So tell me about yourself, your life and where you are from?

I am 28 years old, I am from Estonia. I’m a regular family guy, I have my wife and three kids, all three are boys. I have two jobs, first as a technical director in a logistics company which deals with trucks and moving stuff around the country and the world. Secondly, I’m a manager in a shoe store. Basically, I live a typical Estonian life.

Being from the U.S. myself, I’m not very familiar with Estonia.

If I can quickly describe this place, it's beautiful for me personally because we live on the shore of the Baltic Sea so anytime you want to go to the sea, you have the beaches, and everything around you. It’s a post union place, Estonia was a part of the Soviet Union ages ago so we have this interesting architecture, modern buildings around these old post Soviet buildings. It influences me a bit, it’s like modern with something old and retro.

When did you start producing music?

If I’m not mistaken, I was around 14 years old. Firstly I tried Virtual DJ, to make some mixes, but I was always feeling this passion to make some music. When I was listening to some radio show or something, I was thinking, how do people make this digital music? I started searching the internet. How could I make something sound like this on my computer? I found FL studio. It was around 13 years ago, 2005-2006, at the time there was FL Studio Six. I started making something from nothing by exploring the samples from the library. When I first dropped like a four on the floor bar with a simple kick pattern, I was like, yeah, this is what I want to make. After that it was always a hobby, and I wasn't fully concentrating on it. Okay, I had a good time goofing around in FL Studio, but making nothing.

When I was around 17 I started producing Progressive House and Progressive Trance. I even played a set in my school with my friends. The crowd had gone crazy, and I loved this feeling, I wanted to move on with something. Extremely for me, I switched to Hip Hop and I started to make beats, sampling something old, and making it into the sound of Hip Hop. Nothing special, basically four or five tracks in a DAW and you feel like you made something cool just for a while. Then a few years after I tried to rap by myself as my mother language is Russian, I started rapping in Russian. It ended up to nothing because in all genres you have to find something interesting. If we're talking about electronic music, we are talking about some signature sound, maybe signature grooves or something. So in rap the most important for me were punchlines and how you drop all these words together to get a certain meaning, but it was a struggling thing for me because as I mentioned before, it was a hobby.

Then at the age of 22 I moved from my parent's house and I started living with my wife. Life changed for me. I had so much freedom, especially in my mind, that I didn't have to worry about what I needed to eat, where I had to sleep and so on. When we started living together, I knew I needed to concentrate on some different aspects of life. Move on in a way of parent life. Music isn't something I will reach my goals in. While I had my three days off from work I was still producing, but it was just time spent. All for fun, I didn’t know I would be able to release music on labels.

A few years later when my first child was born, I already gained some skills, and I was producing Halftime. My first EP Isolation came out on PRIME in 2020 which was Halftime. It was the time of the pandemic when we were all isolated, I had more free time to spend with my family and produce more music. Mainly, I focused on reaching somewhere with this music. During the day I had work and after that I wanted to spend time with my family so I decided that I will write music at night. Which was a super cool idea because I have so much inspiration at night when it's dark, it's only me and the DAW. I know that all my family members are already sleeping, they had a good day, and now I can concentrate my head on making something. This first EP, it came out pretty organically and naturally, really fast. I had these three tunes made in two months. Once I figured out a good time to make music, I knew I would reach something. Now I will earn money, I will get the profit, but I wasn't thinking about how I needed to have an audience. I have no background. I have been making music for almost eleven years and nobody knows about me. Where are we going?

All my life, from my childhood I was interested in Drum and Bass, I always felt this passion for making it, but I never tried. One day I switched to Drum and Bass and started making something, but it still gave me no results. I need to, I have to, one day I'll make it, and I will make it as I wish. Then all things started happening naturally because the first Drum and Bass track, if we can call it Drum and Bass was honestly for me something with drums and basses still on the more experimental side. My track I Don't Strive To Please You.

I don't strive to please anybody with my music. I feel comfortable in this area for myself, and I make music for myself only. If somebody likes it then it's more like a bonus. I started to give out all of my emotions to the music. There are certain situations when you have a parent's life, the more you dive deep into common problems, and common things you have to do every day. You gain some emotions, you reflect to the world somehow, and this feeling is still inside of you. Making music these days is a good example of how I could get out and get away from my aggressions, rage, and how I could get my emotional state to calm down.

