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Nocturnal Times Exclusive Interview: Aruna
Just after her latest single ‘The End’ reached #5 on Beatport’s Trance chart, we had a quick chat with the one and only Aruna. The esteemed singer, songwriter, deejay, and recently – producer, sat down with The Nocturnal Times for an exclusive interview. Check out what she has to say about her new single, upcoming projects, and a few #FlashbackFriday moments of her own!
The Nocturnal Times: You’ve been traveling all over the world throughout the last 2 years to countries including Australia, Canada, and Thailand. Offering a twist than the normal ‘DJ set,’ your performance also includes live vocals. What are your 3 most request sing alongs?
Aruna: Let Go is a big one for people. Also Under Your Spell (a classic!) and of course Live Forever
TNT: Thanks for the quick chat! Your new single ‘The End’ could be some of your best work to date. It’s also your debut as a producer. Tell us how the experience came about and how the learning process has been going for you.
Aruna: Thanks! To be accurate, its actually not my debut as a producer. I did two remixes in 2013 but they were both chill out mixes. This is, however, my first time working as producer on both a dance track and on the original mix of one of my own singles. I sent Nick (Husman) the vocals and a piano recording of the chord progression and he came back w a rough version of the track. Most of it was great but there were some bits I felt that needed tweaking. The drop, for instance, needed to be simplified a lot, so I started cutting up his audio and rearranging it to show him what I was hearing in my head. Also I felt that the piano chords in the verse breakdown were too ‘pretty’ and that that whole section needed a lot more drama and power, given the lyric I was singing. What I was hearing in my head was almost akin to something you would hear in a film trailer. So I redid the piano part to something much darker, added those big taiko drum hits, strings, celeste, feedback sounds, a lot of textures and sonic details that just made that verse really come alive. A lot of people don’t know but I majored in electronic music production and film scoring at Berklee College of Music, so the background is there. I’m just a bit out of practice since I’ve been focusing so much on writing and singing the past 10 years but that has been slowly changing recently and will continue to change as I shift my focus away from singing and moving towards production. Its a massive learning curve, especially producing dance music specifically, as I have no experience with that at all, but thats part of what makes it so sexy and exciting to me. I always need to feel like I’m growing as an artist. Luckily for me I have a lot of VERY talented producers around me who are happy to share their tricks, that will help speed things up a lot. Unlike most producers I don’t have the luxury of taking years to figure this out. I would like to start releasing completely self-produced tracks and remixes within the next six to nine months.
TNT: In honor of #FlashbackFriday, pick one! “Let Go” or “Save The Day?”
Aruna: Wow that’s hard! “Let Go” was such a meaningful song to me, they both were, but Myon killed the production on “Save The Day.” I’m really proud of that release so I would probably have to go with that one, although I think “Let Go” impacted more people emotionally.
TNT: “Under Your Spell” or “Lights?”
Aruna: “Lights,” hands down. Another Myon masterwork.
TNT: As we barely caught word of this single, “The End,” when can we expect the next on?
Aruna: I never like to predict these things, there are so many factors with a release that are out of your control. That said, we are shooting for June, as we still need to release the remixes for this one! There are a few vocal tracks in the works and I’m also working on my first original production, an instrumental believe it or not, so whichever one makes it to the finish line first 🙂
Listen: Aruna – The End (Husman Vs Aruna Club Mix)
