DubVision, two brothers from the Netherlands, have been called breakthrough 2012 by Axwell and after their tracks “All By MySelf” and their remix on “Committed to Sparkle Motion” on Axtone, we thought it’s finally time to talk to the guys and get more info on how they started, their styles and their goals in the future.
toblip.com: Hey guys, hope you are good. 2012 has been quite a good year so far for your remix. Your “Commited to Sparkle Motion” remix has been out for almost 2 weeks and with tracks like “All By Myself” and “You and I”, you’ve gotten a lot of attention. But there are still some people that don’t know you, please introduce yourself.
DubVision: Hi, we are Stephan (30) and Victor Leicher (23), we’re Dutch and live in The Haque, Holland, and are dedicated to music.
toblip.com: So you guys are brothers with an age gap of 8 years. Was music a typcial hobby that you shared? How did you start working together?
DubVision: When we were younger, our parents made us play at least one instrument. We both played approximately 7 years, from classical to jazz and from blues to funk. At an early age, Victor started experimenting with electronic music, using all sorts of computer programs. It was all self education. After seeing him producing some good music, Stephan got interested and decided to team up. This was such a success that we started producing music on a daily basis. After a while we came up with the name: DubVision.
toblip.com: As said, 2012 is a good year for you and Axwell himself titled you as breakthrough 2012 in his djmag comment. What can we expect next from you? Do you already have new material in the pipeline for Axtone or other labels?
DubVision: Axwell has been our inspiration, our hero when it comes to perfectly melodic progressive house so the fact that he of all DJs/Producers picks US as his favorite, is truly amazing. We have some stuff done and stuff we are still working on including some remixes and collabartions with some intresting names (and for some interesting labels) which we can’t share yet, unfortunately. We really put a lot of work and time in our tracks. So for us it’s more about quality than quantity. The idea is to keep making progress on our skills and release some good tunes next year then the rest will follow.
toblip.com: If we do some research on the web and listen to some of your records, DubVision are associated with big room house. Do you agree with that or is there another way would you describe your sound? Are there sometimes differences between the music you produce and the sound you play?
DubVision: We guess big room is the best way to call it. We are big fans of melody in our productions, especially emotional and kind of dramatic melodies. We like to take people on a journey with our music. That and a certain strong ‘chord’ combination makes a typical DubVIsion track. When we play out we strive to play the same sound but also add some rougher and groovier stuff. Also we like to do a lot off mashups to combine those aspects of music.
toblip.com: ADE is over. Have you been there and what do you think about the progress this whole event has made?
DubVision: Yeah we’ve been there although just for one day. We were at the Spinnin’ night and after that we saw Sander van Doorn show at Escape. ADE made some pretty big progress over the last couple of years. It’s one of the most important gatherings in the dance industry and we are lucky to have it in Holland. We have been going to ADE for a couple of years now and we always learn new stuff or meet interesting people!
toblip.com: I saw the video of your gig at Biergarten in Palmero, which seemed to be a phat party. What was your best gig so far and what made it that special?
DubVision: To be perfectly honest, we haven’t play that many places to give a fair answer. Ask us in a year and we will give you a better answer!
toblip.com: Where would you like to play? Is there a festival or a special club which is on your to-do list?
DubVision: There are a lot of clubs and festivals on our list. We would love to perform at Ultra fest or Tomorrowland for example and clubs like LIV and TAO.
toblip.com: Is there something you guys definitely need from home when you are heading to a gig (no equipment)? For example Thomas Gold always takes some coffee with him.
DubVision: We always bring a USB fan. It plugs into your laptop and keeps a nice little breeze.
toblip.com: One of our standard questions is what producers think about how the electronic music scene has changed, so what is you opinion on that especially when it comes to the US market.
DubVision: EDM made unbelievable growth in the last couple of years but is was pretty obvious it was going to happen. It has two sides. On one hand it’s a very good thing because more people are introduced to dance music and it gets the attention it deserves. On the other hand it’s getting a little bit out of hand and there is a risk it will be played out in a couple of years.
toblip.com: Whats your opinion on dj polls like the DJ Mag Top 100? Especially when you take a look at the results… in our opinion some things seem pretty weird.
DubVision: To be honest, we haven’t been really paying attention to the Dj Mag Top 100. It seems to be a popularity contest. But that doesn’t make the dj’s in there less admirable. We hope to be in there some day!
toblip.com: Logic or Ableton? Analog or digital stuff? What is necessary for a DubVision production and with what kind of tools would you like to work?
DubVision: We use Ableton and a lot of third party plugins. Not that much analog stuff although we would love to expand our studio with some nice analog synths our compressors/eq’s etc. We use the standard VSTs like Sylenth, Massive etc but we are always on the lookout for new intresting plugins, be it fx or sytnhs.
toblip.com: Is there a typical method you start when working on a track or is it just starting to play with some VSTs and sharing some ideas and arguing about making it better?
DubVision: It depends. Usually we start on finding melodies and our chord progressions. Then we work them out. But sometimes we start with a beat or a interesting sample that inspires us.
toblip.com: Do you have a dream when it comes to collaborating with other artists and is there an artist or a band which you really would love to remix?
DubVision: We would love to do a collab with Axwell, as explained he is our favorite producer. But we also like working with bands like we did with Discopolis. It’s amazing to combine our big room style with these kind of subtle, emotional vocals and guitar lines.
toblip.com: Let us know your top 5 all time classics
1. Booka Shade – Body language
We’ve been editing and re-editing this track so much. It’s really funky and sexy, it never gets old!2. Together – Axwell & Sebastian Ingrosso
This track started it for us. These sound combinations as well as the vocals are so catchy and very different from all the house tracks at that time. A classic track that we often play in sets as original and mashed up.3. Daft Punk – Around the World
Daft Punk are the forefathers to us when it comes to electric music. Their beats and sounds are so funky and groovy that they are one of the biggest inspirations for us still. Their live shows are truly amazing. We like all their work, but if we have to choose a favorite it’s ‘Around the World’. Wherever you play this song, the crowd goes mad!4. Starkillers ft Alex Kenji and Nadia Ali – Pressure (Alesso Remix)
‘The’ track of 2011! The drive and clear production of this track is amazing. Also the melody is very uplifting and a little dramatic at the same time. Super drops and massive build ups!5. Michael Jackson – Beat It
King of pop, legend, hero. There are so many awesome tracks, but this one has such an amazing drum and rhythm choice. There is always something from Michael on our iPod.