Your SoundCloud disappeared last year, what happened?

Interesting story when my SoundCloud was deleted. I was thinking that somebody hacked me and deleted it for no reason. Then I did some research and I honestly know who did it, but it will stay to rest. Personally, I'm not going to talk much about it, but I'm pretty happy that person did it. That day I let all my dreams fly away. Now for the music, I had to rethink my approach to releasing. On the third of September, it will be a year since I started my SoundCloud page again. During this year, I achieved everything I wanted for the past twelve years.

I remember that day, I thought it was pretty strange to see that happen. I think I messaged you about it too.

You're not the only one. I received maybe ten messages from different people who were asking like, wow, how is it possible? When I wrote that somebody hacked my page and deleted it, I believe that many people were thinking it could happen to them as well. Give me some clues, give me some insights how we can protect our SoundCloud pages, but there was no hacking as I originally thought, it was strictly one person who did it.

I remember you released Clockwork Determines Our Order on your SoundCloud and Bandcamp around that time, next thing I knew it disappeared from my collection. When I first discovered your music, you went by Constant, what inspired this alias change?

Well my first alias was a CODE:NS, the combination of my name and my wife's names. I found it pretty tricky on the platforms for people to search and pronounce. I needed to make something more suitable for use. I had a Sign project before, but I was like no. So I made it Constant, but realized I didn’t like it either. I have this Sign project and a logo already made by myself. Let it be just Sign. My real name is Stanislav, I have this S in my name. I'm pretty happy with it now!

Well I guess it was a good thing with your SoundCloud going down because one of the tracks eventually made an official release with Sinful Maze.

When I made my new SoundCloud page, they reached out to me. We want to release some tunes of yours, I said yes, I have I Don't Strive To Please You or Clockwork Determines Our Order. Since they had been released already, I basically said you could upload a free download if you wish, and they chose Clockwork Determines Our Order. I'm happy with the results. It gave me a lot and I'm pretty happy with the quality of the track because Meph, who does their mastering, did a cool job. Mine sounded a bit weak in comparison with his master, he gave it more width, more bass, and clarity. At the time my skills weren't that good where I wanted to have them so thank you guys for making this happen!

My latest track I wrote on my PC, but I mixed and mastered it on my mobile phone, No Pleasure Responsibility on Blacklist II with Surveillance Music. The owner of the label, Jon Tho, took a listen, he asked if I could use the same snares from another track I had sent over. In this particular case I was okay with it because this tune isn't something I liked a lot and I knew it wasn't a finished product. If somebody wants to sign it, I'm pretty okay with it because I'm not that guy who has like a million tunes in the background that I could send everywhere. So it's pretty good for me that I could find a home for it after everything. I simply changed the snare and added some high hat groove. He was happy with it.

What are your early inspirations in music?

You know, the fun fact that none of the modern Drum and Bass really inspires me nowadays. There's a few guys that are really talented which give me some inspiration in terms of sound quality, such as Moytra, he's a good friend of mine. I wrote to him in 2020 with an idea. Let's collaborate on something when his first Manifest EP on Data Music dropped, and we collabed on some tunes, but I found out that this is the guy who I can learn something from. His quality these days is super cool and he really pushes me a lot. If you ask me to send you cool dance floor music, I would send Moytra tracks. I know it could be pretty subjective because he is my friend, but I really do like the things he's doing. He lives in Surgut, a region in Siberia. It's pretty cold there, and you can sense this coldness in his music.

If we are talking about some musical and emotional sides, there are definitely two names in Drum and Bass for me.

The one and only Tom Finster. Especially his tune Our Fears Won't Save Us released on Upscale, the combination of this title and the music is brilliant. It's genius, and it's my favourite tune from him right now. His cover arts are full of life, a real environment with like real things that you could see in person. This guy has a huge background in making House music as Dong Kong. He was a huge early inspiration for me, and now I'm just enjoying his tunes. He’s supported me on occasions, which is super cool. I'm super thankful for him, he's a cool guy.

