Insight Interview: Antent

Known across the scene as a pioneer in Hardwave, Antent’s music stretches back many years and covers a variety of genres. In this interview we dive a little deeper with the Russian producer and find out more about his production style, studio setup and influencers.

 

Please tell us about yourself in a few words (who you are, where you’re from, what you do etc.)

Me name is Alexander, I’m from Perm, Russia. I produce music under my alias Antent.

 

What’s the origin of your artist name Antent?

It may seem funny but there isn’t any specific meaning behind the name of my project. I just went through different combinations of letters and sounds in my mind and found this one the best.

 

My tracks are dedicated to my memories from the past, to events that influenced me and even to something that exists only within my own mind

 

How long have you been writing/producing electronic music?

I’ve been producing my music under Antent for almost 8 years. Before that, I had been producing under different aliases but now I don’t take it seriously.

 

What is your current approach to starting a new track?

I usually start by composing the main melody and cord progression, trying to make different variations, and then I pick the ones that I like the most and choose the suitable instrument. After that I build the body of the track and add more instrumental layers. Then comes the drop where I usually pay more attention to smaller details and afterwards I just wrap the track up.

 

 

As an artist, what do you try to express through your music? A particular mood or feeling perhaps?

Every track that I produce embodies some of my feelings as I try to let the listener experience what I felt at some point of my life and I hope some of you can relate to my emotions. My tracks are dedicated to my memories from the past, to events that influenced me and even to something that exists only within my own mind. Also, there are some songs that are dedicated to people that I keep close to my heart, but I don’t usually let them know about it. 🙂

 

Tell us a little about your current studio setup.

Well, my setup is quite simple. All that I have is the PC that I assembled a couple of weeks ago as my last one went down. It was ASUS X550Z with 5GB RAM and as you can imagine it was hard to produce music.

Now that my new PC is faster, the whole process became easier and hence I feel more inspired to compose. I also have Scarlett Focusrite 2i2 3rd Gen, AKAI LPK25 MIDI keyboard and AKG MKII 271
headphones.

 

Who are your major musical influences?

Sorrow is the one that influenced me the most. His music still fascinates me. I should also mention KOAN
Sound, Seven Lions, Pensees, Sublab, Skeler.

 

Your single ‘Far Away From Me’ is a fantastic example of a Hardwave collaboration. To those who may not have collaborated on music before, how does the process work?

As for this track, we were in touch with Andrey (Affectwave) sending over some demos as we wanted to make something together for a long period of time. I loved one of his demos. It had a short verse, a pre-drop and the drop itself. I had asked for stems and in two days the track was finished. Andrey made a couple of changes and we both enjoyed the final version.

 

 

How has your music evolved since you first began writing/producing music?

I started my musical journey by releasing more dance music as I used to work in such genres as Melodic Dubstep, Progressive House, Trap, Future Bass, etc. At first I enjoyed it, but then I headed to more atmospheric styles, especially Future Garage.

I feel like this transition helped me realise my potential and become a better musician. I still produce this style of music but sometimes I try things that are new and unexplored for me. For instance, I discovered Hardwave last year and I have plans to dive deeper into this particular style.

 

Any particular artists you’d like to work with?

I’d love to work with Sublab and Pensees. I guess I can learn a lot of new things from them.

 

What’s on the horizon for you musically?

I’m starting to write my new album very soon and I hope it would come out next spring. I have a lot of musical ideas that I want to bring to life.

 

Any advice for those musicians just starting out?

Don’t put yourself into any kind of boundaries. Combine different style, be creative, try to realise every crazy idea that comes to your mind as it’s the best way to create something that stands out.

 

What are three singles you would recommend we definitely check out?

Kim & Affectwave – Undercover
Sublab – Love Architect
Sorrow – Homesick

 

You can discover Antent’s latest single release ‘No Limits’ on Bandcamp below!

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