An Interview with Misc.Inc
The ever-evolving landscape of lofi and ambient music sees the rise of fresh faces and original sounds on a regular basis. Cue misc.inc, a rising name in the community whose sound is all his own. We reached out to get to know him, and his latest project ‘epiphany’, a little bit better.
1. For those who have yet to find your page, the most immediate question on their mind might be who exactly is misc.inc?
“That’s my Lofi Hip Hop/Chilled Beats project. My name is Marc, I‘m 24 years and live in Dresden, Germany. To me misc.inc is a way to express myself and to create stories and feelings for the listener.”
2. What drove you down the path towards production and what roads did you travel before ending up where you are today?
“Back in 2008 a friend of mine introduced me to Djing. From there on I wanted to do music. I first started playing some small gigs around my hometown and in my school. In 2012 I started producing my own tracks and played them, together with a friend, in several clubs around Dresden. That time was all about EDM and House music - pretty different from what I do today. I started my work as misc.inc in 2016 and made it my main focus in 2017. Growing up with no musical education or anything like that, learning all the things required for music producing is the most difficult task but it’s totally worth it. Learning never ends.”
3. Where does the name misc.inc come from and what does it represent?
“It’s short for miscellaneous incorporation. Basically the idea was to have an alias where I can get the music out there which is not related to House or EDM. Now it represents a mellow, organic style of music.“
4. Tell me about ‘epiphany’, your most recent project. What was the inspiration behind it and how did the idea come about? What is this journey you want people to experience?
“After I released my first album ‘Compound Changes.‘ I wanted to do another big project. My main focus was to have a more advanced sounding album than the previous one. The idea with the journey came when I created ‘Tears‘. I felt like this melancholic, emotional track has to be the last song on the album. From there one I wanted to create an album which covers many emotional qualities of me. From happy, to weird. From deep, emotional sounds to cool and groovy tracks. You should be able to listen to this album whatever mood you have. And everyone should be able to fill those emotions with their own stories from their life.”
5. It’s my belief that artists, especially those with a message to convey, have an ideal group of people or personalities they want to speak to when creating their art. Who are the people you most want to connect with using this project?
“People who are self reflective, who think about their lives and who they want to be.”
6. A lot of what inspires musicians is the vibe and culture of what surrounds them, and that can really show in their music. What environments did you place yourself in when creating’ epiphany’ and what would have been your ideal place to create?
“Most of the music on Epiphany was created when I was sitting at home at my laptop together with my girlfriend. I love to be with her at our cozy place. Also a lot of movies are in my mind when I create music. I sometimes think of my track being the soundtrack to certain movies. This helps me connecting the sounds with pictures.”
7. When you really sit and listen to this project there’s a lot going on that you wouldn’t notice on the first listen. What do you believe some of the most important aspects of the sound design are?
“Many tracks were created using ‘real instruments‘ and foley sounds. I often ended up writing a melody and a chord progression just to export the whole audio and treat it like I sampled it. You can hear this very well in ‘Enthropy‘.”
8. Was there any focus on live instrumentation or was it all sample based?
“Most of the music was written originally by myself. The two collabs were different. Chef Boy RJ & Flitz&Suppe sent me some musical ideas and I sliced and chopped the material and added some musical ideas by myself. It is really inspiring to work with other artists.“
9. In the age of digital media creation a lot of what producers have to work with comes from kits and plugins. This allows them access to sounds they couldn’t generate on their own without spending a lot of money on equipment. What would you consider to be your favorite sound pack and plugin?
“I love Kontakt libraries and the plug-ins by Soundtoys. I use them in all of my projects. Especially some weird or rare instruments are very well sampled and put in to a playable Kontakt instrument. Awesome!”
10. When all is said and done, the end product is the most important part of creating. We strive to better ourselves on every song and every project no matter the time or energy it takes. So what’s your next goal, and what can we expect from misc.inc?
“I’m already working on my next album and a few single/collabs. My style is going to be a lot more organic and also more ambient. At the same time I want to limit myself and try to make my music less complex. Also I got my hands on a few cool instruments like a ukulele and a kalimba, which definitely find their way into my music. All in all I really can see a development in my style and I can’t wait to share all the music with the world.”