Second one is Ewan Bristow, we talk a lot sometimes, and we have something in the works together right now. I feel like this guy moves on the same road as I want to move at the moment, just self releasing and not giving a shit about how labels react.

My main inspiration nowadays are artists like Bonobo and Koan Sound. Koan has inspired me from their first releases back when, ages ago. Their sound design is incredible for me, the blending of melodics, narrow basses, cool grooves, and percussions. I really love it. Also, a band named Therr Maitz, it's a Russian Indie Pop band, they make different styles, but the guy who is head of this band is incredibly talented.

Another main inspiration to make music was deadmau5. Huge respect for him. One of the few producers of whom I was a huge fan of. I wanted to have the same mouse head. I was searching for it on Ebay but I was a child so didn’t have the money to buy it. One day I went with my granddad to Germany, and we went to a music store that had deadmau5 albums. I was like yes please, buy me, and he bought 2 or 3 of them. Our Estonian music stores around that time only had Rammstein, Rock, Heavy Metal, local music and Russian post Soviet Union music.Some of the happiest days of my life because I had this CD. I had it in high quality. I was so happy. One of those producers who makes the same Serum patch all the way but it still sounds super cool. I can't explain it.

The biggest inspiration has to be my life, my personal life. Every day, all my emotions, all my thoughts. I try to put everything into my music, and my family inspires me a lot. Sometimes I find some interesting grooves just from my kids playing with wooden toys. It’s incredibly cool. I still have a project which I will dedicate to my children. I used a lot of their sounds in it, it’s still a work in progress. I don't know if I will ever finish it, but I hope I do. It isn't Drum and Bass. It's more like IDM music. Something near which Mr. Bill makes because he inspired me ages ago as well. The main inspiration is my life and what I feel about it.

Keep making whatever genre it is, it's going to be cool, whatever you do.

So what’s the inspiration behind your track names? They have very neat wordplay. ‘Facets Of Reason And Foreshortening Of The Present’ for example.

As my mother language is Russian, sometimes I struggle to have my own words in my head to put this meaning in what I mean in my Russian head with an English title. I go to Google Translate, I type in the Russian title, and it shows me the result. Then I Google if this is even possible to say in English and if it works, then cool.

Well, about this tune, this is one of the first tracks that I wrote on mobile, fully on mobile. This is the reason I wanted to talk with you in my car because this is one of my studios because all these sound checks, sometimes mixing and mastering are happening here. No real studio. I have no monitors, I have no special place where I go. All my equipment is my sound card, my headphones, my PC and my mobile phone. I have my main car, a family car, which has good speakers in it. So I can reference exactly what I'm aiming to do for different tracks from different artists. I have my working bus, but the speakers barely produce any highs. This gives me a more focused idea of how my music will sound on a shit sound system.

What I wanted to mean with this title is that we live in such a period where everybody, especially in the Drum and Bass scene, I think William Light mentioned in a previous interview, I'm not scared to experiment! Well, my experiment was that I will use no kicks in a track. I believe that somebody has done it before, but I felt like this would be a super cool idea to blend heavy distorted sounds with no kick and a basic Drum and Bass pattern. I felt like this thing that I was meaning in my Russian head translating into the English title shows exactly the direction we are going.

In Facets Of Reason And Foreshortening Of The Present, I decided to experiment as much as I can and combine Drum and Bass grooves with Halftime grooves in the second drop. I thought my translation from my meaning of the title from Russian head to English title says everything. I think I now have to think more about my titles because the last time Dave Jenkins played No Pleasure Responsibility on VISION Radio, he said “I know all these words but have never seen them in this order before”. Do you understand what I meant?

I guess it would be similar to saying no pleasure, no responsibility in English. When you take out that extra no, it may seem different. There's nothing wrong with it at all. I enjoy the obscure translations, and you should keep it up!

I take no credit for your pleasure, no response for the pleasure of listening to this tune haha, it wasn't me! Maybe I try to find sometimes some symbolism in what I say, but this is how I feel about it. I think I found my niche.

So what app do you use to mix, master, and make music on your phone?

