In the middle of a global explosion of Electronic Dance Music, a prodigious producer has emerged from the small seaport town of Mystic, Connecticut, has been the home of Audien aka Nate Rathbun for his entire life, and it’s in a small apartment in Mystic where Audien began creating music in 2008.
Over the next two years a slew of renowned labels came calling, gravitating to Audien’s stunning melodies & innovative sonic landscapes. Audien worked meticulously, but prolifically, churning out anthems & remixes for labels including Enhanced, Perceptive, Armada, Black Hole, Nervous, with tracks routinely charting on Beatport. Audien’s tracks also began to appear on compilations assembled by some of the genre’s giants, including Corsten’s Countdown, Tiesto’s Club Life, Above & Beyond’s Trance Around The World, and Armin Van Buuren’s A State of Trance.
As Audien continued to release tracks into 2012, his music has evolved to include elements of Progressive House. The monster 2012 release These Are The Days was lauded by a variety of influential people in the industry. Never straying far from his roots, Audien released his highly acclaimed songEventide on Anjunabeats in August of 2012.
In the present day with his ability to create fresh tracks with ease, Audien has turned his attention to performing live, a craft he takes just a seriously as his production. Audien recently performed at some of the hottest clubs in the US including L.A.’s Exchange & Lure, San Francisco’s Ruby Skye & Harlot, New York’s Pacha, XS in Las Vegas, and Miami’s LIV.
With more big shows forthcoming, Audien is ready to continue his rapid rise out of Mystic, and around the world. Audien will also be playing live at the upcoming iconic, Tomorrowland festival this July on the Main Stage which further establishes his prowess and skill.
Read on to know what Audien had to tell us about his beginnings, his love for gaming, his inspirations and more!
TBB: First up, tell us how a teenager got into producing music. How did the journey begin for you?
Audien: Ah well I actually started with Hardcore Music and really up tempo crazy stuff. It started that way and then I kind of got older & I wanted something a bit more mature, so I moved on to Trance and then I even graduated from that and started to move towards the Progressive House genre which I really think is just really creative right now and specially with all the great tracks which are coming out I think it’s a really good time.
TBB: That’s great! How did you come up with your DJ moniker, Audien?
Audien: Funny thing is that I kind of just came up with a long time ago and a lot of my friends just started calling me with that name. So it just kind of stuck. It was just something I threw out there and then people just started calling me that. So I decided that I’m just going to produce under this name.
TBB: Fair enough. So were you a producer first and then a DJ?
Audien: Yes definitely a producer first. I think just started getting into DJing heavily last year. I always knew how to DJ but I hadn’t been gigging as much before last year. It’s been great to test my productions out because I was mainly a producer and now I have DJing as a platform to test and play my own tracks and hear how they sound before I release them.
TBB: We heard that you’re an avid gamer as well. Did you start producing music when you were taking breaks from gaming or do you still balance both of them? Whats your first love?
Audien: Well, I actually don’t game anymore unfortunately because I just don’t have any time. It’s like if I ever could game now I would just be thinking that I could be working on music right now. Its just something thats going to be there now which kind of sucks. I used to be a heavy gamer, it used be my thing. I was a kid and I loved stuff like Counter Strike 1.6, the old counter strike’s were great, like 6 hours would go by and it’d feel like 30 mins. Though I’ve never been a console gamer, been a PC gamer all my life.
TBB: We believe the first single which got you notoriety was “Rise & Shine”?
Audien: Yeah, that was actually my first single in general. It was my first release ever and yeah it was exciting. It started me up in a way.
TBB: When you made “Rise & Shine” did you ever picture yourself reaching a stage where you are today and even beyond? What was your mindset like when you made the single, was it for fun or were you looking to get signed?
Audien: I always am making music. Before that I was making crazier stuff, Hardcore Music as I mentioned but I really wanted to make a Trance record, something close to the 128-130 BPM range and yeah, I started to mess around with that and I realized this kind of works for me. So “Rise & Shine” was the first product of that and yeah, at that time I was looking to get signed. I think that was my main thought. Like I said I’ve always loved making music and at that time I was really interested in starting up a career with it and I wanted it to be my whole life. I didn’t expect to be here though, I never expected this.
TBB: As you mentioned, you were producing Hardcore and then the single came along. May we ask you, was there any event in your life which made you change you’re style? Did you listen to any artist which you took inspiration from?
Audien: To be very honest, I discovered “A State Of Trance” which as you know is Armin’s show and I was actually a heavy listener of that and I was a huge fan of both “A State Of Trance” and even “Trance Around The World”. I would listen to that radio show every week, I mean I would wait for it to come on and I would listen to it. That was my main inspiration because it puts so many different artists into one radio show and I just started gather some ideas at that time period and when I started to produce I started kind of with mixing all those ideas up into something of my own and I started to work on my own stuff. So these radio shows were definitely the major turning point for me.
TBB: Armin is a great inspiration to have for anybody definitely. We also heard that one of our personal favourites, Eric Prydz primarily his Pryda moniker also inspires you?
Audien: Absolutely! I think everyone at this point is inspired by Eric Prydz. He’s so original in his productions and its just so hard to get something sounding at the same fidelity he gets it sounding at so yeah, he’s always a huge inspiration from his earlier stuff to even his stuff today.
TBB: The scene in the US has pretty much blown of late and everyone has gone berserk when we talk about dance music. Being a local boy how would you describe the scene there?
