundscape that the label strives for. In the end, music always speaks louder than words and it gives people a chance to associate themselves with it or find themselves in it.
Our conversation takes a more technical turn and I am curious to find out more about Ruben’s experience as a sound designer, the choices that he makes with regards to mastering, and the advantages of having this knowledge when running a label. ‘’ I try to be always very delicate because I know what it’s like for another person to review your work and comment on it, but I must say that I encounter little things that I can definitely improve or I can ask the artist to go back and improve before they go into the mastering process. It definitely gives me pleasure to know that I can take something and as a curator not shape it, but present it in its best form and I see a great advantage in that. When you take certain work you can basically evaluate, what are the capabilities of this work, what can it do? Sometimes you see what can be improved and other times I’m mind-blown and don’t want to mess with it.’’
‘‘Every producer gets too attached to a certain composition. Often it happens that these attachments can be obstacles to finding the best version of this work.’’
Speaking of mastering, Ruben shares with me that he has been mastering his own work, in order to be able to play it at gigs, which has been a long process of trying out different sound systems, clubs, tests and mistakes, and altogether probably took about 5-6 years until he made it sound really good in a proper techno set. Living a bit of a nomad life and moving every couple of years to a different country did not allow him to settle into a proper studio, so when it comes to mould.audio, he chose a different approach. ‘’ I don’t do the masters myself. The main reason behind this is that, in my experience sometimes when you make your own music, not always but sometimes, it is better for a mastering engineer to listen to it unbiased. Every producer gets too attached to a certain composition. Often it happens that these attachments can be obstacles to finding the best version of this work. When I have a fresh pair of ears, they hear things that I might miss on. I believe that it is better for another person to make the mastering and I work with Bruno Laufenberg - a guy that is an absolute professional at what he does. I must say that I am very happy with the output and I hope to continue this relationship for a long time.’’ Having said that, Ruben continues to share that eventually he sees himself offering mastering services in the future when he has settled into a proper studio and time allows him to split his focus.
As I am very interested in art and the visual aspect of things, I wanted to know more about the inspiration behind mould audio’s look. It turns out that it is a collaborative project between Ruben and his brother who is an artist as well. They are both very much inspired by geometry and through their sessions together they come up with variations of the main look for mould. To them it is important that there is a uniform look that really speaks to people, connects with the music and is memorable and recognizable. ‘’ When I listen to electronic music, I often visualize things.’’ Says Ruben. ‘’Every aspect of design that is somehow hypnotic to me creates an affection. I like geometry but mostly ’hypnotic’ geometry with all kinds of shapes.’’ In the future the listeners can expect a fresh look every year, as it is important to the guys to try and give more identity to each release while keeping the consistency and at the same time offering something fresh to the audience.
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Next week mould.audio will release mld005 - a 4 tracks EP by the French artist 9beats. This will definitely be the most hypnotic release on the label to date, but certainly not the last one. It will be the release that will show the smoother side of mould and will open a door for further EPs with this kind of sound. This undoubtedly reveals another one of Ruben’s personal interests when it comes to music, as he is appreciating many subgenres of techno. Check out the premiere track of the forthcoming ‘‘Planetary Storm’’ EP by 9beats. Release date: 24.02.2021
For the upcoming year Ruben already has planned a solid schedule with at least 3 more releases, the first one of which will come at the end of March. Another one of them though, is particularly interesting, as it seems like he will be taking on a big experiment. ‘’ It’s a collaboration between me and Chris Jones – Sejon. We are going make an ambient music EP. But the difference is that we are making this music to be the score of a short movie. Mould.audio is going to branch out into visual arts as well maybe not that often, but it will happen from time to time. The release will be available as a record but also in the form of a short movie stream. That’s the main idea behind it. Further information about that will come through mould’s website later in the year!’’
Some of you know and most of you probably don’t, but I am vinyl collector, so at the end of our lovely interview I am asking the inevitable question ‘’What about vinyl?’’. Luckily for me, despite the fact that Ruben is coming from an almost entirely digital background, he appreciates and sees the value in vinyl and is happy that this format has made such a comeback in recent years especially in our industry where interest towards it is growing. He assured me that in the future, when the time is right, I will be able to add some mould.audio releases to my collection!
The future is bright for people that know what they want and work hard to get there. I hope that the story of mould.audio and Ruben Ganev will inspire a lot of young producers and dreamers out there to put in the hours and risk, because this is the only way that they will be able to realize their passions. And to all of you dear readers, I highly recommend you to check out the catalogue of mould and get lost in the rhythm. Don’t forget to buy the music and support the artists!