When I had only one kid, I had the ability to produce at night, he was so small, and he was sleeping with us in our bedroom. My wife had the ability to take care of him. He was more of a mommys boy. Then he grew up, we had a second baby, and then things started to get a bit complicated. In terms of babies, they have their own problems, crying, sometimes in pain, and sometimes they're scared of something.

I have one hour on the DAW , one hour with him, and back and forth til he’s already fine in the morning. I had made something, but then I lost extra hours. It was okay, it took a bit longer to finish some tunes. We decided to have a third baby and by then boys were already sleeping together, and you know, the more babies you have, it's all pretty subjective.

We try to move by ourselves because if something goes wrong, it's our problem. One day, I felt like I just wanted to sleep at night. I need to have my resources full for the next day to have my work done and my family stuff so my wife and kids are in a good mood. I'm this type of guy who has one-hour less sleep, all day, no coffee or Red Bull until the evening. At around six in the evening, I’m ready to go make music, but the kids are already wanting to go to sleep. I tried to produce music when they were asleep because they still have this daytime sleep schedule for a few hours. It still wasn’t getting me somewhere, so I thought I should try FL Studio mobile. Sometimes I have plenty of time at work when I can write music for maybe five to six hours or only twenty minutes, it depends. I thought I will drop down some ideas, stem them out, and then finish on my PC for better quality. The more I dove deep into the FL Studio mobile, I started to mix and master on a regular car sound system and check the sound in my car. I could still make something the same as I could make on my PC. Maybe it's not as complicated or an extra spicy track, but I still like it. For example, Facets Of Reason And Foreshortening Of The Present, and the remix for A.way’s track Critical Tempo which was a free download on Sinful Maze. As well as the Typecell- Construct remix, these were fully made on my phone.

When Vision Radio played the ‘Construct’ remix, I was amazed that the tune I made on my phone had reached somewhere. I started making even more music on my phone. My latest release on Impact Music, Possible But Not Obvious / The Last Thing You Hear, it's only mobile phone music. Impact Music mastered it, but it's not very different from the original. The guy who does the mastering for this label simply balanced the frequencies and made it a bit more clear.

My main idea right now is I'm trying to make a profit from my music because if I started to gain some profit, it would give me extra time which I could spend making music in my DAW and maybe build a studio. I spent almost twelve years making music for fun, and now I'm at this place where I have to pay my bills, raise my kids, make my wife happy, and it all revolves around money. I'm trying to have balance. The past few months I’ve started to see the tiniest bit of profit from my phone music I’ve made while I’m already getting paid at work.

Very impressive! I’m happy to hear you’re optimizing the free time you have.

What is the music scene like in Estonia?

Well for Drum and Bass, our people are sort of divided into two groups. First are strictly Liquid Drum and Bass heads. I have to mention a couple cool local Liquid producers, Majestim and Yohan. These guys run Tjuun In a Drum and Bass radio show, and I'm very thankful to them that they offered to have me on for a guest mix.

The second group of people love Neurofunk and Techno. Estonian people really do love heavy music. I don't know much more because all the club life we have is mainly club oriented House, Liquid Drum, and Bass or Neurofunk parties. Honestly, I'm not a club guy. I've been in the clubs two times in my life. I said to myself, I will be in the club only if somebody asks me to play. I do not enjoy the environment of dancing with people because I'm not a dancer. I like music, but I could listen to the loud music in my car or listen at home. I don't need anybody else. Even if somebody calls me to the festival just to hang out, it's not the best environment for me. I could be a pretty friendly and talkative guy, but for the last maybe seven or eight years, I really do enjoy the loneliness. I enjoy my life alone with my family. If somebody calls me, yo let's go hang out somewhere, I don't know what they have to offer me, what should be that interesting for me that I will say yes, let's go.Maybe I sound like an old granddad, but I don't know. I'm super happy that I can enjoy the full spectrum of the emotions and everything in life just inside with my family. It's near one for me.

I can relate for the most part! Although I do love the full experience and seeing the joy music brings to others.

How do you discover the music you remix? For example, artists like Ben Böhmer, Jameson Nathan Jones, and pluuto. I've never heard of these artists you remix/edit.