Audien: Well the dance music scene in America is really good. I think its one of the main markets if not the main market for dance music and from what it was when I started out which is not too long ago, lets say 3-4 years ago, between those 3 years its become such a huge thing. Back then I think in America, Hip-Hop and other genres were a lot more popular than dance music at that time and then you started to hear a lot of Pop records and a lot of other artists and tastemakers who were not really cashing in but taking inspiration from dance music and starting to finally apply it to some of their mass heard productions. I think Pop played a huge part in dance music becoming so big in America but I also think that it gradually, became a big thing by just word of mouth and a lot of people paid attention to whats going on in Europe and they bring it here. So yeah its definitely much bigger than it was 3 years ago, thats for sure and now its not getting any smaller.
TBB: Going into the past, we believe your parents have always been musically inclined. Your father used to play the guitar and sing and so did your mother. So were they always very supportive?
Audien: My mom was much more into the listening of music rather than playing music. My dad was always into the playing and singing of music when he was in his teens and early 20’s and yeah mom used to work at a radio station which was into jazz. Yeah my dad’s extremely excited about everything and he kind of feels like I’m doing something which he’s always wanted to do so its great to be able to do that.
TBB: Great! Though were they a little hesistant at first? Did your education suffer in anyway because of your music?
Audien: Well, I was in college like about 2 years ago and what happened was that I found that making music in college was getting difficult. I couldn’t use speakers and I had roommates so it was really hard to be inspired and make tracks in college. I realised that music was obviously what I wanted to be doing. I couldn’t stand doing class & school and yeah, I just took the risk and so far its been pretty good. Basically its been all music since I got out of college and I feel like it was a really good decision. I’m a hundred times happier now.
TBB: Talking a little about your individual tracks, your track “Wayfarer” reached #1 on Beatport and also was premiered on Above & Beyond’s radio show sometime in November 2012. Could you tell us a little about that specific track? How did it come about?
Audien: Yeah, it was a really simple idea which turned into a less simple idea and it took months to make that track. After months of working on it and a lot of changing of a lot of the nitty gritty’s we sent it to Anjunabeats and they signed it. They were really excited about it and it was really a lot of fun and yeah it was really surprising to see Above & Beyond playing it as their first track on the show, definitely a big honour for me and yeah the Beatport #1 was my first #1 so it was a great moment. It was a great feeling and what was even greater was seeing the DJ’s who supported it in their radio shows and their live sets, DJ’s who I’d never expect to play a track like that. People like David Guetta, Knife Party and other guys which was really exciting for me.
TBB: Generally when you sit to produce a track, do you start with melody or work on the chord progression first or is it the breakdown? How do you generally sit down and produce a track?
Audien: It’s kind of different each time but usually I have a melody down and start with it and maybe change how it sounds a little later. Having that melody kind of inspires me and motivates me to work on the track harder, it makes me feel that the track has a real theme. So yeah, the melody is usually the first thing I do. I feel its best to do the melody when you have all that inspiration and motivation built up because according to me whatever you do then will probably be the best part of your track whether its the drums or the melody or anything else and I like to keep the melody as the best part of my tracks.
TBB: Tell us a little about your studio, is it all digital or do you have a few analog synths? What DAW do you use?
Audien: Well, Its all digital and I use Logic. Though I do have analog synth as well but just one, I use it as my master keyboard. There are so many amazing sounds in it and I haven’t had the chance to use them as yet in tracks. Soon I’m going to also develop my studio more and get some more stuff. I’m always going to try and use as much analog stuff as I can but ever since and until now its been all completely in the box.
TBB: When our team learned that we were going to be interviewing you, all of us including our Editor In Chief were really excited about your latest track “Leaving You”. In fact it is one of his personal favourites. Tell us what making the track was like and how was it like working with the vocalist, Michael S?
Audien: “Leaving You” was kind of an interesting process because the instrumental was done first and then I received the vocal from Armada and then Michael reached out to me and then we connected and we started turning the track into something completely different. So it was a finished product and then we made it something literally completely different. It was a huge process and he was a huge part of the process even the production of the track and not just the singing and we were on Skype quite a lot getting ideas down. Although I was producing it, he was constantly listening to it and telling me what he thinks should be changed like a proper collaboration. It was a lot of fun and I think thats how every collaboration should be.
TBB: Could you tell us a little about your upcoming productions? Would you be interested in working Michael sometime in the future again?
Audien: Absolutely. For collaborations I have a few which I’m working on currently, the thing with collaborations from what I feel is that it shouldn’t be forced and should just be a natural thing between the two artists and then it should be done and I don’t think they should be done on the basis of fan base and stuff. I’m working on a few right now, I can say I’m working on one with BT right now we are going to be jumping into the studio physically soon together and then I have a single done which is untitled as of now and shall be coming soon.
TBB: Any plans on touring India anytime soon? Have you heard anything about the dance music scene in the country?
Audien: I can’t say I know a lot but I’d definitely be very keen on touring. Its just such a different place from America and so culturally different which is really exciting for me. Even going to Canada for me was the first time out of the country and it felt like it was so different but it really was not and I can only imagine when I go to Europe this summer its going to be really exciting because everything is just completely different there.
TBB: Any last words you would like to put in for your fans in general and in India?
Audien: Yeah, thanks for listening to my music and supporting it and I’m going to keep doing it so yeah, thanks a lot guys!
TBB: Thank you so much for talking to us!
Audien: Of course. My pleasure!
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