Pluuto is an Estonian artist, the track was pretty popular on the radio and I wanted to give a shout for the local people who are finally making moves. Five years ago, there was no cool Estonian music on the radio. It was all music from outside the borders. The guy started to gain traction in the local area, which is awesome because I'm also the guy who is local, trying to make something happen. The hints and tricks that they use in Estonian language are super cool, and I wanted to make something for my Estonian audience who like Drum and Bass. With the pluuto - Deja Vu Edit, I was curious how fast I could make an edit or remix. I remember this day, my wife was cooking, and I had two hours of free time because the kids were sleeping. I listened to the original and I wanted to try to make a remix or edit of it. I jumped into my mobile phone, chopped some parts, made some kind of sketch, and then at night I finished it in three hours. So it took me a total of five hours to make the edit. I was aiming to make it with vocal shots, something to give it more emotions. Eventually I would love to make some tunes with a straight vocal in it because this is something that gives an extra life to a track. Especially when the lyrics are very cool.

I could describe all my music production as experiments and trying different things for my own pleasure.

The James Nathan Jones track came about because we don't watch the cable TV at home, we only watch YouTube, and look for travel shows. This is something that we can watch with our kids, and it's also educational. There was one travel blog and I heard the chords come in. I was like, where’s my Shazam? I have to know! I shazamed it and I found it. I really liked the chords. I distorted it a lot and changed some tonality. Basically, the remix isn't something massive or hard to make. It's pretty simple. It's bass with the synths, a kick, snare, hat pattern, a vocal, and an orchestra at the end, it's a six track project. I felt so many emotions.

Ben Böhmer is a pretty cool story, when we are in the car with my wife, we also listen to her playlist. All of my playlist is heavy Drum and Bass or some glitchy music which my kids love but at some points it isn't the best music for the small kids to listen to because it affects their nervous system. It's better to have some smooth vibes. The algorithms gave us this Ben Böhmer track, I fell in love with it because it has a neat sound design, very chill, and smooth. A few days later my wife went to the hospital to give birth to our third child and all these days leading up to it were around this track, so I decided that I wanted to bootleg it, but a little bit with my taste. My wife spent two days in a hospital, and I made this bootleg during that time. I wanted to give out all my emotions because I was so fucking happy to be a dad for the third time.

Basically the way I discover some new artists. Things popping out on Spotify or Apple Music.

What feelings did you have when you first made it onto VISION Radio and when NOISIA played your recent release out live?

The first VISION Radio play, I was super happy. I was waiting for the show because I know that the guys will always give some comments about the tracks, and I was so happy that Dave enjoys the titles for my tunes. I found a small connection with him because he is a writer, and he also likes this word play. I was so happy with the feedback for the title. Also pretty excited waiting what he will say next for another track title. When he played Clockwork Determines Our Order, he wanted to hear the story behind it. I wrote it down. We had a little conversation about it. It has some importance for me because when I'm trying to title my tracks, I'm giving away my emotions and thoughts. I'm pretty happy that I'm not just titling my tracks with some vocal sample in it or a one fancy single word.

I'm saying something with my music, which is also said in my title. So just feel it!

You're simply reflecting your emotions into it all.

Now about playing No Pleasure Responsibility in Chicago, I was stunned, is this even real?! These types of tracks get so much impact. What's happening? Every time I forget about getting somewhere, I get somewhere. Unlocking another extra achievement.Thank you for sending me the video! You gave me so much emotion that day. I woke up really early that day because my small kid woke up around six in the morning, so I needed to drink some coffee. I opened the Discord message you wrote. This was the best to wake up to. So hyped for this because I have a few friends from my childhood who were the same Drum and Bass freaks and huge NOISIA fans. We were huge fans of them back then. It was a cool throwback to childhood memories. Thank you for sharing this moment.

No problem! I was excited to see a clip of it happen. Are there any labels that you would like to release on?

VISION of course.

Only VISION. I can say that this is something I want to achieve in my life. I’ve been a fan of these people for a long time. I have heard a lot of interviews on how they started and what they wanted to achieve with their music. It reminds me of my childhood with my friends, going on a train to buy new music equipment, spending time with my friends, chilling, and vibrating around while trying different musical styles. I feel like this is the place where my experiments could possibly fit someday. It's more to close my childhood dreams.

My thoughts ages ago, it’s a similar idea with VALE. I wanted to release on VALE back then when I was making Halftime. The Awareness Vol. II (VA) demo submission opened up, and I had this tune I wrote to Josh, the director. I wanted to help people and I had this tune ready to go. I killed two rabbits with one shot and finally had a release with them.

Let's hear them shout-outs

I want to mention some producers who are really talented. As I mentioned before, Moytra for cool club, dancefloor music. If you want to listen to some cool emotional music, Tom Finster. Underground Drum and Bass newcomer, Ewan Bristow. If you want to listen to cool sound design underground Halftime it's DMTR, we have a Drum and Bass collab in the works which is turning out pretty cool.

For some kind of experimental IDM music, I want to mention Deescawa, he's a super talented guy. Very interesting music which inspires me as well. It's more IDM-Glitchy music oriented.

Finally, I want to give a shout-out to All172Things because this is the guy who also has supported me from my first release back in 2020 when I tried to make my new brand Constant, which the track I released back then was People Stopped Being Afraid.

To my family, to my wife and for my three boys, they're making me happy. Everything I'm achieving right now is because I live the life I live. I'm pretty happy where I am.

From my standpoint, it's very inspiring how you manage everything. I salute you!

Any forthcoming releases we should keep a look-out for?

I have two remixes I'm working on. One is a remix of a track Ewan Bristow and I really love which will be kept a secret at the moment. The second is of NOISIA & Camo & Krooked - Nova’ both unofficial remixes and by the time this interview is out the Nova remix will be out so go check it out!

I have this Rain FM series on the way and I believe I’ll stick to this series because I want to make an album or kind of LP. It's the most emotional and most self related music by pure aggression which I collected inside of me. I'm so limited in my time, so I decided to divide it into different series. For example, the Rain FM, will be part one with a double tracker. I don't know where it will go, but I’ll try self released music to see where it will go. I don't feel like I'm the kind of artist who could be signed to a label. Not just for one release, I mean like a contract with a label. I don't want to have any compromises. I'm doing what I feel I want, and I need to do as a musical producer.

Understandable, there's not many Drum and Bass labels that truly fit your sound, along with freedom to create as you please.

I think it’s another reason Camo & Krooked & Mefjus felt it was already at that point when they made MODUS because some of their previous releases are something nearby.They experimented a lot. The U track inspired me for The Last Thing You Hear. It's kind of the same groove but with a different approach, and my taste. I think these guys are the ones who are making this thing happen.

Anyways the Rain FM series will be available as a free download in MP3 format, but if you want to support me the lossless files will be available to buy on Bandcamp for €1 which is almost one liter of milk. Milk is something that I really need for my kids. It's a fun story. I decided to measure my tales in milk litters. Anyways they’ll be available to stream on Spotify as well.

Also, I’m working on a track with Innusta. A producer from New Zealand. We got connected with the fun fact that his mother's parents are from Estonia. I was listening to his music and I had some Halftime sketches on my phone, so I sent them over, asking if we could collab. He makes cool Halftime music with an interesting approach and his own signature style. He has this really good track, Semaphorism on a VA compilation on Full Flex Audio, where he sings himself. I love how he put the lyrics, his vocal, the processing on his vocal, and how he used it as lead. A very talented guy.

I love to buy music on Bandcamp, even if it was more than €1. I'd buy it.

Thank you for the support because you were one of the first to buy a track there before everything was deleted. I want to do the same thing with the ability for people to decide. Trying to move my way without any expectations because as we all know, our expectations are our problems.

I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity because I’ve never had any conversation about my music this way. I’m so excited because for the last eleven years of just starting things again from zero, I’m sitting in my car right now doing an interview for Rendah Mag, it’s kind of crazy for me.

One thing that I need to mention is that I Don't Strive To Please You, is used in a short film called RAVE. My track opens the film and closes the film. It has taken part in different film festivals and I know that it has already won some awards as well. It's nicely done, it's about raves and club life culture. It was an awesome experience. When I was watching the film, my hands were shaking like how is this possible my track is here.

As we "SIGN" out here, I'm super happy, excited, and thankful for this opportunity!